Since his breakout single, ‘Resistance’ on Nescafe Basement in its fifth iteration, Abdullah Siddiqui has quickly emerged as an art-house as well as mainstream artist. He has been dropping full-length albums since 2019. Metannoya from 2019 was followed by Heterotopia in 2020 with dead Beat poets and dead Beat poets: side B released in 2021.

His career took did take off after ‘Resistance’ though and even as he released his own material as LPs, he has worked with the likes of Meesha Shafi, Fawad Khan, Shamoon Ismail, Aima Baig and many more. His anthem as producer for Peshawar Zalmi (2021) - a Twenty20 team from Pakistan Super League (PSL) - called ‘Kingdom’ ft. Altamash Sever (Takatak) also made a mark. The song was made more prominent by the likes of Esra Bilgic, Mahira Khan, Hania Amir and Ali Rehman featuring in the music video. There are other high profile projects Abdullah has been involved with. Among them is his Coke Studio debut this year where he has played a significant role including being the associate music producer for the first single from the music series called ‘Tu Jhoom’ - a duet between Abida Parveen and Naseebo Lal.

Abdullah is also the music producer for Pakistan Super League’s anthem, also for 2022, with Atif Aslam and Aima Baig roped in as singers. While battle of the sexes continues with many “netizens’’ – perhaps the same who also trashed Naseebo Lal last year – questioning Aima Baig’s presence and not Atif Aslam’s (for he is music’s favourite son), the project goes on. But apart from this debate, the real question is whether this growing number of commercial projects will hurt Abdullah Siddiqui’s terrific, independent work and/or dilute it.

However, Abdullah Siddiqui, who plans to release a super “ambitious” new album in 2022, talking to Instep, dismissed the notion. The soft spoken, young singer, songwriter, composer and powerhouse producer explained: “I don’t think doing commercial projects like Coke Studio or Pakistan Super League take away from my independent work. It has the opposite effect,” said Abdullah, “I think many musicians will agree that we do take on commercial projects because they draw attention towards us and in turn draw attention to our independent work and financially empower us to create [it] as well.”

Reiterating his view, Abdullah said, “Yes, work on such mainstream platforms can be creatively restrictive because you’re working for brands and you’re working for a mass audience which has certain expectations. But ultimately there is this economy of independent work trickling down into mainstream work. All of our mainstream work stylistically evolves on the basis of how independent work has been evolving and moves in tandem with that.”

While on the subject of PSL, one of its top teams who have picked up the trophy twice for Islamabad United and well-established visual artist, Imran Qureshi have come together in what marks the first art x cricket collaboration for PSL. Under the banner of AANideasLAB: IQ X IU, Qureshi created a visual project, having interacted with the Islamabad United cricketers over a stretch of time. The idea is to bring art to Pakistani audiences who adore cricket pretty much over any other sport.

What has emerged from the project will also be used by the Twenty20 side in its official kit and other potential endeavours this season. – Maheen Sabeeh