In this concluding interview, Umair Dar, Daniel. A. Panjwaneey and Istvan Csabai talk to Instep about the era of social media.
As founder, producer and chief visualizer at A for Aleph, Umair Dar leads his team from the front. That includes this interview where my questions don’t end and he is explaining the ethos of Aleph as carefully as possible.
We are joined by audio engineer at Aleph, Daniel A. Panjwaaney and Istvan Csabai (video producer). All three also play in the music group, The D/A Method. The name of the band is partially inspired from cricket’s The Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method, better known as D/L Method and partially from the initials of Umair Dar and Talha Alvie’s last name (D/A). As a musician once told me naming a band is a very difficult task but D/A Method has it figured out and is staying with it.
“Every little thing was basically considered to ensure that in this environment (Aleph – the studio) any interference, any extra noise or discontinuation in power is not possible so you get the cleanest possible recordings. I’m very happy with the results,” says Umair Dar.
Exposed to studios abroad where he has recorded in the past, Umair brought that experience back to Aleph and it is thus a pristine space and perhaps one of the best studios in Karachi, Pakistan – if not the best.
“I’m sure many people have amazing private studios,” he continues, “and have spent money on it but perhaps it is for their own use but maybe they are not relevant for a wider audience.”
Over the years, Umair Dar admits he has picked up a lot of equipment and spent his own money on various gadgets.
He does acknowledge that the times we live in are such that an entire album can be made inside a laptop.
“Many have been,” he says, “We’ve been through the generation and we have done those things. But it is time to evolve now that we have the resources (luckily).”
Not unaware that this is indeed the YouTube era where everyone has their own channel, Umair and team do plan to start their own YouTube channel. To that end, Zain Peerzada of Takatak has joined Aleph just last month. “His entire role is going to be the launch and maintenance of the YouTube channel, Instagram, etc. because he does a great job with that – True Brew TV and Takatak being two examples of Zain’s social media skills – and I really like the aesthetic and it’ll help in taking this movement forward if we have a YouTube channel and release a video per week or something. Maybe its three-four minutes and you get to see what has happened in the week, which people have come in, a soundbyte from someone like Zeeshan Mansoor (Malang Party) or Arieb Azhar and getting the audience engaged and building that direct online [relationship] and have an audience that we can release albums to. We want to make it a central hub.”
As for Aleph, admits Umair, his vision extends beyond music. “It is about consciousness. Music is a tool. Others are visual artists. And in the era where music needs a visual element to be consumed, we want to collaborate with all kinds of artists. For example, a resident artist is recording their album and simultaneously, a visual artist is designing artwork for the album. Something very organic and people seeing each other work and get inspired by that.”
In the end, the idea, says Umair, is for the world to see them for who they are.
“We want to do this and whoever wants to join us is welcome but don’t expect a huge amount of money because none of us are being paid that; right now we’re building something where we all make money for each other. The immediate entitlement people (artists) have, I don’t want to name anyone, but the struggle is part and parcel of it. It is what makes you.”
Umair continues: “Yes, we are not struggling to put together food on the table or to have a studio, we have everything (MashaAllah) but now our struggle is how we make people value this to the point that they pay us.”
