Alan Simon

Alan Simon: pioneer of body percussions in Pakistan

By Rafay Mahmood

Karachi

As a three-year-old, he spent most of his time in kitchen, concerned more with the utensils than the food — after all, the latter could not make percussive sounds. The habit continued, but the thought of playing percussion instruments professionally did not occur to Alan Simon; he wanted to be a GD pilot.

All of that changed, however, when he enrolled at the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA).Thirty-year-old Simon is now a percussionist and music graduate from NAPA, a Tabla player, and the pioneer of body percussions in Pakistan. Rhythm and percussions, he believes, were always a part of him and by deciding to take it up professionally, he has simply “formalised the craft”.

Music Think Tank

MUSIC THINK TANK 2009/2010 – INTERNATIONAL AWARDS & FESTIVAL

The cultural association Think Tank presents the annual international and independent musical meeting Music Think Tank 2009/2010 between artists, music industry, companies and professionals, spiritual & visionaries personalities, institutions and the public.

The Music Think Tank is an independent factory that brings on innovative ideas supporting social aims and intercultural experiences thanks also to EuroDesk.

A qualified jury of successful artists and music industry will grant more than 50 awards and 60 mentions for young creative minds, emerging and independent artists valued for their talent, originality and artistic depth.

Songwriters, bands, performers, dj/producers, lyricists and visual artists of every age and music genre can submit their proposal.

Artists have to send an online profile like MySpace with contents (mp3, gigs, biography, discography, photos, video, official website, etc) and fill out a form on the official website www.thethinktank.it

Salman-Ahmed

While we had lost sight of the fact that Junoon is an entity still alive as a band, Salman Ahmed has clued us in. The self-styled sufi rocker whose book Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution was released in North America by Simon & Schuster on January 12 and in Pakistan on January 15, is on a quest to bridge differences based on belief through “the universal language of music”.

The book “tells the remarkable tale of Salman Ahmad, a Pakistani doctor who became the first Muslim rock star,” and “serves to show how music and art can be a powerful force to end cultural conflicts and bring humanity together.”

Salman is spearheading this noble cause all by his lonesome, bearing the tremendous responsibility of being the world’s first Muslim rockstar with great élan.

Bol Movie

The news sounded shocking (read: hilarious) when I first found out, considering the current state of Pakistani filming in general but has took a step ahead in Pakistani film industry to act as a doctor. However, since the film is directed by Shoaib Mansoor, this is not as hilarious as it sounded

Atif says
Admitting that we don’t have much hits on our credits on the big screen would not be a shame but certainly we can improve it . To explore ma talent and the ability to act is the primary reason for me to convince my friends family n myself* but* not to be in the news certainly. Working with the best and the most senior director of the film industry* MR . SHOAIB MANSOOR gives me the opportunity to give you guys ma debut film . I started ma singing career from PAKISTAN and* ATIF ASLAM was made by PAKISTAN . I had* alot ov offers to work with the BHATT’S ,* the RAJ’S starring the premium class but certainly wanted to begin from the house and didn’t want to become a choclate hero. Therefore undisputedly ATIF ASLAM was meant to start his filming career frOm PAKISTAN .* Here I am “ATIF ASLAM”* casted in a FILM named “BOL”* as a middle class low profile doctor

Source: Click Here!

Zafar

I read it in pieces but I could relate to it as yesterday i saw one of our leading artists sitting on a news channel claiming his bravery as to how he was the only one to have appeared on the show to speak against Taliban and all the others are cowards .I chose to sit and witness a very naive conversation where the suggested idea was to “speak” to these suicide bombers and convince them that it is not Islamic to blow themselves up and they should come on the right path. I fail to assimilate that how could we ignore the current and the historical geo political and economic aspects that directly co-relate to the evolutionary in culmination of this phenomenon, over the last many decades, alongside the massive blunders done by our leadership. We created a monster in decades and expect it to disappear in days. Not possible. And certainly not by putting a hand on their shoulder and saying” dude, this is not the real Islam. Come to the right Islam”. What world are we living in. All that you see is politically driven by international economical interests rather than religion. Religion has been used throughout history just to safe guard these interests. Not just Islam but Christianity at one time and also other religions. It’s no rocket science.

Pakistani Girls

Hadiqa Kiani is the undisputed Queen of modern day Pakistani Pop Music. For over a decade now she has stayed true to this title with only taking a break from 2004 to 2008. But, in 2009 she released her number one album Aasmaan. The album truly re-established her role as the leading female singer of Pakistan, the album had the highest number of sales of any Pakistani album in 2009. This year she is to release her Pashto smash hit Janan along with many other collaborations solo projects including her first project with the UN. You Rock girl! Keep it up!

Zeb and Haniya they have produced a diverse body of work, combining pop music with folk music. Their debut album received positive reviews in most of Pakistan’s major newspapers, and they have been hailed as one of the best all-female band of Pakistan.In 2009, they performed at the Coke Studio Sessions along with many other successful musicians. Lets see what the duo are upto in 2010.