We often hear about how Pakistan is brimming with talent but all too often that talent remains undiscovered and the focus remains fixated on a lucky few.
Featuring Abid Brohi (above), who comes from Balochistan, and the adventurous music unit, SomeWhatSuper (below), ‘The
Sibbi Song’ is incredibly catchy, full of retro EDM bounce while Brohi remains the star of the sonic show.
NEWMUSIC
Patari launches the Tabeer series – a platform for unheard
voices – with ‘The Sibbi Song’.
Karachi :We often hear about how Pakistan is brimming with talent but all too often that talent remains undiscovered and the focus remains fixated on a lucky few.
But every now and then comes along a project that surpasses expectations by truly presenting a creative platform to the undiscovered.
One such initiative is Patari Tabeer, a series initiated by the music startup, Patari, through which songs from six previously unheard of voices would be released. The six voices have been paired with six distinct producers and hail from different regions of Pakistan.
The first song in the Patari Tabeer series is finally here and since its arrival we’ve been marveling at its flavour and honesty. Featuring Abid Brohi, who comes from Balochistan, and the adventurous music unit, SomeWhatSuper, who count Lahore as their base, ‘The Sibbi Song’ is incredibly catchy, full of retro EDM bounce and a terrific, expressive vocalist in the form of Brohi, who remains the discovery and the star behind this mission and a raw talent we should all treasure. Sindhi rap verses by Brohi and a thumping sonic architecture provided by SomeWhatSuper, who landed a Lux Style Award nomination in 2016, this song is everything music should be: unexpected, elating and a completely novel experience.
Moving towards the inspiring narrative of Abid Brohi, this song is his rise from street obscurity to digital and critical acclaim as the World Wide Web continues to rightfully shower praise on this combined effort.
The story of Abid is like no other. He cannot read or write but taught himself how to rap on the streets of Sibbi.
He “used to work odd jobs around Sibbi, and would often find temporary employment at the DCO’s residence during the famous Sibbi Mela. During the mela, he would make sure to hang out with and serve food and tea to the famous artists visiting the event. Many times, he was given promises of collaborations, but nothing would ever materialize. One year, Raza Shah, a documentary maker covering the Mela saw Abid, and asked him to show him around. After a few days, Raza recorded an interview and some of Abid’s songs and came back to Lahore. From Raza, Abid’s story reached SomeWhatSuper and Patari, and a few months later Abid was in Lahore recording his vocals in a studio. ‘The Sibbi Song’ is the culmination of that journey.”
The funding for the project is also equally interesting. Khalid Bajwa, the CEO of Patari revealed that the project was created thanks to a chance meeting with Fawzia Naqvi, a Pakistani based in New York. “Fawzia was a big fan of an earlier volume we released, called Patari Aslis where we produced songs for indie musicians. She offered to fund another volume, and encouraged us to pursue our dream to try and do justice to the talent in Pakistan. Thanks to her, we decided to launch the Tabeer project.”
The song’s video on Facebook has amassed 100,000 views and the numbers are still increasing. Meanwhile, artists like Ali Gul Pir, Asfandyar Khan aka TMPST, Sara Haider, Babar Sheikh, Momina Mustehsan, Jami, Nadia Jamil, Zulfiqar J. Khan aka Xulfi, have embraced the song.
Ahmer Naqvi, the Director of Content at Patari, explained the conscious decision and said in a press statement: “It was a big risk for us, as a music startup started by privileged Pakistanis to reach out and look to enter the lives and dreams of much less privileged compatriots. We wanted to make sure that we do what was best for them, and let them truly express their creative selves.”
In the coming days five other songs, one by one, are scheduled to release and given just how impressive the first song is, we can hardly wait for the next one.
