Start-up app lets Pakistan’s young musicians be heard
FOR YEARS, violence kept most of Pakistan’s aspiring young musicians from following their dreams, whether the threat of Taliban militant attacks or gang wars in the crowded southern port city of Karachi.
Now, as law enforcement crackdowns slowly improve the security situation across the nation, some musicians are getting help from two-year-old Pakistani start-up Patari, a music streaming and production company.
Both the start-up and the musicians’ efforts are helping to carve out a new creative space for young people in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where those under 30 make up 60% of a population of almost 200 million.
Karachi rap ensemble Lyari UnderGround was once afraid of putting its music on Facebook, deterred by episodes of bloody gang war in the precinct of the same name that many consider the most dangerous.
But the same violence has inspired many of the group’s songs, taking cues from the music of US rapper Tupac Shakur, said its founder, who uses the name AnXiously.
“In a ghetto, rap exists naturally,” he said. “If there is no rap, then it is not a ghetto. Rap is a product of this reality and these surroundings.”
Band members said when they first heard the music of Tupac, although half a world away, it reminded them of their own experiences living with violence and poverty.
Lyari remains one of Karachi’s poorest areas and financial limitations often force its young people to forego creative pursuits.
Launched in February 2015, Patari boasts a library of 40 000 Pakistani songs and podcasts, and subscribers exceed half a million, said chief executive Khalid Bajwa.
Nearly 30 million use the internet, mainly on cellphones, says digital rights organisation Bytes for All.
Bajwa declined to discuss revenue, apart from saying the company was “self-sustaining”, mostly by producing events for established firms such as drinks company Pepsi, consumer goods giant Unilever and Pakistani clothing brand Khaadi.
The company’s latest initiative, “Tabeer”, or “Dream Come True”, pairs established artists with unknown musicians to produce six songs and music videos, on a budget of $15 000 (R200 000), and features on its app.
Patari exploited the fact that Pakistan’s tiny pop music scene comprised a couple of “corporate branded shows” featuring the same artists every year, but excluded amateurs.
“We saw an inefficiency in the market, where you have all this talent, all this interest, but there is nothing bridging the two,” said chief operating officer Ahmer Naqvi.
The first two videos, featuring Abid Brohi, a rapper from remote Sibbi, and tea vendor Jahangir Saleem, 13, have drawn more than a million views, matching Coke Studio, Pakistan’s premier music programme.
Tabeer’s sole female artist, Malala Gul, stressed the importance of music, rebuffing those who call it unIslamic. – Reuters