Music of Pakistan

The music of Pakistan: includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Persian, Turkish, Arabic and modern day Western popular music influences. With these multiple influences, a distinctive Pakistani sound have been formed.

Famous composers and performers 

Sultan Bahu    

Munshi Raziuddin    

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan   

Sabri Brothers   

Qawwal Bahauddin   

Qawwal Abdullah Manzoor Niazi   

Aziz Mian Qawwal

 

"Qawwali"

Pakistan culture: An overview of "qawwali" music in Pakistan

In Pakistan there is a wide variety of religious groups. There are those who believe that faith is only imbibed in its traditions and rituals and then there are those who believe that faith is more than just rituals, it is in the purity of the heart and the soul and achieving that. That branch of Islam is what Sufism is all about. Sufis believe in devotional dances and songs to portray their love of Allah and His Essence. These songs are known as “qawwali” and this form of singing is popular in South Asia especially Pakistan and North India. This style is rare in Bangladesh, Kashmir and North and West Pakistan. Some would say that qawwali is not exactly music but a form of worship for the believer. As for the listener, the open-minded one will find that it transcends any other kind of devotional practice. 

Qawwali was performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs all over South Asia. But it has gained popularity and is now performed at all kinds of gatherings, weddings and functions. There are special events just for qawwali performances. Rohail Hayatt of the Vital Signs made qawwali and folk music popular amongst the youth of Pakistan with his venture, Coke Studio. Coke Studio brought to the forefront many folk musicians and qawwals and with their fusion of eastern and western melodies, it took the Pakistani music scene by storm.

The pioneer of qawwali in Pakistan is the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He also brought qawwali an international audience because of his prolific performances. Other famous performers from Pakistan are the Sabri Brother and Aziz Mian.

Qawwali consists of versus in Hindi, Persian and Urdu. It is sung in an alternating style of group and solo passages. The style is very fluid and evokes a lot of emotion.

The music from qawwali is mystical and symbolizes “Zikr” which is taking God’s name. Through music and rhythm God can be felt in everything that He has created in Hid infinite bounty and mercy. It has the power of invoking divine ecstasy which is the heart of Sufi teachings. That is why many performers can be seen to be working themselves into frenzy and a trance-like state. That is the power of the poetry and the music when it is fused together with devotion and love.

When on a visit to Pakistan for a spiritual retreat, there can be nothing better than seeing qawwali in action, here’s hoping your journey is fulfilling and satisfying.During the first major migration from Persia, in the 11th century, the musical tradition of Sama migrated to South Asia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Rumi and his Mevlana order of Sufism have been the propagators of Sama in Central Asia. Amir Khusrau of the Chisti order of Sufis is credited with fusing the Persian and South Asian musical traditions, to create Qawwali as well as the classical music tradition. The word "Sama" is used (or is the preferred name) in Central Asia and Turkey, for forms very similar to Qawwali while in Pakistan, the formal name used for a session of Qawwali is "Mehfil-e-Sama"

Ghazal

In poetry, the ghazal is a poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain. Each line must share the same meter. Etymologically, the word literally refers to "the mortal cry of a gazelle". The animal is called Ghizaal, from which the English word gazelles stems, or Kastori haran  in Urdu. Ghazals are traditionally expressions of love, separation and loneliness, for which the gazelle is an appropriate image. A ghazal can thus be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 10th century Persianqasida. The structural requirements of the ghazal are more stringent than those of most poetic forms traditionally written in English. In its style and content it is a genre which has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central theme of love and separation. It is considered by many to be one of the principal poetic forms the Persian civilization offered to the eastern Islamic world. verse. It is derived from the PersianThe ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century under the influence of the new Islamic Sultanate courts and Sufi mystics. Exotic to the region, as is indicated by the very sounds of the name itself when properly pronounced as ġazal. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Urdu poetry, today, it has influenced the poetry of many languages. Most Ghazal singers are trained in classical music and sing in either Khyal or Thumri.

Famous composers and performers

Roshan AraBegum 

Abida Parveen 

Ahmed Rushdi  

Amanat Ali Khan

Farida Khanum 

Noor Jehan

Ghulam Ali 

Iqbal Bano 

Maaz Moeed 

Malika Pukhraj

Munni Begum 

Mehdi Hassan

Naheed akhtar

Nayyara Noor

Tahira Syed

Instruments  

Tabla

 Dholak

Harmonium

Classical music

Classical music of Pakistan is based on Hindustani classical music. It has two main principles, ‘sur’ (musical note) and ‘lai’ (rhythm). The systematic organisation of musical notes into a scale is known as a raag. The arrangement of rhythm (lai) in a cycle is known as taal. Improvisation plays a major role during a performance.
The major genres of classical music in Pakistan are dhrupad and khayal. Dhrupad is approaching extinction in Pakistan despite vocalists like Ustad Hafeez Khan and Ustad Afzal Khan have managed to keep this art form alive. Khayal is the most popular genre of classical music in North India and Pakistan.

Modern

Pakistani pop music is attributed to have given birth to the genre in the South Asian region with Ahmed Rushdi's song ‘Ko-Ko-Korina’ in 1966 Composed by Music Mestro Sohail Rana and has since then been adopted in Bangladesh, India and lately Nepal as a pioneering influence in their respective pop cultures. Veterans like Runa Laila started the pop industry in Bangladesh while the fifteen-years old pop sensation Nazia Hassan with her brother Zohaib Hassan ushered the birth of pop music in South Asia tailing on the success of her British endeavours.
From Rushdi's pop hits to songs sung by the Hassan siblings, to bands including Junoon, Vital Signs, Hadiqa Kiyani, Jal and Strings, Abrar-ul-Haq to Shehzad Roy the Pakistani pop industry has steadily spread throughout South Asia and today is the most popular genre in Pakistan. “Dil Dil Pakistan” sung by Vital Signs was voted the third most popular song in the world by a BBC poll. Singer Atif Aslam has achieved fame in the whole Indian subcontinent. In 1998 Channel V declared the "Best International Group Award" to Junoon among Aqua, Boyzone, The Prodigy and Back Street Boys.
Some overseas Pakistanis have also entered into Pakistani pop music scene such as UK based Adnan Sami Khan, Dubai based Shahzaman, New York based DJ Aphlatoon and Netherlands based Imran Khan.