ith the onset of August, a full-blown campaign gets launched across the country, featuring music that is characterised as tarana or the milli naghma.

These taranas should not be confused with the tarana, which is a form of classical music sung basically without lyrics but is compact as far as musical requirements are concerned. These can be the solfa notes or musical sounds that the musicologists have attributed to the power that invokes those. Usually toon, tuo, dani and tero naam are composed in various combinations of the ragas being sung. Attributed to Amir Khusro, the tarana became popular and gained currency probably with the evolution of the qawwali. It was later organised in a more strict discipline with the rising popularity of the kheyal in the Eighteenth Century. Various explanations are given for its development; one being that it is an exercise in musical virtuosity with little scope for distraction on account of the lyrics. It could also be that as Persian was increasingly the language of the court and the intellectual elite, this prompted the imitation of its sonic patterns in musical structures. It may have been what later came to be recognised as rapping –where generally the sounds are dissociated from the meaning and sung with a heavy rhythmic input. In the post-World War Britain, the trend was initiated by people from the Commonwealth. These early immigrants did not fully understand the English language. They were more responsive to the sound of certain words. By inserting a few phrases, offensive slang and bit of their native jargon, they created the sensibility of the immigrant in alien circumstances. Gradually, the expression became acceptable and is now seen as a prevalent form of music.

There was probably a similar interaction between Persian and the local dialects in its formative years so that the tarana, using only a few words, became an acceptable form of music.

Trana writing and singing got a huge fillip during the 1965 war with India. Within a very small period many taranas were created, set to music and became popular. The 1971 war expanded the body.

What gets referred to as tarana or the quami trana today is akin to an anthem. With the rise of the nation state, the country became the arbiter of political and social conditions and was lauded as such in the anthems. At times it was associated with the name or dynasty of the monarch, because in Europe the rise of the nation sate was closely associated with and symbolised by the figure of the monarch who had launched the bid for independence from the overarching aura of the medieval church.

Most of the states in post-colonial South Asia have sought to follow the ways and narratives of the nation state. Hence the glorification of the country is an important motivation. Trana writing and singing got a huge fillip during the 1965 war with India. Within a very small period many taranas were created, set to music and became popular. The 1971 war expanded the body. The desirability of highlighting patriotism without a reference to partisan politics took these to a heightened level during the Zia-ul Haq era. The values highlighted in this period were associated with a narrow patriotism and religion.

With the evolution of mass media to the current state, the form found a ready platform and many artists and professionals joined in to express their loyalty or patriotism. The visual images have added another dimension to the sound and thus ushered in new dynamics.

The proliferation of the media, especially the social media, and the forms of expression with these has opened new vistas for creativity. Now everyone can be creative; the lack of confidence is a thing of the past. The outreach is amazing and the hits can make one an international star before they are recognised for their artistic worth, The critical canons and modes have changed. The numbers game has the centre stage.

Everyone is coming up with a tarana these days and it is heard first and judged later. This can also be said of other expressions related to the technology-enabled platforms.

The author is a culture critic based in Lahore