Archive for the 'Pakistani men - a gift to the women of this world' Category
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
amanat ali.
have you heard of this guy? from faisalabad, he’s got one heck of a voice, and he’s just 20 years old. these are from the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007, where he finished 3rd.
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
thank you very much
what can i say, atomsmasher? i’m a romantic at heart, and a sucker for slickly produced romantic-comedy-musicals. i suggest you give it a go. jab we met isn’t half bad for what it is.
ANYway, moin akhtar is definitely a legend. i think live comedy is probably a culturally confined thing to a large extent. but then moin akhtar’s comedy is also physical - in terms of his costumes and acting, etc. - so i’m not sure what sort of reception he would receive in europe or north america, even if he performs in english or greek or polish or something.
poor junoon - they put out a string of good albums, only to end up the whipping boys of pakistani music critics everywhere, especially at the baja. funny that salman ahmad started off with vital signs. i still have some respect for him because of the music junoon made in the 90s, like "neend aati nahi", or "khudi", or "jugal bandi". i never got into the sufi-rock they started taking so seriously - they were a rock band.
i still like ali azmat though. he’s taken a new direction and some of his social circus stuff is pretty good. he has one heck of a singing voice, and i’ve heard he puts on an excellent live show. i just think he should stay away from hosting television shows, however. sometimes pappo yaar - the show on aag - is just painful and distressing [wait for the "final thoughts" for something especially excruciating].
Friday, January 25th, 2008
And then there was women’s lib
Haha al, i can only hope that you have atleast synthesized a post-modernist intellectual justification for why it is you have been watching ‘jab we met’, even if you didnt share it with us.
The signs really were quite an institution, and as inimitable as they are, i cant help but comment on how some of the lyrics are almost psychotically cringeworthy.
I maintain that vital sign’s finest hour however, was aitebar (I love you too, shabnam), and few ballads can match the consonance they achieved b/w the lyrics and the overall feel of the song..
Aitebar bhee aahee jayey ga
Milo to sahee
Raasta koyee milhee jayey ga
Chalo to sahee, chalo to saheeAitebar bhee aahee jayey ga, aahee jayey ga
Dhoop mein khara jalraha houn mein
Saaya do mujhey
Yeh mera junoon
Yeh meri jalun
Hai meri sazaMeri yeh thakun
Kherahee hai kya
Suno to sahee, suno to saheeAitebar bhee aahee jayey ga, aahee jayey ga
Kya huwa agar zindagee
Zara bhoulsey gayey socho to zara,
Jungulon mein bhee raastey to hain
Humey bhee koyee milhee jayey ga
Chalo to sahee, chalo to saheePyar vyar bhee hohee gayey ga
Milo to sahee raasta koyee milhee jayeye ga
Chalo to sahee, chalo to saheeAitebar bhee aahee jayey ga, aahee jayey ga
Aahee jayey ga, aahee jayey ga.
Al, i see what you mean about the closet stalker sentiment, amply resonating here too.
Tum milgaye is another great song.
Next time, more about junoon’s early (fiery) attempts at music-ie. before sufi sal’s anointment.
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
it was acceptable in the 90s
now that [at the end there] was really horrifying. the twisted workings of our minds are too hazardous for public display. have pity! think of the children!
okay, so steve jobs’s speech was cool. i felt like he was reading it most of the time though. and dil dil pakistan is awesome. vital signs were teh roxor. their final album - 1995’s hum tum - is an absolute classic. the sequence ‘guzray zamaney waley’-'janaan janaan’-'hum tum’-'mein chup raha’-'dair ho gayee’-'un ka khayal’-'namumkin’ must have few, if any, parallels in pakistani pop [that's practically the whole album too!]. luckily for all of us, it’s on-line at sangeet radio. i must confess, though, that i came to this album really late, sometime in 2003 or 2004 when rohail hyatt released a few remastered mp3s from hum tum via bandbaja. [this was back when the baja was actually a music zine, before its sole purpose became playing host to remotely witty one-liners.]
anyway, i’d like to share with you another classic song from the vital signs: woh kaun thi - in which video our beloved signs show sting and the police that, try as they might, no one can match the psycho-obsessive stalker skills of a pakistani man. *^_^*
oh, and i’ve also fallen for post-independence indian films of late. though not quite wet sari tree hugging, some of the films i’ve been watching come dangerously close. for example, the much-hyped rang de basanti and taare zameen par - i have to admit a newfound admiration for amir khan, by the way. also, more damaging to my meticulously-nurtured reputation as a connoisseur of fine film - jab we met, dil chahta hai, and kal ho na ho [yes, yes, have your fun]. strangely enough, it’s been helping this awkward homesickness i’ve had for a while. some of my cousins, through one of whom i’m now related to our resident unsuitable boy, would watch indian films religiously back in the 90s, and i would be a willing accomplice in their hedonistic pursuits of haraam pleasures.
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Britney Ghalib
Well, the name certainly has a nice ring to it, and befitting too - if you know anything about Ghalib, and “come on baby, hit me one more time”
So what does this do for women’s lib in pak? I bet the phatan is ready and waiting for her to ride into itwaar bazaar, in a tshirt and ‘a jeans’; that will make his day certainly.
The Times of India sounds more than a little irritated :
What is it about Pakistani men that glamorous women from the West find so irresistible
Btw. while on the topic, I think the jb needs to live up to its responibility to the world and write to people of influence…to, well, influence them.
Fatima Bhutto stalks jumabazaar