Music

Satinder Sartaaj recently performed in Delhi and the show was a big hit. It was also advertised on Facebook and Insta like crazy, so anyone having anything to do with music, even remotely, knew about it. Folks in my wifey’s office were talking about the concert and they asked her if we went to see it. She said no, and then added that this guy was a little too self-obsessed and it’s gotten kinda annoying lately. They were surprised to hear that. What was she even saying? How could we miss that concert…that “legend of a thing”? ...

In recent times as people have become more health-conscious, diagnostic centers have been popping up like mushrooms. With corporations partnering with companies providing such services, this sector has become a money making one. All you need is some capital investment, a few tie-ups and you are ready to go. I needed to get a test done and it became bit of a deal. First the appointment wasn’t confirmed timely, then the diagnostic center messed it up. ...

This song used to play a lot on radio during my school days. Yesterday from somewhere this line “aj tain mainu maar pawai nan’de” was running in my mind. Then I searched for this song and stumbled upon this live version by Ranjit Kaur. The YouTube description of the video says that it was in Canada in 1982. That makes this song almost three decades old. I was not able to find the album version. So not sure even the album version exists somewhere or not. Here is the album version finally. ...

Like most of Indians my first interaction with Reshma ji’s songs was not via Hero movie’s lambi judai song. It was rather via Radio Pakistan, Lahore. The songs like haye o rabba nahio lagda dil mera and akhian nu rehan de akhian de kol kol were already very famous and used to play regularly on Lahore Radio. But yes it was when lambi judai was recorded that she became a house hold name in India. ...

After the first video from Coke Studio season 6 was released I got a message from one of my friend Fantastic …. http://youtu.be/6StD5G12vjM Par dukh di gal eh hai ki Pakistan te India waale coke studio baaki countries de singer te musicians lai rahe. But not of each other. It’s really painful for me.., Both talk about shrinking boundaries. But not between themselves. So sad !!! That indeed is a bitter truth. In Indian version of the Coke Studio this year there were few non-Indian artists but none of them was from Pakistan. Similarly in this season of Coke Studio Pakistan there are many artists from other countries like Serbia, Turkey and many others but no-one from India. In the last reason one song by Rabbi Shergill was recorded but it never went on air. God knows the reasons. ...

We are in Delhi, attending a Sufi music festival and a singer abc from some xyz country is singing Bulle Shah’s poetry “tere ishq nachaya kar ke thaiya thaiya”. Some hooligans get on to the stage and start raising anti xyz country slogans and obviously the performance is disrupted and the scene is totally different now. Who could do such a stupid act at a Sufi music festival ? . . . . . I think most of you would have guessed the country by now. Let me tell you the event and singer’s name: Sanam Marvi singing at Sufi Sindhi festival. And those murdabaad torch bearers were Shiv Sainiks. ( Here is the link to the piece of news in Hindu) ...

The popularity of Pakistani singers in India is a very well known thing. But the other thing I have always wanted to know is which Indian singers are heard in Pakistan.So thought of writing a blog post to know little more. Of course there is no hidden agenda . Just out of curiosity wanted to know this. It will be great if you could write the name of the singer in the comments. It will be even more awesome if you could few lines as well. ...

Last Thursday I had a chance to watch Junoon (if we may call it so !) live at Blue Frog, New Delhi. It was a good show but not the same Junoon as it was with Ali Azmat and Brian being part of it. Salman Ahmed is an awesome guitarist but Ali’s vocals were something that along with Salman’s guitar made Junoon what it was in its good days. Their choice of lyrics, compositions, singing…everything was awesome. It is really sad to see that these guys parted ways. We don’t know the reason for their split and would probably never know but what we can do for sure is cherish the great music they created during their best times. ...

Someone’s comment on youtube on a video of Atta Ullah Khan: sometimes i think that i HATE pakistan…but when i go to songs of ataullah khan ,nusrat fateh ali khan ,abida parveen,,,THEN I THINK F*** HATE….“WE ARE BROTHERS”… xxx xxx New Delhi

“kaun sahab nu aakhe ke inj nahi inj kar” (Literal translation is: Who can dare tell God that do it like this, not like that ?) How truly someone has put it in just a few words. A very very sad day for music and the music lovers. The “one man army”, the captain of Indian Ghazal singing Jagjit Singh is no more. And even sadder is the thing that there is no-one to carry forward his legacy. His untimely demise marks the end of an era in the Indian music. There is no one like him, of the same status, same repute. In our sub continent also, there are very few names; Mehdi Hasan already stopped singing due to his health. At this moment the singing in 2 countries was being headed by Ghulam Ali & Jagjit Singh and one of them just left us. I can’t describe in words what a tremendous loss it is. Only a month back, we saw him perform live with Ghulam Ali and I was not at all happy with his performance and complained a lot about it. Because I wanted him to sing the classics he created. I feel lucky to have seen him perform live thrice in my life. I can’t just accept that he is no more with us. ...