It may sound like a clichéd statement by now but with the way Pakistani and Indian artists are collaborating, it is evident that art and music knows no boundaries. After a string of mainstream artists performing in India, it’s time for Pakistan’s burgeoning Indie musicians to try their luck. Forever South featuring Rudoh and TMPST (Afsandyar Khan) is all set to kickstart what is going to be the party of the year, Magnetic Fields Festival, being held at Alsisar Mahal hotel in Rajasthan.
The first night of the event will see Forever South go head-to-head with Indian indie band Consolidate and naturally, front man Rudoh is excited about the cross-border showcase. “It is like being a kid and hanging out with your neighbour and it turns out they love Swat Cats as much as you do, “ Rudoh aka Bilal Khan told The Hindu. “We don’t have too many cross-border activities, I feel just the fact we’re coming there [to India] to play is a big deal for us, and then having us play with a collective that’s similar to us is even a bigger deal. So yeah, I’m super stoked about this gig,” he added in another instance, while speaking to The Vice.
On the kind of music that will be playing at the festival, Rudoh said, “I’m going with the heavier side of things coming from labels like Brainfeeder, Alpha Pub, and Soulection. Trying some bass heavy, hard hitting beats.”
Pakistan’s indie scene has witnessed a significant growth in the recent past with a lot of them including DynoMan and Natasha Humera Ejaz releasing their albums/EPs. Forever South is also famous for hosting a three-week-long residency in Karachi, where six German musicians, six Pakistani musicians and one from Maldives got together to produce music. As far as border movement is concerned, between the two of them, Bilal was originally set to debut at Magnetic Fields last year but couldn’t and Asfandyar played a show in Delhi earlier this year.
