Another year-end special from us. A compilation of all Google Doodles of 2010 that were dedicated to musicians. Some of them were global, and some were specific to countries so there is a good chance you would have missed at least a few of them. And if you feel like reading more about the musician just click on the name. So here goes..

Django Reinhardt (23rd January)

Frederic Chopin (1st March)

Antonio Vivaldi (4th March)

Umm Kulthum (3rd February)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7th May)

Isaac Albeniz (29th May) – Can’t help sharing at this point, our writeup on what we consider his greatest ever composition, Asturias. You can read it and watch various mindblowing versions of the song here.

Robert Schumann (8th June)

Naomi Shemer (13th July)

John Lennon (9th October) – Arguably one of the best doodles of the year (To me, the only one ahead is the Pacman doodle!)

Dizzy Gillespie (21st October)

Carlos Gardel (11th December)

Edith Piaf (19th December)

You might not be very familiar with the name Clinton Cerejo, but the man has been making his mark on almost every major musical work in Bollywood in the past few years, as vocal arranger, music programmer, music producer and as vocalist. Just to be naming a few of his works – Enthiran, My Name Is Khan, Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Saathiya, My Name Is Khan, and every work of Vishal Bharadwaj since Omkara. His faculties as vocalist started getting him limelight only recently with Kya Karoon from Wake Up Sid and Hey Ya from Karthik Calling Karthik, but the man started singing long back, rendering hits like Endrendrum Punnagai from Alaipaayuthey. Outside of movies the man has been busy in the ad field too, scoring ads for many big brands like Pepsi, Tata, Vodafone, Philips, Colgate etc.We are proud to present Music Aloud’s interview of Clinton.

Tell us a bit about your musical journey from your childhood to college, your days making ad jingles, and finally in the film industry.

I was already doing a few backing vocal sessions while in college but I never thought about taking music seriously. I was in fact to do my MBA. But by the time I graduated I changed my mind and decided to do music full time. Ad jingles and film work came much later.

You have made quite a name in the industry as a music arranger and vocal arranger. Could you please tell our readers what exactly is it that a vocal arranger does?

A vocal arranger is specific to vocals. When I’m called in as a vocal arranger, usually the track will already be programmmed and produced. I then decide on what type of harmonies and vocal textures will work with the song. Deciding whether to use a gospel choir fell or a pop vocal sound.. etc… All these decisions as well as writing harmonies and musical vocal sections are part of vocal arranging.

You started your career as a singer for ad jingles. How did the decision to become a music producer come around? How difficult was the transformation?

When I started off as a singer I quickly realised that my voice was not versatile as some of the other singers around at the time. Besides whenever I listened to music I always listened to what was going on behind the vocal. Hence the decision to make the switch. It was not easy in the beginning but it felt natural at the same time. It came to me quite automatically.

Working with Rahman is a dream for a lot of people. Your real break into mainstream film industry was because of A. R. Rahman and the meeting was quite accidental. Tell us more.

Mr Rahman accidentally heard some of my arrangements in a studio in mumbai. At the time no one told him it was me… Exactly a month later I met him at another studio for the Jana Gana Mana project. That’s when I told him that I was the one who had arranged the song he’d heard. I started working with him shortly after that.

I am personally a huge fan of Vishal Bhardwaj (of his every talent). You have worked with him on almost each one of his films. Tell us how you met him and about your experience of working with him.

I had met Vishalji a long time ago and only did vocal harmonies for him back them. Then Hitesh Sonik who used to do all Vishalji’s arrangements at the time – gave me a song to produce. Both Hitesh and Vishalji loved what I had done. Soon after they asked me to be a part of Omkara… And I’ve worked on all his films thereafter.

I read somewhere that you along with Dominique dream of producing a Gospel album. Are we going to see it coming out any time soon?

We have been writing for a long time now… But not sure when I’ll actually get down to completing and releasing an album. I think whenever it comes out will be the right time.

Along the same line, how do you look at the scene of independent music in India today? There are still very few artists that can survive as independent artist. Do you think the picture will improve in coming years?

It may change in the coming years. I hope it does because as of now – Bollywood is all powerful.

Do you like performing in live shows or would you rather do studio work?

I do enjoy live shows but I’m a lot more comfortable in the studio.

Recently you have had quite a success as a singer with hits like “Kya Karoon” and “Hey Ya!”. What do you enjoy more now, singing or production?

I like both actuallly. They’re both different things and require different faculties.

What projects are you currently working on? Any particular songs we should be looking forward too?

Watch out for the soundtrack of Saat Khoon Maaf.

We all love listening to your songs. What is it that you love listening to?

Too many favorites to name…

You were almost on the verge of entering a B-School. Have you ever thought what life would have been like if you were not a musician?

I can’t imagine what I’d be doing sitting at a desk nine to five. Thank God I’m a musician!

It was in 2003 that the band Aasma came into existence, formed by the winners of the second edition of Channel V Popstars, the opening edition spawning the all-girl band Viva. Life has changed a lot since then for Vasuda Sharma, culminating in a very eventful 2010 when she became the first Indian artiste to perform at the POPKOMM Music Festival held as part of the Berlin Music Week. And also marked her debut as music composer with Makrand Deshpande‘s Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu. Though the movie as such did not attain much success, the music has been fairly well-received. We present to you Music Aloud’s interview of Vasuda, where she talks of her past, present and future. Read on!

Let’s start with the in thing, Shahrukh Bola… How did you land up your debut movie score?

Well, I have been an ardent fan of  Makrand Deshpande as a theatrician. Regular viewer of all his plays at Prithvi. So one day I just went upto him, complimented him and told him about myself. I introduced myself as a singer. And that was the end of it. A year later I got a call from his assistant and I met him again for some acting assignment. But eventually even he figured out that it’s composing and singing that brings out the best in me. I was given just one song to start with as it was a gamble.. But his belief in me made me bag the whole score..:) I am grateful to him to give me that opportunity.

Rewinding to the start, let us hear about your musical beginnings.

My relationship with music begins when I was three. My bua (aunt) is a trained singer in Mathura. When I was really young, I used to spend a lot of time there during summer vacations and she used to teach me all the possible folk songs, Bhajans and Rasiyas and Krishna songs. I have grown up singing those songs. I remember at least a hundred of those by heart. I was never exposed to English and Bollywood film songs. But later I picked it up and started doing a variety of stuff in music, experimenting with different styles and genres. I used to regularly go for inter school and college competitions and won lots of prizes.

It all truly started for you with Aasma. Take us a bit through your Aasma days.

I never ever thought of taking up singing and composing as a career. I was in my 1st year college doing Sociology Hons in Hindu, New Delhi… All focussed to prepare myself for civil services and be an IAS officer. Everyone around, my parents and relatives and friends including myself thought I ll go for higher studies as I was really good in academics. During my summer holidays, Channel V had this Coke V Popstars 2 talent hunt in which my friends just forced me to go and give it a try. Well, honestly i didnt disclose it to my parents initially as I thought I d just do it for fun. But…. destiny had something else in store… One thing led to the other and I was in final 8. I finished my graduation while being in Popstars in 2005, it was fun juggling between shows and exams. Aasma for me has been a wonderful experience, a great beginning, a wonderful journey. The amount I have grown in these seven years being together as an artist, a musician and a performer…is insane… It’s been an incredible exposure, performing and working with great artists, getting to learn so much from them. And I have truly enjoyed every bit of it.:)

So was composing always your first love, or did you just chance upon it while singing?

I have always been writing my own songs, composing and collecting material but making music for a Bollywood flick was never in my agenda. I never pitched to get a film score. I discovered it a few years back honestly. I would write songs but keep them to myself. I think you become a little confident about something new if it’s received well the 1st time you show it to somebody. Makrand was kind enough to hear me out and really encouraged me to go forward with the same. Although I simply love singing, the best would be to sing my own songs, because that brings out the best in me.

You never pursued playback singing?

I must say I have had a very laid back attitude or to be precise I have not been actively involved in giving out my demo cds, trying to meet music directors and stuff. I know one needs to do that hard work to get that 1st break and once you’re on and appreciated, then you do really well in the industry. But surpisingly that hasn’t been the case with me. Also probably the kind of music that has been popular in the last few years didn’t really make me go all out and try to lend my voice to. But with artists like the evergreen Rahman sir and Amit Trivedi it will be an honour.

How was the experience of being the first Indian artiste to perform at the Berlin Music Festival?

Honestly speaking, when I applied I didn’t know the magnitude of it. Also the kind of bands that had participated, have been performing for years in the music circuit. When I was one of the 6 finalists, I was taken aback a bit coz I never took it seriously. Snd winning it and going to Berlin and performing, representing our country was a dream come true. I performed twice there and had so much to learn from other artists. Had a great response at the Popkomm Fest where bands from all over the world come and perform. Made a lot of friends, met a lot of business people.. Lot of developments in the pipeline..

Any chance of an Aasma reunion, all of you being individually busy these days, Neeti with AR Rahman et al?

As opposed to what all think, it’s been 7 years Aasma has been together… and is still going strong.. We all do corporate and college gigs together as a band, travel all over India and abroad. It’s true that we all are doing our solo bit as well, while Jimmy is busy doing playback and individual gigs, Sangeet composing music for Bollywood movies along with his brother, Siddharth, Neeti busy With Rahman Sir, but we still manage our stuff and find time for the band because we are all aware of the fact that Aasma got us where we are today. Also we all are very dear to each other and great friends apart from being band members. I think thats what keeps us going.We are also jamming and coming up with a new Aasma single along with a video shortly. So watch out for the come back!

How has the response for Shahrukh Bola.. been?

Till now I have been getting all positive reviews not just from family, friends and acquaintances but people from the industry and the audience. I have been getting a lot of mails of people congratulating me for my debut. I am overwhelmed by the response, can’t thank God and them enough. I am not too sure about the album sales as everything is easily available online these days. The response has been thankfully positive

Was the acappella song Hasna Hasana a deliberate nod to Bobby McFerrin? The lyrics and the arrangement seemed to be along the same lines.

I have been performing live as a one woman band where I do vocal arrangements myself, make the whole music in a loop and then sing the main song over it. I have always been in love with the concept of acappella, where there are only voices and no instruments at all not even a hand percussion. This wasn’t made as a part of the movie, but i made Makrand listen to it just for his knowledge, explaining him what accapella is… And he instantly liked it… He told me to write something related to the situation in the movie and that’s how the song was made. As for the similarity well it’s a co incidence and I am flattered that it reminds one of that song..

Could you tell us a bit about your upcoming projects?

Currently I am working on the score for Mr Govind Nihalani’s animation film. Its title is still not decided but it’s about a little camel in the hot deserts of Rajasthan. It’s a lot of fun composing for it.. Another one… a musical.. Will start working on it by next year… So yeah.. lots to look forward to.

Happened to attend this fusion concert in Kolkata couple of days back called Melange 2010, involving Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Nishat Khan, Larry Corryell and a few other master instrumentalists. There was a lot of good music played, but my favourite part was Trilok Gurtu coming to the front of the stage with what looked like a speaker box, sat on it, and introduced it to the audience as being a South American musical instrument called Cajón. An instrument, which he jocularly referred to as capable of being employed as a stool, tea table or bookstand among others.

Cajón is the Spanish for “box”, and that’s exactly what the instrument originated as. Right from the 16^th century African slaves in the Americas, specifically Peru, were fashioning box drums out of fish crates. Cubans had been transforming small dresser drawers into box drums for a long time. Over time these jug instruments got refined to make it part of popular folk music. In the late 19^th century cajón started being associated with the Afro-Cuban song/dance genre called rumba, and other Afro-Peruvian styles.

A typical cajón is a cuboid, of which five sides are made out of half to three quarter inch thick pine or other white wood. The sixth surface, which is the striking side, is made out of a thin sheet of plywood. This side is called the tapa. A sound hole is cut out on the side opposite the tapa. The top edges are left loose so that they can be slapped against the box. The modern cajóns sometimes come with a lot of screws to adjust timbre, or with stretched cords across the tapa. Apart from the cuboid, cajón has also started coming in trapezoidal and tubular forms. To play the cajón one normally sits on the box positioning the tapa between his legs.  Standard usage involves slapping the surface with hands. Some artists (like Trilok Gurtu in the concert) also use their feet for added expressions.

While cajón is today an integral part of Cuban and Peruvian music, the instrument has also started gaining popularity with music outside of these regions, especially in a lot of acoustic music settings. In the 1970s guitarist Paco De Lucia was presented a cajón by master percussionist Caitro Soto, and Paco went on to introduce it in flamenco music. Today you can hear cajón playing in pop music or even rock music. Here are a few videos of the simple yet fascinating instrument, including one from Melange 2010 (forgive the low quality of the video).

For those of you who did not notice today’s Google Doodle until now, today happens to be the 93rd birth anniversary of Jazz legend John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie. Instrumental in the development of bebop and modern jazz, Dizzy was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters ever. As Music Aloud’s tribute to the maestro, we present to you videos of some of Dizzy Gillespie’s classic renditions, most of them in HD.

Tin Tin Deo

And Then She Stopped

Tanga (Part 1, Part 2)

Toccata From Gillespiana

Blues After Dark

Norm’s Norm

Umbrella Man

A Night In Tunisia

Piano instinct. Guitar soul. This is how the makers of the Harpejji describe it. The result of a piano student getting frustrated with the limitations that the instrument presented when compared to a guitar, the first working prototype of harpejji was completed in 2003. In 2008 a model was given to a man with a bent for such innovative instruments, Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess and he has been using the instrument since then in his concerts. It won’t be long before Indians get exposed to more of the harpejji, as a few days back the maker personally delivered one to another person who is heavily into such new age instruments, A R Rahman.
For Timothy Meek, development of harpejji was a long-drawn evolutionary process. Starting to play keyboards in 1987, his search for an instrument that would negate the limitations of the keyboard led him to the Chapman Stick, a string-tapping instrument developed by Emmett Chapman in the 70s. Purchasing the Stick in 1998 Meek found that the Stick did address the problems he faced with the keyboard, but had a few problems of its own. Next stop was Dr. John Starrett of University of Colorado, Denver, who had invented and patented something called a Starrboard which was conceptually closer to what Meek had in mind. Getting a prototype from Dr. Starrett, Meek set about working on it, ironing out the rough edges until he had a satisfactory working model towards the end of 2003. Further improvements, and four years later, Meek incorporated Marcodi Musical Products LLC with his musician friend Jason Melani to market the instrument he christened harpejji, after arpeggio which in Italian means harp-like.
At first glance the harpejji would come across as an oversized surfboard. With 24 strings, the instrument allows playing new chord intervals that are impossible to cover on a guitar or a piano. While a pianist would find the ability to produce organic sounds and expressions of real strings and double the octave range endearing, guitarists would be impressed by the increased flexibility provided in compositions by the ability to use all 10 digits, and the facility to cover guitar and bass portions simultaneously.
We leave you with a few videos of the fascinating instrument. You can buy or get more details about the instrument here. Looking forward to more of harpejji in days to come. (Rahman did incidentally use it in the soundtrack for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours which came out after this article was published, in the song for which he got the Oscar nomination – If I Rise. You can see the music video here.)

Chanced upon the music of this Delhi-based rock fusion band called Eka, and found the band profile interesting enough to do a feature. The band line-up is really spectacular. Two out of the three key members have been associated with Euphoria in the past. Guitarist and vocalist Hitesh Madan became the lead guitarist of Euphoria at the age of 17 and has worked as a music arranger and composer in the past. Keyboardist Benjamine ‘Benny’ Pinto has been associated with Euphoria for 18 years and is a true showman. Self-taught bassist and vocalist Lokesh Madan on the other hand followed a corporate career for sometime before returning back to his true calling. Drummer Bosco D’Souza and classically trained vocalist Saranya Ghosh add to the performance of the band.

The band is essentially a live band playing a range of music from classic rock to Sufi and popular Hindi music. They have quite a few original songs under a genre they have labelled “Swatantra Rock”. A sneak peek at some of them is available on Youtube and on Eka’s website. Although the band has two ex-Euphoria members, the music of the band is fortunately quite different. The originals show a lot of influence of classic rock and funk music. While Nimbu pani is funk-based, Aaye Tum and Chalte Jaana show a distinctive rock flavour in a groovy way. The lyrics of Jaane Kyun seem very amateurish and so does the rendition in places, but the song on the whole sounds good, with a very sing-along kind of a tune.

All said, while the talent and performances of the “Eka” are really appreciable, the originals that form their current repertoire sound a bit dated. When someone calls their music “Swatantra Rock”, you would really expect an independent and unique sound, which they are totally capable of developing with the immense talent they hold. All they need is more time together to come up with that sound. That still doesn’t stop them from giving one heck of a live show even now, covering a lot of Sufi and classic rock music of which I am a huge fan! So if they are performing live, I would definitely go and watch them.

Check out the band’s Facebook profile here. You can also get Eka’s updates on their website.

Amitabh Bachchan, one of the biggest brands of Indian Cinema, the man who with his skills and charisma has come to be the face of Hindi Cinema over the years, turns 68 today. The last year has been quite good for him, culminating in the 3rd Best Actor National Award for his role in Paa. We wish that this year too he continues to achieve similar laurels. The beginning is surely good, what with a memorable birthday gift in the form of the fourth edition of KBC, the show that gave him a new lease on life ten years ago. As a birthday tribute from Music Aloud, we present a list of our top 15 songs featuring AB Senior.

Dekha Na Hai Re – Bombay To Goa (1972) – Kishore Kumar – Composer: R D Burman
Yeh Dosti – Sholay (1973) – Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey – R D Burman
Kabhi Kabhi – Kabhi Kabhie (1976) – Mukesh – Khayyam
Tere Mere Milan – Abhimaan (1977) – Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar – S D Burman
Khaike Paan Banaras Wala – Don (1978) – Kishore Kumar – Kalyanji Anandji
O Saathi Re – Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (78) – Kishore Kumar – Kalyanji Anandji
Rang Barse - Silsila (1981) – Amitabh Bachchan – Shiv Hari
Mere Angane Mein – Laawaris (1981) – Amitabh Bachchan – Kalyanji Anandji
Chhookar Mere Mann Ko – Yaraana (1981) – Kishore Kumar – Rajesh Roshan
Pag Ghunghroo Baandh – Namak Halaal (1982) – Kishore Kumar – Bappi Lahiri
Pyaar Hume Kis Mode - Satte Pe Satta (1982) – Kishore Kumar, R D Burman, Sapan Chakravarthy, Gulshan Bawra – R D Burman
Dilbar Mere – Satte Pe Satta (1982) – Kishore Kumar – R D Burman
De De Pyar De – Sharaabi (1984) – Kishore Kumar – Bappi Lahiri
Kajra Re – Bunty Aur Babli (2005) – Alisha, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Ali – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Rozana – Nishabd (2006) – Amitabh Bachchan – Vishal Bhardwaj

We have said this many times in the past and we say it again – Coke Studio has been the best musical initiative that we have come across in recent times. In the ways it has reinvented album songs, folks songs et al in the form of jam sessions. In the amount of high quality music it has generated over its three seasons. And, in the number of musicians it introduced fans to. One of the most impressive (and consistently so) bands from the show has undoubtedly been the jazz fusion duo Zebunnisa Bangash and Haniya Aslam, aka Zeb and Haniya. And here we present to you Music Aloud’s interview of the twain.  Enjoy!

How did the idea of Zeb and Haniya, the band originate? Since you were cousins, were you always playing together? And did going professional come as natural thing to do?

Haniya: The idea of “Zeb and Haniya” actually didn’t come about until we started to record the album. We’re first cousins and we’ve grown up singing and making music together. It’s always been a very natural thing to do. Turning it into a profession had its hitches initially, but I think we’re beginning to sort them out.
Zeb: Haniya and I performed on stage together for the first time when we were around six years old at our ‘Parents Day’ in Rawalpindi. After that we pursued music separately informally as a hobby. As fate would have it we ended up going to college near each other, and playing music together became our main source of entertainment/procrastination. We were ever-ready to play covers for friends and to perform on international student performances until one day we accidentally made our own song. Everything seemed to have happened of its own volition since then – perhaps it feels like that because we enjoyed the process so much. In any case, the dots started connecting quite naturally and before we knew it we had an album, we were being featured in the media and we even had a fan base!!  In that sense we became aware of having become professional musicians after it had already happened. Finding yourself in the middle of a fairly loosely structured industry and all the extra attention was a little unnerving initially. However the ever growing love and appreciation we are receiving makes us we feel very fortunate and happy to be here today.

As we had written in our review of Chup, we find your fusion of jazz and Central Asian folk traditions very appealing. How did this come into being? Were there any precedents whom you looked up to while composing songs like Paimona?

Haniya: While we were growing up, a lot of our family lived in Peshawar and we went there very often. In the 80s, Peshawar was home to hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, some of whom were musicians. As a result, we were exposed to Afghan, Central Asian and Irani music at a very early age and developed great affinity with this music. We also found it very odd that none of our friends seemed to know any of these songs. I always wanted to help bring this music to a larger audience and one way seemed to be to introduce the melodies to different styles of music from other parts of the world, to make them more accessible to more people.
Zeb: I have been a huge fan of Googosh from Iran and Fairouz from Lebanon. Both these women are from the seventies and both are icons.  They contemporized their local sound and managed to do it so well that their work has become timeless. These two women and their work is what inspired us to revisit popular Afghan tunes such as Paimona and Bibi Sanam Janam.

We strongly believe that cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan must be a daily affair and the two countries can achieve normalcy in relationship only through these kind of endeavours.Yes, this is a roundabout way of asking when can we see you perform live in India.

Haniya: Absolutely. Cultural diplomacy almost seems to be the only avenue open between the people of our countries.
Zeb: I couldn’t agree more!!  We are really looking forward to coming back. Last year we visited Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore and had an amazing time. Our experience along with all the positive feedback from fans in India since has made us really eager to perform there. Can’t wait to be back! It would also be great to see more  Indian musicians come here so we can hear them and collaborate with them.

What are the songs you guys listen to? Are your personal music preferences similar or are you guys into different genres of music? We have seen fusion bands with members coming from different musical backgrounds coming together and creating magic, is that the same with you?

Haniya: I’ve been listening to a lot of different kinds of music. When I was younger I listened to a lot of Pakistani pop and folk, Hindi film music and American classic rock – I was a huge Beatles fan, still am. Then I started discovering the singer/songwriters from the US and the UK, which is all I heard in my teenage years. In college I discovered the blues and jazz, as well as a lot of different kinds of world music, mostly from north and west Africa, Brazil, Turkey and Central Asia. At this point I listen to all these, as well as a little bit of electronic music and some Hindustani classical.
Zeb: I would say my influences are pretty similar to Haniya’s except perhaps that these days I listen to a lot of classical and semi classical eastern music. I’m also loving Turkish and Central Asian music, as well as old Hindi Film music.

Coke Studio is something we are totally in love with and we cannot simply stop raving about. How was your Coke Studio experience? How was sharing the stage with likes of Javed Bashir and Noori like? And can you please tell us about how it was working with Rohail Hyatt?

Zeb: Coke Studio is the most exciting thing to happen to Pakistani Music and we feel so fortunate to have been a part of it. Rohail Hyatt is great – it was truly inspiring to be around him and a real treat to have worked with him-twice! Rohail makes sure that musical freedom is unhampered and artists are encouraged to bring anything they want to the table.  When a song is mutually decided upon all support and infrastructure is provided to attempt it and when it’s done you can be sure it will get the right exposure.  It’s the perfect project for any artist.
Haniya: I’m truly stunned by the response received by Coke Studio. Working with Javed Bashir last year was definitely one of the high lights of our music career for me. Hearing how his alaaps transformed our compositions was a truly sublime experience.

Coke Studio 3 saw you perform new tracks like Nazar Eyle and Bibi Sanem.For one thing, these songs have introduced listeners like us to hitherto unheard music of Turkey and Afghanistan. A preliminary googling led us to great musicians like Baris Manco and Ahmad Zahir.How do you guys choose these songs? Folk traditions are pretty huge collections of songs and tunes, is there any particular reason for adopting these songs?

Haniya: We’ve talked about how we became familiar with Afghan music. We were also lucky enough to be exposed to Turkish music at a very young age. My father did his Masters degree in Ankara, and when he came back he brought a whole bunch of Baris Manco tapes with him, so I’ve grown up listening to these songs.
Zeb: So far we are drawing from memory.  Just like Indian music is widely heard in all of Pakistan, Afghan music is an integral part of most Pushto/Persian speaking households all over Pakistan. Haniya and I heard these tunes as children and there wasn’t much awareness of where these originated from, or who composed them. To give you an example, in Paimona’s case we were completely unaware of the the context and history of the song and only discovered it after the recording of the song.
As for the Turkish connection–my family had lived in Turkey a couple of times before I was born and there was always Turkish music in the house.( Barish Manco, Emel Sayin, Sezen Aksu, Mazhar Fuat Ozkan, Zeki Muren and Sertab Erener) Throughout out my childhood I was obsessed with all things Turkish, music, language, food…. you name it, and it was always my dream to live in Turkey. Fortunately, my father got posted there again and I lived with my family in Turkey for three years. That was when I really connected with the music and felt comfortable owning it

When can we see a follow-up album to the Chup? Will it be in the same vein or is the music of Zeb and Haniya constantly evolving or do you feel like you have found your sound?

Haniya: Definitely! We’re on the verge of re-entering the studio for the next album. This time we might release a few singles before the album comes out. Sound-wise, we definitely want to experiment a lot more on this second album. All the songs are very different this time round, and we want to pick the sound according to each track rather than picking one “album” sound and sticking to that.

Having seen Persian, Afghani and Turkish influences in your music, have you looked eastward for inspiration?

Haniya: I think the influence from the East is so strong, one almost takes it for granted
Zeb: Eastern musicality and melody forms the foundation of our songs   Our original compositions are very deeply eastern. The exploration and revisiting of  Central Asian songs  is something we are doing parallel to our own compositions.  Many of us in Pakistan today have very little idea about the connectedness of our cultural identity and there is such amazing music form the entire Central Asian region that I think many can love and identify with back home.

One major theme that we see in Pakistani music, is a strong Sufi undercurrent.Why is this so? Is sufism part of everyday life in Pakistan? Or is it just that these musicians happened to be Sufis?

Zeb:  The sub-continent has always been a land of Yogis and later on also a land of Sufis. It is an inherent part of our soil and of our souls and we are naturally drawn to it. Sufi music has always been most pervasive in Pakistan as it has been heard and been around in our lives in a major way. Several Sufi musicians such as  Allan Fakir, Ustad Jumman, Tufail Niazi, Hamid Ali Bela, Reshma and so on, were frequently featured on national Television, and live performances of Qawwalis were seen at private and public venues in addition to those at Sufi saints festivals and Mazaars. This was the music that cut across class and creed, and was loved universally. The powerful music as well as the depth and spiritual wisdom of the poetry speaks to all and touches the heart.  Sufis generally don’t want to bring attention to the fact that they are “Sufis.” However it is true that people today are consciously associating with Sufi thought because it has become, in many ways the need of the day. Many are seeking peace, positivity, and a message of compassion and tolerance which reaches the core of people. It has now become a vehicle for changing the perceptions of how people within the Islamic world and outside have started viewing Islam.

Have you considered giving music to films? If a chance props up, will you be interested in working in Indian films?

Haniya: We want to keep trying new and different projects, so that we can stay on our toes creatively. The only thing I am not willing to do is get stuck in any one formula. We recently composed and recorded a theme song for a Pakistani TV drama serial called Daam, and that was the first time that we composed according to a plot, with the voices of the characters coming through rather than our own. And I have to say I had a lot of fun writing and arranging that song. So, yes, we’d love to give it a shot.
Zeb: It would be so exciting to do a soundtrack for a film.  We are working on the soundtrack for a Toronto based play at the moment and are also considering some Pakistani film projects. I think it would be a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to reach out to Indian-Pakistani audience by way of Indian films.