Music in Cyberspace
Pakistani Music Resources on
the Net
- fan sites, tab sites, official sites, free music, etc. -
Cyberspace offers up a wealth of information and materials for music lovers, the uninitiated and the rabid fans alike about Pakistani artists and their music and related news, gossip, pictures and opportunities to chat with other fans and what not.
Prime amongst the sites on offer are websites and homepages of mainstream bands and individual artists. It is the mainstream artists who seem to have the moolah to spend and it often shows in their impressive web-sites: With a few notable exception, all the major artists have impressive presence on the web. Junoon (www.junoon.com) is the biggest band in Pakistan and so has an appropriately excellent site heavy with substance as well as pizzazz. Strings (www.stringsonline.net) who may contest for the title of the biggest band of Pakistan with Junoon, certainly has one of the best, if not the best, web sites. Faakhir’s site (www.faakhir.com) contains so much self-love and self-appreciation that it is almost obscene. Having said that, it is a nicely designed site.
Najam Shiraz (www.najamshiraz.com), Hadiqa Kiani (www.hadiqakiani.com/) and Fareeha Pervaiz (www.farihapervaiz.com) each have sites that are solid and adequate on content. They tend to be high on the glamour, but low on substance. Junaid Jamshed (www.junaidjamshedonline.net) and Vital Signs (http://www.geocities.com/Baja/5826/index.htm) are quite net saavy and their sights are quite creditable. Newcomer Shiraz Uppal has a site at http://www.geocities.com/shirazuppal/.
It is also particularly heartening to see two major deceased artists being lovingly treated to web-sites. The official site of Ustaad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is at www.nfak.com does not have an impressive front end, but has quite a lot of substance (a particularly impressive links page.) Nazia Hassan (www.listen.to/naziazoheb) similarly is lovingly paid tribute to with a nicely designed website which offers a chance to listen to her greatest hits.
While the net is quite egalitarian in the sense that anyone can have a website on it, that also serves as a drawback. Naff artists seem to have nice websites on the net: Saleem Javed (www.saleemjaved.com) and Shahzada Faisal (www.shahzadafaisal.com) have nice sites which are much nicer than what they deserve. Notable artists without websites appear to be Haroon, Abrar-ul-Haq and Jawad Ahmad who each need to get their act together on this front.
In addition to official websites, a host of fan-websites of favorite Pakistani artists are littered all over the net. They are far too many in number (and usually of not that high quality) to mention here. The best way to get at them is through links at the official band pages or off of your favourite search engine (Google and Yahoo are useful).
The web really shines in the endless opportunity it gives to upcoming artists to promote themselves. The possibilities it offers for promotion, marketing and even selling merchandise are limitless. And top of it all the joy of finding a fun local band one was unaware of on the net and discovering their music (Jangli Jaggas, Ganda Banda & the 3D Cats, Ali Hamza, Sameen Haqqi, Adil Salik) remains one of the greatest joys of net surfing these days.
The most exciting of these sites is possibly the new Noori/ Ali Noor website at www.nooriworld.com offering for the first time anywhere good quality audio of Ali Noor’s Manwa Re and up to date news and fan interaction.
While Lahore’s cult death metal band Seth does not have a site of its own, the fansite at http://seth1.cjb.net is remarkable. The discussion forum is a must read as Seth fans seem to define the word rabid. Another Seht fansite at http://sethsux.8m.com/ is a nice new addition.
Two major guitar talents have their sites on the net. Guitarist extra-ordinaire Faraz Anwar is up at www.gnarlygeezer.com/artists.asp?artist=4 and Mekaal Hassan has two well-designed though seriously self-aggrandising web-sites at www.mekaalhasan.cjb.net and www.mekaalhasanband.com.
Adil Salik has a painstakingly rendered site at http://drive.to/dye and his songs for Dyed Corduroy are well worth downloading if you can find them on the net.
In terms of design and content, perhaps the best site is the one belonging to Sameen Haqqi his site at http://www.sameenhaqqi.com/ which offers techno music, good artwork and an excellently designed site.
Entity (www.entity5.cjb.net/) and Once (www.once-undercover.com) each have excellently rendered sites and are quite open in offering up their music for free. Gulls also offer up a music-related site at www.gulls.com.pk.
Pepsi Battle of the Bands (www.pepsichill.com/bob/) has done a creditable job at promoting local talents such as Brain Masala (http://www10.brinkster.com/brainmasala) and Messiah (http://www.messiahx.com/). However, A+ for effort goes to www.entity.8m.com which does an excellent job in profiling the Lahore Music Underground and the various bands that have populated it.
There are also then two competing websites which seem worth bookmarking but which seem to be in the teething process: Karachi Underground (karachiunderground.com/) is an upcoming site offering some music video and similarly Lahore Underground (www.swutch.com/lahoreunderground/) seems to be taking its first steps.
Lastly, a bit of self-promotion. The Ready Ho TV site at entertainmentunderground.com is worth checking just for the simple reason that the author is involved with the same (so it cannot be not good now, can it?)
One of the best and possibly the most controversial resource available on the net is music that is made available on the net. It may be free, but it sure isn’t guilt free as the net offers itself to trading of pirated songs. There is a proliferation of mp3s and other real audio music available on the net. Some of it is legal, most of the ones available are not.
Audiogalaxy (www.audiogalaxy.com) and other peer to peer file transfer programs (Napster, Kazaa, etc.) offer up a great number of choices. Local sites have also come up: Music is on offer at www.pakimp3.com and MuziqPakistan www.muziqpakistan.com each of which is excellent. Not only is the music at these sites excellent, but the sites also offers heavily populated discussion forums for people to rant and rave about their favorite and non-favorite bands. MP3.com (www.mp3.com) is also awesome and is completely legal. Jangli Jaggas and Ganda Banda & 3D Cats with Dhoonda Taron Main (my favorite), Ali Hamza, Ali Noor, Entity/ Paradigm (EP) and others are all available for download variously.
Other sites worth checking out are Pakistan Music at www.pakistanmusic.com which is good with more commercial content, but is not comprehensive. Pakbeat (www.pakbeat.com), Sohni Dharti (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Arena/1890/), Yassir’s Song Gallery (http://www27.brinkster.com/pkmuzik/) and Pakistan Music Links (http://music.webs.com.pk/songs.php) each offer some interesting links and a host of good songs. Pakipop (www.pakipop.com) was one of the earliest sites on the net but not shows its age: it still has good content.
There is a paucity of sheet music/ guitar tabs for local artists on the net. Only Strings have been gracious enough to offer up chords on their site. Junoon has been nice enough to provide links to a site http://www.uio.no/%7Ewasimza/junoon1.html which provides good quality tabs and chord charts.
Also worth checking out is the Pakistani Musicians Website by Asad Khan (http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/3410/index.html) and the Music Club of Pakistan (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/5018/). OLGA (www.olga.net) , UBL.com (www.ubl.com) and Harmony Central (www.harmony-central.com) offer few Pakistani Act, but are still sometimes worth a look as there are some that are available.
No one seems to have set up an effectively working internet radio station as yet. Pakfree made an attempt at Internet Radio but that seems to have gone belly-up and when it works it has the disadvantage of being for Pakfree members only. Radio Pakistan (http://www.radio.gov.pk/) is present on the net and their live feed is useful. Similarly, the Pakistan Television has a superlative site (http://www.ptv.com.pk) and offers some songs too. The best available radio channel on the net is probably Paknews Radio (http://radio.paknews.com/) which has some entertainment programs on it too.
So primarily, one remains in anticipation of a good internet radio station.
In the end, a word to the fan and the budding musician: the possibilities and resources offered by the net are countless and excellent. This was but a primer, explore and be amazed.
(For convenience sake an html version of this article with instant links can be found at www.qayyums.com/maq/. Send out shouts outs, rants and raves at maq@qayyums.com.)