For years, violence kept most of Pakistan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Both the startup and the musicians\u2019 efforts are helping to carve out a new creative space for young people in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where those below 30 make up 60 percent of a population of almost 200 million.<\/p>\n
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 Pakistanis consider the most dangerous in their largest city.<\/p>\n
But the same violence has inspired many of the group\u2019s songs, taking cues from the music of U.S. rapper Tupac Shakur, said its founder, who uses the name AnXiously.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a ghetto, rap exists naturally,\u201d he added. \u201cIf there is no rap, then it is not a ghetto. Rap is a product of this reality and these surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Lyari remains one of Karachi\u2019s poorest areas and financial limitations often force its young people to forego creative pursuits.<\/p>\n
FROM STREAMING TO PRODUCING<\/strong><\/p>\n Launched in February 2015, Patari now boasts a library of 40,000 Pakistani songs and podcasts, and subscribers exceed half a million, said Chief Executive Khalid Bajwa.<\/p>\n Nearly 30 million of Pakistan\u2019s people use the internet, mainly on mobile telephones, says digital rights organisation Bytes for All.<\/p>\n Bajwa declined to discuss revenue, apart from saying the company was \u201cself-sustaining\u201d, mostly by producing events for established firms such as drinks company Pepsi, consumer goods giant Unilever and Pakistani clothing brand Khaadi.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s latest initiative, Tabeer, or \u2018Dream Come True\u2019, pairs established artists with unknown musicians to produce six songs and music videos, completed on a budget of $15,000, and features on its app.<\/p>\n Patari exploited the fact that Pakistan\u2019s tiny pop music scene comprised a couple of \u201ccorporate branded shows\u201d featuring the same artists every year, but excluded amateur musicians.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw an inefficiency in the market, where you have all this talent, all this interest, but there is nothing bridging the two,\u201d said Chief Operating Officer Ahmer Naqvi.<\/p>\n The first two videos, featuring Abid Brohi, a rapper from remote Sibbi in southwestern Balochistan province, and 13-year-old tea vendor Jahangir Saleem, have drawn more than a million views, matching Coke Studio, Pakistan\u2019s premier music programme.<\/p>\n Another video features Nazar Gill, from the capital, Islamabad, who was one of the cleaning staff at an apartment building where Naqvi once lived.<\/p>\n One day, Gill knocked on Naqvi\u2019s door and asked to sing a song he had written.<\/p>\n \u201cI sang my song for him and he liked it,\u201d recalled Gill, a member of the country\u2019s tiny Christian minority that prides itself on its musical tradition.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Nazar, I will not let your voice go to waste.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n OUT OF THE TALIBAN\u2019S SHADOW<\/strong><\/p>\n Tabeer\u2019s sole female artist, Malala Gul, grew to love music as a child, by listening to an aunt who sang songs in the Pashto language spoken across Pakistan\u2019s northwest.<\/p>\n Times were tough when she began singing five years ago, in a city roiled by Taliban-led violence.<\/p>\n \u201cConditions in Peshawar were very bad, but thank God the situation is much better now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gul stressed the importance of music, rebuffing those who call it unIslamic.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a big world, and some people will say one thing, others will say another, but anyone who understands and values music will go very far.\u201d\u2014Reuters<\/p>\n Image: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For years, violence kept most of Pakistan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2897,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895\/revisions\/2897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}