Just over a week ago, Ali Noor paid tribute to the late Farhad Humayun at an event called Sunchaser that was held at Riot Studios and sang in memory of the late drummer and singer. At one point or another in Noori’s long history, Farhad Humayun had made contributions to the band, a fact that Noor didn’t forget. Nor did Noor forget his larger contribution to music.

We talk a day after the event. The last release from Ali Noor’s solo EP Pagal was a beautiful song called ‘Gavo’, in 2020. His EP is, in fact, so terrific that it boggles the mind as to why it didn’t pick up nominations during award season, still in effect, in Pakistan. Noor, however, is not one to complain about such matters.

We play this interview by ear because Ali Noor had to drop his mother to his grandparents’ house as his grandfather is ill. Raza Kazim, as Noor points out, is a figure whose knowledge and dedication to the arts, among other things, cannot be underestimated. To learn more, you have to find his conversations with Ali Noor, available online.

Our conversation begins about where Ali Noor’s head is in terms of music-making and what happens to the much-cherished Noori - particularly with Ali Noor living in Lahore and Ali Hamza now residing in Karachi.

“I’m a new day rising/ I’m a brand new sky/To hang the stars upon tonight” – ‘Times Like These’ by Foo Fighters

What’s the deal after Pagal is my first thought…

Without hesitation and a great deal of honesty says Ali Noor: “The deal is to literally go with the flow,” he says and laughs a little. “Planning has been done away with. It’s reconfiguration mode that is the current phase. There is no plan.”

Ali Noor fans need not worry. This isn’t Ali Noor saying goodbye to music as he confirms: “I plan to work on some new music, but the music has to happen. I’m not going to force it.”

As it happens, the first solo EP from Ali Noor was an amalgamation of names and contributors. Therefore credits included an entire team and not just Ali Noor. He also refused to take credit for music and lyrics when it came out and reminded us what great teamwork can accomplish.

For Ali Noor, Pagal – which included smash hits like ‘Nasha’ that was among top ten songs of the year on a local streaming site - the EP was an experience. “I just experienced an experience,” says an introspective Ali Noor over our telephonic conversation. “Now I’m just addicted to experiences. The songs will also fall within the same realm. They will just happen. I don’t want to approach them the way I’ve been approaching music all my life.”

“It’s times like these you learn to live again/ It’s times like these you give and give again/ It’s times like these you learn to love again/ It’s times like these time and time again” – ‘Times Like These’ by Foo Fighters

Pagal had an extensive team from audio to video with names like Ahsan Pervaiz, Kami Paul and several others. But that was one way of making music. Ali Noor’s next, he reveals, will be the opposite. “The team is now pretty much a part of my life. But for the last year or so, I have been isolated. I’m in my zone and I’m figuring out what I want to do. The more I see the world around me and the things, it’s a mindf***. I don’t want to write songs about the world. I want to write songs about me. My desire to write songs that resonate with people doesn’t come from the idea of hits. I do write hits but that’s just me naturally.”

Ali has observed that though he loves music that is not considered super-hit, when he sits down to do it himself, it feels “forced and pretentious to me. I want to see how I can get out of the repetitive cycle of music that has for two decades, with ease and effortlessness. Because there is also a parallel journey that is going on and it’s about seeing what music emerges out of it.”

Speaking of emerging music, we must ask where this leaves Noori if Ali Noor continues to make solo music as does Ali Hamza. “Hamza and I had a deep discourse last night which continued till 4 in the morning. We were talking about what’s the moving on phase? We both came to the conclusion that the most important thing we both have to learn is patience.”

“As you grow up, you realize the value of the moment. You have to rethink your past and see it from a different angle and that starts unfolding things. You start seeing your fears, desperations, confusions but if you are patient, it dawns upon you what the universe wants from you. It’s a realistic realization that a certain journey had its time and now you’re on a different journey where planning things and all that is not a component.”

As for Noori, the mere idea of being a nostalgia act, confesses Ali Noor, makes him shudder.

“Hamza and I both talked about it. It doesn’t suit me and to go beyond is a challenge in a sense; it requires a different intellectual and emotional input if you really want to attain that. Noori is uncomplicated in the sense that if we want to play a show, we can do it like Junoon.

“But the real next chapter of Noori, our collective disposition is that we have a house, we have a car, and we have kids we can take care of doing things that are not Noori. So, now Noori should be the purest and most sacred space for both of us. Because we are brothers, we understand each other, and we always have. Noori’s no longer about what we used to be. It is the epitome of the best of the best of what Hamza and I can do. And it’s not about public. But it has to be – we both know this - about breaking new ground as a collective. We are aligned in views and it’s not just about concerts. I think Hamza and I are clear on it. Noori will never be what you’ve seen. It will be a pure space for those who are interested in a deep journey that we both want to undertake. And thank God that we are ready.”

So, what comes next?

“Ali Noor, absolutely Ali Noor. Hamza is working on his own music and he’s busy with productions right now and he’s consumed by it the way I used to be during Strepstils Stereo. He, too, wants to release new music. I’ve gotten out of that so whatever I do next, I need to have experiences and it doesn’t mean dragging six people but being more like a dervish and seeing what is there.”

As the conversation ends, Ali Noor says: “I want to delve into the art of songwriting. That’s where we’re at.”