‘The golden era of pop will never come back’
BOLLYWOOD PARKS OPENED ITS doors to Pakistani artists Shafqat Amanat Ali and Strings for a Valentine’s Day concert titled It’s All For Love on Friday, February 15. Both Strings and Shafqat Amanat Ali played a significant role in defining Pakistani youth and pop culture during the 90s.
Shafqat has performed Bollywood hits like Mitwa (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) and Dildara (Ra.one) and is known for his all-time classics like Aankhon Kay Sagar and More Saiyaan. Strings are famous for songs like Dhaani, Duur, Na Jaane Kyun. We spoke to Faisal Kapadia from
Strings and Shafqat ahead of the concert. With so many different genres of music, how do you think the youth of today relate to pop music?
Faisal: It is very challenging these days. In India, Bollywood music is ruling. It is challenging for an independent artist to release music and get exposure. In Pakistan as well, artists are struggling for the last 7-8 years because the pop industry is not getting the exposure that it used to. Apart from Coke Studio, there are hardly any other platforms for independent artists. But in the last 2-3 years, because of the digital medium and streaming apps, I think people will soon get used to the idea of consuming music through these platforms. In the next
few years, our audiences will be listening to music only through apps. Pop music was going through a golden period in the 90s. Do you think that time will come back?
Faisal: It will never come back because during that time the supply of content was limited. When we talk of the 80s, there was PTV in Pakistan and Doordarshan in India, but now we have so many channels. Today, we have music available from the whole world for our audiences; people don’t have the patience to listen to an entire album now. We stop listening to a song if we don’t like the first 15 seconds of it. What is it that you enjoy about performing live?
Faisal: You can never get complacent during live shows and that is the beauty of it. With the audience in front of you, when they make noise, we get more excited. We love performing on stage.
Shafqat: The best part about performing live is meeting people from different countries. We all come together as music lovers. We are continuously improvising on stage, and when the audience understand our efforts, it means everything to us. Any routines before going on stage? Faisal: We do warm up and prayers. We also pep each other up. Shafqat: We pray, but I think when I am on stage, I transform into a different person. I get lost in the zone.