Pakistan singer-song writer shines in US

LAHORE: America has got its first number one charting foreign language music album by Mahmood Khan, a Pakistan singer-songwriter, who has achieved mainstream success in the US.

No stranger to creating headlines around the world, Mahmood Khan’s music captivated Australian audiences in 2009 when his song ‘Like the river’ topped the ARIA charts.Earlier, this year he had a handful of songs top the Australian charts, the first for a foreign-born Australian artist. Then back in 1997, he wrote, performed, and produced an album for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan which sold over 6 million units worldwide and got pirated in a Bollywood film Kartoos, in which Sanjay Dutt is dancing to his tunes. A sound engineer by trade, he worked in studios in the ‘90s in Los Angeles and rubbed shoulders with artists.

For a Pakistani kid to experience Black America in all its musical glory is certainly a captivating prospect. Mahmood tells this story in his recently published Ebook called ‘Stayin Alive.’This recent success comes at a time when America is restructuring its core foundations creating space for diversity and tolerance creating an opportunity for this new sounding music.

Today, the youths and USA college radio stations seem to be spearheading this music.In the frontlines, KMUD Redway, CA, WDWN Auburn, NY, WLJS Jacksonville, AL, WMXM Lake Forest, IL, WODU Norfolk VA, WRRG River Grove, IL, WWSP Stevens Point, WI, KMHD2 Gresham, OR + 31 stations added the record into their rotations and libraries, including

core station KFAI Minneapolis, MN, WPTS Pittsburgh, PA, WXAV and CHIRP Chicago, IL, KWVA Eugene, OR, KRXU Las Cruces, NM, WMUL Huntington, WV, WSOE Elon, NC, Lasell/WLAS Newton, MA, KRSC Claremore, OK, and AM 1700 Ypsilanti, MI. Mahmood also credits Australia’s community radio network for its support and encouragement.