Zahra Salah Uddin

Do you remember the time when being able to store a thousand songs on a handheld device revolutionised the way we listened to music? Yes, the iPod.

How does rain affect your city?

The first post-lockdown event hosted by the Berlin-based studio and record label, The Famous Gold Watch, was the opening of their new live series, The Fireside Sessions. The debut show of the series took place in the small garden near The Famous Gold Watch’s studio in Weissensee. The line-up included Lotta St Joan, The Nation Mourns, and Michael Brinkworth.

BERLIN: We’re all at that point in our lives where everything is punctuated by the pandemic. As a music lover living in Berlin, I must admit that the decision to start calling this city home was heavily influenced by the music scene. So, when a deadly virus toured the world and brought everything to a standstill, the music scene everywhere took a huge hit.

KARACHI: While music shows and collaborations between artists seems to be picking up in Pakistan, what with Velo Sound Station creating a new fan-base for their attempt at pop music, the new season of Coke Studio and now a recent teaser shows that Bisconni is also jumping on the music TV show bandwagon. Much can be said about the quality of content on these shows, but one thing is true: it’s nice to see musicians working together again, more so at a time when moods have been dampened globally...

BERLIN: Recently, Haniya Aslam of Zeb and Haniya fame released a solo song ‘Ayi Re’, which can be considered a perfect new addition to your current quarantine and COVID-19 playlist. Any existential crisis you may feel as the world goes through major changes, can be temporarily assuaged as you listen to this track.

Natasha Noorani, Zahra Paracha, Munizeh Sanai and Sana Nasir on being at the forefront of the successful Lahore Music Meet as women

Online Urdu radio channels in Germany help connect Pakistani immigrants to their roots.

It all started when Shabz had gone to a desi restaurant in Germany where she got a tortilla when she asked for a roti.

BERLIN: While we’ve seen many events that follow formats similar to the Literature Festival, Lux Style Awards and Lahooti Melo, this is the first time an award ceremony managed to encapsulate the melting pot of talent in the Pakistani music industry for years.

We spoke to Natasha Noorani, who recently released her latest EP Munaasib, about creating music in Pakistan, her future plans, and playing her EP live for the first time to an audience in Lahore.

Who are we really if not just biryani lovers, sharing moments with friends as we try to make sense of our world? Biryani Brothers comprises of Natasha Noorani and Zahra Paracha of Lahore Music Meet fame. Their new song ‘Ikisvi Sadi’ comes with a music video directed by Tabish Habib and after watching it I am left with a huge biryani-from-a-random-Karachi-restaurant shaped hole in my heart.

Can you believe Rushk has been around since the early 2000s? How often do you see their music being pushed around? They go off into the sunset somewhere and suddenly drop singles that make you go like ‘Oh shit, I forgot how cool this band was’. But that’s probably a good thing.

Why are renowned institutions like LUMS Music Society and others, cheating the talent that makes their events and platform a success? We reached out to some Pakistani independent musicians to shed light on this frustrating culture of delayed and non-payments for their performance.