I have always been a big Pakistani music fan. I grew listening to my father’s collection of Nusrat Fateh Ali KHAN sahab, Mehdi Hassan and Madam Noor Jahan. My mother on the other hand had a collection of Vital Signs, Alamgir, Amir Salem. Her collection latter had an addition of few Amir Zaki, Sajjad Ali, shehzad Roy songs too.
Having been exposed to different genres at an early age, it always easy for me to connect with tunes. I always noticed the different sounds more quickly then my friends did.
By the time I was 12 or 13 i knew the difference, between pop, rock, metal, qawali, country and jazz music.
As my father’s nature of work was all related to forestry and horticulture, we always lived in the middle of deserts in Alain, Abudhabi and Dubai.
The only source of cultural entertainment Pakistani’s living UAE had back then was the dish antenna that broadcasted channels from India.
Since we were living in the middle of the desert, the dish antenna never worked for us, because it had no coverage at our location. There was small shop in Alain back then, that sold VHS tapes and music cassettes of Pakistani Drama’s, Pakistani Songs, Political Jalsas etc. The owner from the shop had his monthly shipments from Pakistan, after he recieved his shipments for VHS and music cassettes, he would then make copies out of it and sold them to the general public.
By 1999 we shifted to the prime location in the centre of the city Alain, and had a digital decoder/reciever Installed and finally we connected with the world of entertainment.
Mid East Prime Time was aired on PTV for about 5 hours every day and featured some of the best hits of Pakistani Music. Slowly, ARY evolved and we had 24 hours of non stop Pakistani music channel called The Musik and then there was Indus Music too .. With VJ’s like Mahira Khan, Dino, Anoushey, Wiqar Ali Khan and many many others, we got our 24/7 dose of music and the happenings surrounding it.
It was somewhere in 2001, I purchased my first music cassette. ‘Junoon Sayonne.’ it read on the cover. And I immediately fell in love with it. Years followed, and with technology evolving and an having an internet connection, I had a hard drive full of downloads of Pakistani music. Oldies to recent hits and misses, I had it all.
By time I was 16 in 2003 I had become a strong advocate for Pakistani rock music and was die hard EP fan. While on the other hand my best friend Sahrish was an Aaroh fan. Having our differences in music, the only one tune we settled on having an infinite love for was Jal’s Aadat.
2019: 15 years latter, Xulfi does a rendition of Aadat featuring Gohar Mumtaz in Nescafe Basement 5. It immediately took me back to the days when I and my friend Sahrish were 16, and so in love with this tune.
You cant help but rejoice over the gold days of Pakistani music everytime you hear Aadat. That without doubt was the time when Pakistani music industry was at its heights and our musicians were gaining global recognition. Those were the times, when being featured in Bollywood was not the only measurement of an artist/musicians success.
Aadat to Bhanwary, has been a long journey for not only Goher Mumtaz and Jal, but also for everyone else associated with Aadat and Jal like the producer(Xulfi), Atif Asalam who was the lead vocalist for Jal back then; Farhan Saeed, who latter joined Jal after Atif Aslam left and last but not the least “THE FANS”. Aadat being featured in Nescafe Basement 5, is perhaps a polite reminder for everyone to put their differences aside, and work with only one aim in mind ie the betterment of the Pakistani music industry.
Aadat is an instrumental, with Goher lending his vocals only for Bhanwary. This I feel was an acknowledgment for Atif Aslam from Goher, that no one can ever replace Atif’s vocals in Aadat. 15 years latter, I see this as a silent gratitude by Goher to Atif for giving voice to his lyrics, admitting that no one could’ve done it better then him.
“This performance is also dedicated to Atif Aslam, a friend who praised me all the time in his interviews. Remember! You are a brother and i am a proud fan of yours 🙂
Goher Mumtaz,
March 20, 2019.
