Music Industry in Pakistan Now-a-days !

The Pakistani culture is a diverse one, composed of various parts of Asian cultures, including but not limited to, Turkish, Indian, Arabic, Persian and a slight touch of Western. These influences can be found in the distinctive sound that has been formed over the years, which defines the Pakistani music.

In the early 90s, a group of four young rebellious boys in their early 20s, wearing leather jackets and jeans appeared; the first boy band of Pakistan. They created a new breed of pop music in Pakistan. This band was no other than one of the most popular bands in the country, “Vital Signs”.

With the release of their first major single, “Dil Dil Pakistan”, Vital Signs began to achieve recognition and fame in Pakistan, which was not something easily attained.

 “I can’t, even for a split second, deny the fact that when fame first hit us (the Vital Signs) at a level that we couldn’t possibly imagine, it felt good,” says Rohail Hyatt, Keyboards and Guitarist of Vital Signs.

Things began to change during the early 1990s, Enters “Junoon”, Pioneers of sufi-rock, with the fusion of rock guitars, bluesy vocals, eastern instruments like tabla, traditional Pakistani folk music and Eastern inspired poetry, Junoon quickly achieved success in the music industry and developed a nationwide fan following. They revolutionized the music industry with their own unique genre of sufi-rock.

This was the time when the Pakistani audience was introduced to rock music that they actually understood and appreciated. Several other notable rock bands followed into their footsteps, including Noori and Strings, 2 of the most popular mainstream pop-rock bands of Pakistan.

Both Noori and Strings played an important role in the maturity of the Pakistani music scene in the 90s.

During the years between 2000 and 2006, the music industry went through a lot of changes, with the introduction of bands like Karavaan (formed in the late 90s, achieved popularity in the early 2001 with their first single from the third album “Gardish”), Jal, EP, Aunty Disco Project, Mauj, and a number of emerging underground bands.

The music industry has come a long way in a short span of time. Today, several music channels play local music, dedicated to bringing the local musical talent to the surface.

Around that time, Coke Studio comes into the picture. Produced by none other than the man himself, Rohail Hyatt (of Vital Signs). The whole concept behind Coke Studio was to mature the musical taste of both the audience and the upcoming artists. With the skills and collaboration of some of the top notch musicians in the country, including Rohail Hyatt himself, Coke Studio proves to be the best platform for introducing fresh fusion of western and eastern classical music in the industry, creating a magical tradition of Coke Studio, where modern music meets classical raag.

The Platform has helped a number of artists get the popularity they deserved, including, but not limited to, Mauj, ADP, Bilal Khan, Mole, Zeb and Haniya, Zoe Viccaji, Symt.

Another music platform; “Ufone uth records”, produced by the best drummer the industry has seen right now, Gumby, is working tirelessly to help young artists emerge from the depths onto the surface.

Today, The Pakistani Music Industry has become more mature than it ever was, with the youth developing a proper sense of both eastern, western music and local music channels matching the quality of foreign music channels, and platforms like Coke Studio and Uth Records, dedicated to bring a change, one can proudly look back at the history of local music and feel the change it had gone through in the last two decades.