Discovering Karachi’s oldest music shops

[ghazi52]

“If we continue to serve our customers well, we will continue getting good business.”

Sohail Music Palace
We settle back on our Vespa and ride towards Duarte Mansion. A musician friend once mentioned a shop in one of the streets there.

After a few wrong turns, we finally find ourselves in front of a music shop tucked between auto workshops.

‘Sohail Music Palace,’ as the name reads on the signboard above the entrance, has been serving its customers since the 60s. It was known as Saeed Music Shop back then, named after the father of the current owners.

We enter the shop and find Sohail – one of the two brothers who own the shop – dealing with customers. It has to be the most exquisitely decorated music shop in Karachi.

Sohail Music Palace has to be one of the most well-assorted music shops in the city.


The assortment inside is much wider in range. There are guitars hanging from the wall and the racks are stacked with ek taras (one stringers). To my right, I see harmoniums stacked on top of each other and on the back wall, colorful tambourines are arranged neatly.

Sohail's music shop has a wide range of musical instruments.
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[ghazi52]

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Sohail is not as talkative as Waqar. I had heard from my friend that Sohail was considering switching professions on personal religious grounds.

But when we finally strike conversation about the shop and his late father’s legacy, I notice a glimpse of pride in his eyes.

His father, Sheikh Saeed, migrated to Karachi from Delhi and set up his shop with the help of expert craftsmen such as Badruddin Meeruth. Many craftsmen and entrepreneurs have mastered the trade in his shop, Sohail tells me.

More customers step in. A lady enters accompanying a child who wants to get his guitar tuned. Another is looking for a used harmonium. Sohail has something for everyone.

Guitars are a popular choice for Sohail's customers also.


I wander around the shop and stop to look at the exquisitely crafted ek taras, tambourines and harmoniums.

Sohail later tells me they don’t manufacture instruments now and buy them off traders in Sialkot and Lahore. His brother, who is a fantastic painter, adds colourful motifs to them. The instruments look like pieces of art.

Colorful sarangis on display at Sohail Music Palace.


Waheed Music Centre
Sohail and Waqar both mentioned a certain Waheed who had worked with their respective parents back in the 60s and now runs a shop in Laloo Khet.

I had visited his shop a few years ago but still ask for directions since Karachi’s landscape changes every year. I leave my Vespa home and drive all the way to Laloo Khet, picking up a friend on the way.

Everyone knows Karachi’s traffic can be a nuisance but if someone wants to experience it at its worst, driving from Hassan Square to Laloo Khet should be enough. My friend, who has recently shifted from Lahore, looks at the traffic and wonders if a visit to Waheed’s Music shop is worth it.

We try to recall the directions to the shop but give up after few wrong turns. I call my musician friend and get fresh instructions which also prove insufficient.

Finally, we turn to technology, and use Google maps to look up the shop. We end up driving in streets so narrow only one vehicle can pass through them at a time.

We battle for driving room with bikes, vegetable sellers and hordes of pedestrians. Finally, we end up in the service lane of a major thoroughfare where Waheed’s humble shop is situated.

We finally locate Waheed's Music shop and find Waheed repairing a harmonium there.


There is a canopy installed in front of the shop and we find Waheed repairing a harmonium under it. Two elderly gentlemen are sitting beside him, both of whom appear to be frequent visitors.

On the glass window of the shop, several photos are pinned, celebrating Waheed’s moments with music icons of the era. The jewel among these mementos is Waheed’s photo with the great Mehdi Hassan.

Waheed's photo with Mehdi Hassan is proudly displayed at the entrance.


We tell Waheed we have driven all the way from Saddar to see him. Upon hearing that, he disappears inside his shop and brings chilled water for us. We gulp it down and thank him for his hospitality. He adjusts back into his spot and resumes repairing the harmonium.

Waheed is perhaps the only craftsman alive who has seen the Pakistani music industry’s glory days of the 60s. But he doesn't brag too much about it.
As he speaks, his fingers continue to weave their magic, untangling copper wires and connecting the chords of a harmonium. His helper works on assembling a new harmonium.

Waheed's music shop is one of few shops in Karachi which stills manufacture harmoniums.


He tells me he manufactures 25 to 30 of them on order every year using kel, which is procured from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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[ghazi52]

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Waheed's shop is also a hangout for the elderly in the area.


He says customers prefer harmoniums manufactured in Lahore and Amritsar, which are made from lassani wood and are hence cheaper.

Beatles Centre
Beatles Centre near Jhel Park is one of the oldest music shops in the city and has taken its business to a whole new level.

Aamir, the second-generation proprietor, proudly tells me the history of his shop and some of the later innovations introduced.

Aamir has transformed the Beatles Centre into one of the largest online music stores in the country.


Aamir’s father, Gulzar Khaliqdina, founded this shop on Tariq Road’s Dupatta Gali in the 60s.

The Beatles have clearly been a great inspiration.


Like the rest of the shops, Beatles Centre dealt in classical instruments also. But there were lots of Christian and Goans musicians who frequented the shop for guitars and drums.

The Beatles Centre is one of the largest dealer of guitars in the country.


Over time, Beatles Music shop stopped manufacturing classical instruments and now focuses on dealing in some of the biggest brands in the music industry: D’addario, Walden, Promark, Planetwaves and others.

Aamir frequently attends exhibitions – most notably in Shanghai, Frankfurt and Los Angeles – in his quest to bring the best of global brands to Karachi.

An assortment of imported guitars on display.


Beatles Centre has also been a trendsetter in the online community and has an active website that displays the merchandise. They also deliver music instruments across the country via courier.

Farooq Soomro is a quintessential Karachi denizen who likes to document life (or the lack of it) in Karachi and elsewhere. He likes to collect vinyl records and books.

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[Barrel-Bomba]

cool, interesting read.

 

[Shot-Caller]

The only ugly thing in all these pictures is that MQM shit written on a shutter.

 

[Jaanbaz]

The only ugly thing in all these pictures is that MQM shit written on a shutter.

On subject of ugly.

 

[silent hawk]

lovely research

 

[ghazi52]

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Pakistan's first ever "DREAMLAND" drive in theatre in 1963-64.

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