Osama Karamat on the music market and his goals for 2022

The artist formerly known as OCL (Osama Com Laude) is working in the performing arts field, and is now going with his original name. This is important to remember given his last three EPs: paKING, Barbaadi and Munkashif.

Osama Karamat, who is originally from Rawalpindi, did reveal to Instep earlier that he is making a jump to acting with a project called Umro Ayyar where he joins an illustrious cast including Faran Tahir, Sanam Saeed, Usman Mukhtar, Ali Kazmi, Adnan Siddiqui, Seemi Raheel and the legendary Manzar Sehbai. Though he couldn’t share much at the time, he did reveal Umro Ayyar would be his first acting project. Which leaves us to wonder about Osama’s growth as a rapper and musician. Will music take a strong backseat as he focuses on his acting career?

In an exclusive conversation with Instep on the matter of a changing music market, the debate over singles versus EPs or LPs and music releases in 2022, Osama was refreshingly candid.

“The market has changed,” begins Osama, “but not just [because of] Spotify but because of TikTok in general. The audience for music videos is slowly dying out; people tend to go for shorts like YouTube shorts and Instagram reels now.”

Osama observed that the attention of the people tends to go towards “concise, precisely-timed visuals”. Given his knowledge of how things have changed even within the world of social media, Osama does have a game plan. His original plan was to go for singles and he does have a lot of music up his sleeve. “After Munkashif played out, I saw the response and I was hit with this epiphany that maybe the old concept of compilation and albums hasn’t died out - they’re just not as appreciated for the time being.”

Being a musician, Osama Karamat admits that he thinks it will go back to the older model of EPs and LPs but right now the market is responding strongly to singles. “I’m taking all these tracks that I have ready and at first it was like ‘this song goes on this EP and so on’ but now I plan to release them as singles. I have about 17 ready.

The goal is to release two (singles) per month. The first one is already out. On February 4, I’m putting out another single and on Valentine’s Day, February 14, I’m releasing another single so I’m going to keep doing the single game.”

For Osama, music was technically never on hold. But he does admit to having a mental block for the past two to three months. “You get your heart broken and it doesn’t do much for the creative process until you go through what you need to and then you can use that heartbreak to feel the creativity.”

Jumping to his movie debut, Osama reveals he can speak just a little about it.

“Game changer. These are the two words I use every single time. It is something Pakistan has never seen before – at all. And the number one thing I keep saying is that people love Marvel films and DC Comics films – hopefully they love Marvel over DC but that’s just my inner fanboy – so why can’t we have our own homegrown action-fantasy franchise? So for Umro Ayyar, the cast put together, it was like the buffet of acting; I got to see the best of the best do it. Starting out with the OGs like Faran Tahir, Sana Fakhar and Seemi Raheel and Manzar Sehbai. These guys are the OGs, the legends of the game so just to see them at work and taking it as seriously as they did was freaking insane. I was lucky enough to join the cast.”

It wasn’t handed to Osama Karamat on a plate. The audition, as he describes it, was a rigorous process and he auditioned three times. “I was so committed, I was like I have to get this and there’s no way I can miss this project. I think, I believe that I’ve cracked the code and figured out The Matrix.” In other words, Osama Karamat has no plans to put music on hold for acting or vice versa. He will pursue acting and continue on his path as an artist, performer and rapper. “I don’t think I plan to stop any time this year,” he tells Instep conclusively.

Atif Aslam, Aima Baig’s anthem for PSL 7 ‘Agay Dekh’ releases

Some like it and some don’t; it’s the story of every song, book, film, artwork, soundscape, poetry and much more that is now released into the world. It is due to the growth of the internet, the birth of social media and how people have embraced it.

However, it is often the case that when a prominent song arrives featuring two of the country’s biggest music names – Atif Aslam and Aima Baig – and the go-to producer of the moment: Abdullah Siddiqui, expectations are so unrealistically high that they just cannot be met. A similar result has emerged after the release of the song, ‘Agay Dekh’, the anthem for Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 competition.

Going completely upside-down, PSL roped in Abdullah Siddiqui to produce a song that features the biggest artist in Pakistan beyond Atif Aslam with a voice that can sing everything from playback to pop songs, the talented Aima Baig. But the edgiest song in PSL’s discography has not appealed to everyone.

Nonetheless, ‘Agay Dekh’ does showcase the sheer love this country has for cricket and how much these matches mean to people.

Nonetheless, PSL has never had an anthem sung by Atif Aslam before so this is certainly a first for them. Aima Baig was part of last year’s anthem as was Abdullah Siddiqui who produced the Peshawar Zalmi tune, so their return as a combined force is interesting.

To take such different yet popular artists and team them up remains a smart idea. PSL songs often operate under certain parameters and that means the songs must be larger-than-life and energetic. Both ideas are showcased in the music video with clarity. As for the song, this is the most radical PSL song, in the best way possible. Atif Aslam takes to the electronic genre like a moth to flame and so does Aima Baig. The criticism, sadly, is a consequence of the times we live in where social media seems to be more reliable than its mainstream counterpart and sometimes is a hotbed for uncalled for criticism.

The latter applies to the PSL 7 anthem. In short, Abdullah Siddiqui once again flies as a producer and both Atif and Aima deliver as vocalists and as performers. Abdullah’s appearance in the music video is a great surprise. Check it out, this song will not disappoint.