Chapter 07
Twenty-Four Performances Across Pakistani Music
6 min
These twenty-four entries are balanced, not ranked. Each names a recording or clearly identified performance and gives one task for the ear. The sequence deliberately interrupts chronology: a rap track can answer a classical recital, and an archival dance can sit beside contemporary song. Twenty-four recordings cannot represent every language, region or community, but they can prevent the first encounter from narrowing to one genre or one studio format.
1. Roshan Ara Begum — Raga Malkauns
Begin with the patience of khayal. Follow how she enters notes from below, gives the lower register physical weight and accelerates without losing the raga's shape.
2. Eva B — Rozi
Move directly from khayal patience to Lyari-rooted rap. Her clipped cadence presses against a dark electronic beat, making neighbourhood, language and visual self-authorship part of the musical argument.
3. Mehdi Hassan — Ranjish Hi Sahi
Keep the poem in view. His baritone makes each return of the refrain feel altered, while raga-informed turns deepen rather than interrupt the words.
4. Musarrat Nazir — Mehndi Ni Mehndi
Hear a Punjabi wedding song as working social music, not decorative folklore. Refrain, clapping logic and direct address leave space for sisters, friends and relatives to join the occasion.
5. Noor Jehan — Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat
Notice how playback authority survives outside the film image. Controlled vibrato, consonants and orchestral space turn Faiz's poem into a distinct performance.
6. Sabri Brothers — Bhar Do Jholi Meri
Track the whole qawwali party. Handclaps, chorus, harmonium and percussion create the ground from which the lead voices repeatedly intensify the appeal.
7. Khamiso Khan — Alghoza recital
Separate the paired pipes in your ear. One moves melodically while the other sustains or patterns support, joined by breath into a seemingly continuous line.
8. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party — Mustt Mustt
Begin with the long qawwali-party recording rather than its later remixes. Hear how breath, register and repeated refrains build an arc that a short studio edit can only quote.
9. Alam Lohar — Jugni
Listen to the chimta as more than percussion. Its metallic snap and lingering jingle frame narrative delivery and make the refrain physically propulsive.
10. Abida Parveen — Yaar Ko Humne Ja Ba Ja Dekha
Her low register and gradual ascent turn mystical verse into melodic concentration. Compare the solo-centred architecture with the collective workings of qawwali.
11. Pathanay Khan — Meda Ishq Vi Toon
Enter Saraiki poetry through concentrated phrasing. The refrain's emotional scale grows from repetition and vocal pressure, not from orchestral excess.
12. Natasha Baig and Yousuf Bashir Qureshi — Ya Maula
Burushaski enters through a credited contemporary song, not a mountain montage. Listen for how Baig's sustained vocal line holds its regional language inside a spacious rock-inflected arrangement.
13. Mai Bhagi — Khari Neem Ke Neeche
Hear Thari song through a named woman rather than a desert montage. Her bright attack and rhythmic lift make the melody immediately social.
14. Khattak tribesmen — Khatak Dance, Folk Music of Pakistan
This 1951 recording joins duff, handclaps, bagpipes and drums to movement. Follow ensemble accents as cues for turns and weight shifts; the dance is heard most clearly when rhythm and feet are understood together.
15. Zarsanga — Rasha Mama
Her Pashto voice cuts cleanly through the ensemble. Ornament arrives quickly, but the deeper force lies in projection and the relation to percussion.
16. Irfan Ali Bahadur — Nerew
Wakhi-language songwriting moves the northern map into the present. Listen for the relation between individual authorship, language and contemporary arrangement.
17. Ustad Noor Bakhsh — Bundar
The electric benju is brilliant and tactile. Follow repeated figures, fast keyed ornaments and the rough edge of plucking rather than reaching for a generic blues comparison.
The clay vessel flute produces a rounded, airy tone. Listen for pitch changes created by finger holes, breath and the angle of the instrument.
19. Nazia Hassan — Disco Deewane
Bass, synthesiser and an economical hook make transnational studio production feel effortless. The light vocal surface is part of the record's precision.
20. Allan Fakir and Muhammad Ali Shehki — Tere Ishq Mein Jo Bhi Doob Gaya
Sindhi poetry-associated stage presence meets television-era pop arrangement. Listen to the contrast between Fakir's rough-edged declaration and Shehki's smoother line rather than collapsing the duet into fusion.
21. Junoon — Sayonee
Hear how distorted guitar, rock drums and an ornamented vocal line cooperate. The refrain is large because the arrangement clears a path toward it.
22. Arooj Aftab — Mohabbat
The drama lies in space. Voice, harp, strings and low percussion move slowly enough for decay and silence to become part of the arrangement.
23. Kaifi Khalil, Eva B and Wahab Bugti — Kana Yaari
Three artists retain distinct identities inside one production. Follow the changes among sung melody, rap cadence, Balochi language and the track's bass-led frame.
24. Talal Qureshi, Umer Anjum and Rehman Ansary — NZR
End with an independent 2026 release after the single televised studio entry. Rap voices occupy a sparse, bass-heavy electronic frame whose negative space makes the producer as audible as the performers.
Frequently asked questions
Start in Islamabad with Lok Virsa's museum and current programme, then check whether an archive presentation, craft demonstration or concert is scheduled. In Lahore, look at Alhamra Arts Council, All Pakistan Music Conference activity and Lahore Music Meet rather than relying on a fixed venue list. Karachi offers NAPA, Arts Council programming and independent concerts. For regional travel, consult provincial cultural departments and artist announcements. Shrine visits require local guidance and respect for worship; a devotional occasion is not a guaranteed show.
Questions about Twenty-Four Performances Across Pakistani Music
1. What is the traditional music of Pakistan?
There is no single traditional style. Qawwali, khayal, Punjabi narrative song, Sindhi poetry and instruments, Pashto tappay, Balochi benju music, Kalash community song and many other practices have different languages, occasions and histories.
2. Is qawwali the national music of Pakistan?
Qawwali is internationally prominent and deeply important, but it does not represent every Pakistani community. It belongs to a wider South Asian Sufi history and should be heard through specific parties, poems and performance settings.
3. What is the difference between qawwali and ghazal?
Qawwali is an ensemble devotional performance tradition built through lead voices, chorus, clapping, harmonium and percussion. Ghazal is a poetic form and concert genre in which an individual singer usually foregrounds text and melodic interpretation.
4. Which Pakistani singers are good starting points?
Try Roshan Ara Begum, Mehdi Hassan, Iqbal Bano, Noor Jehan, the Sabri Brothers, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Reshma, Zarsanga, Nazia Hassan, Arooj Aftab and Eva B for deliberately contrasting routes.
5. Which instruments should I listen for?
Listen for tabla, dholak, harmonium, sarangi, sitar and rabab, then regional colours such as Punjabi chimta, Sindhi alghoza and boreendo, Balochi benju, mangey or clay-pot percussion, dhol and several local flutes and reeds.
6. Where can I hear live music in Pakistan?
Check current programmes from Lok Virsa, NAPA, Arts Council Karachi, Alhamra Arts Council, All Pakistan Music Conference, Tehzeeb Foundation and established festivals. Schedules change, so confirm dates and access directly.
7. Is Coke Studio a reliable introduction?
It is a useful production series with many excellent named performances, but it is not a complete history. Follow its artists into their own recordings and compare studio arrangements with longer classical, folk or devotional performances.
8. How did Partition affect Pakistani music?
Musicians, teachers and film workers moved, while shared repertories continued across borders. Institutions were rebuilt in new states, and older gharana, language and recording histories cannot be divided neatly by present nationality.
9. What is the boreendo?
The boreendo or bhorindo is a small clay vessel flute associated with Thari communities in Sindh. Breath, finger holes and instrument angle shape its tone. Its making and playing knowledge received urgent-safeguarding recognition in 2025.
10. What is the best way to begin listening?
Choose contrasts rather than a greatest-hits list: one classical raga, one ghazal, one long qawwali, one regional-language folk performance, one instrumental recording and one current pop or hip-hop track. Then follow the voice, language or instrument that holds your attention.
