This 18-year-old is bringing Electronic Dance Music to Pakistan

[ghazi52]

This 18-year-old is bringing Electronic Dance Music to Pakistan
By Rida Lodhi
March 18, 2019

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KARACHI: Back in December, a colleague called me over to listen to a song he was listening to on repeat. “Who’s the artist?” I asked him.

“Just listen to him. He’s 18 and he’s bringing Electronic music to Pakistan. His voice is so crisp and fresh. He’ll make it big. I know it. He’s the future of the Pakistani music scene,” my colleague responded.

I came across Abdullah Siddiqui for the first time that day. The track, Resistance, certainly had a foreign feel to it. The music was too good and the lyrics too relatable. Needless to say, Siddiqui made it to The Express Tribune’s Top 20 songs of 2018 and we have no qualms about it.

The latest episode of Nescafé Basement featured the same song by Siddiqui. While its YouTube lyrical version had over 19k views, Nescafé Basement‘s rendition of the same track crossed over 788k views in just two days.

“I’m just trying to take it all in,” the 18-year-old musician said in an exclusive interview. “It’s been three years since I’ve started producing music. I write, compose and produce all my tracks. I’m more like a one man band, if you could say that.”

An A-levels student, Siddiqui says he likes to experiment with his music.

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“I work mostly with Electronic and Indie Pop genres,” he commented. “My maternal side has always been into music. No family event would be complete without it. So, I’ve always been around music and grew up with it.”

But, Siddiqui hasn’t received any professional training. “I’ve been playing the guitar since I was nine-year-old. I started producing music a year after that. So, it’s been eight years since I’ve been producing songs,” he continued.

Electronic music is still relatively new to the Pakistani music industry. And Siddiqui somewhat agrees to the risks attached to it. “It’s not just me but many other individual artists who are bringing the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) to Pakistan. It is an active choice to work with this particular genre,” he shared.

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“However, I don’t think people comprehend that Pakistanis consume a lot more EDM or Pop than we usually think. But the problem is, it’s all international. It’s just not produced locally. I do think though, that EDM has a bright future in this country.”

Siddiqui released Resistance in August last year. “I wrote and recorded the song in three days. I was really unwell and it just kind of resonated in the lyrics. I tend to write songs that might describe my state of mind. I don’t really rationalise it. But once I read what I’ve written again, it all makes sense to me,” he added.

So, how did Nescafé Basement happen?

“The song garnered a lot of support from within the music industry and it was shared on social media quite religiously. That’s when Xulfi came across it. He later added me on Facebook,” Siddiqui went on. “Then, I considered auditioning for the show. But luckily, the day I was actually thinking about it and was about to start recording, Xulfi messaged me on Facebook, asking me to drop by his studio and discuss the song further.”

Siddiqui credits the revamped version of his song to the Call frontman. “It was Xulfi’s vision: the graphics, the changes of the song. He had thought it through to the very last detail,” explained the singer.

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On why the chose Resistance since it was already on mainstream media, Siddiqui shared it was because Xulfi liked the song for what it was.

“Xulfi didn’t want to change it all. He liked the song for what it was. He just thought Resistance didn’t have enough audience. He had a very clear idea on how he wanted to do it. He wanted the soul of the song to remain the same. Had I had complete control on the changes, I wouldn’t have done it any differently,” he said.

Does Siddiqui see himself taking music up as a full-fledged profession? “I plan on making music while getting a degree and continuing my studies. I hope – in the not so distant future – I see myself become a full-time musician,” he continues. “In five years, I see myself doing everything. I’m into film-making and I’m into writing.”

He concluded, “Remember when I said I like to experiment? Well, that’s not just limited to music.”

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

Oh dear god no! I hate that type of stuff

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

He got talent. Beautiful voice.

 

[Death Professor]

I really enjoyed his song 'Resistance', he is very skilled. But I don't think that his song would get fame and reach 5 million+ views like other coke studio songs or nescafe/pepsi songs. Language is the issue and since he is a Pakistani, I doubt international media/music-industry would pay him any attention.

 

[Secret Service]

Sorry man this is Not electronic dance, it is something electro pop. Good stuff otherwise.

 

[ghazi52]

LOS ANGELES – Electronic Dance Music, better known as EDM, is becoming increasingly popular among young Americans, but the genre’s concerts lately have been plagued by a series of dangerous problems.

The death of a 24-year-old California man at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas over the weekend put a tragic dampener over the sparkling festival which attracted 130,000 people and was headlined by big names in the DJ music genre including Avicii, Diplo, Afrojack and Tiesto. The carnival relocated to the Vegas Motor Speedway from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum four years ago, after a 15-year-old girl died from drug intoxication.

On Wednesday night, dozens of Boston concertgoers – some as young as 16 – were hospitalized at Avicii’s EDM bash due to problems involving alcohol, drugs and dehydration. The Boston Police Licensing Division subsequently cited the venue for allowing intoxicated attendees to enter.

As EDM’s popularity continues to rise– drugs, death and dance music are becoming all too commonly used in the same sentence. Drug use, attendees say, presents the biggest danger.

“Drugs have always had a place in club and dance music culture. Anytime you see people on drugs it is disturbing, especially to those of us who are so passionate about the music,” Jamie Krauss, a N.Y.-based publicist who has been working with EDM artists for several years, told FOX411.
Last year, organizers of the Electric Zoo festival in New York canceled the event’s final third day following the death of two young fans in addition to four others being hospitalized and 31 arrests. A week earlier, a 19-year-old died at a show in Boston. A security guard was trampled at the Ultra Music Festival in March, prompting the Mayor of Miami Tomas Regalado to declare the festival shouldn’t be brought back to the city despite the millions of dollars it brings to the local economy.

Vegas law enforcement officials estimated that 48 drug-related felony arrests were made at the Electric Daisy Carnival and more than 550 medical calls were made throughout the weekend.

The issues are becoming all too common, concertgoers say.

One EDM party attendee recalled several years ago seeing girls as young as 15 pass out during a show as others continued to surge and trample over her. The performing artist eventually called on attendees to “look out for one another” as it appeared the security couldn’t keep things under control.

Yet Krauss said that it is often hard to gauge whether security personnel has a handle on what’s going on. She says that at the big festivals, numerous measures – such as thorough bag checks and having medical professionals and guards on-site – are taken ensure public safety.

And some attendees argue that the substance use is no worse than at any other concert, in any other time period.

“EDM parties are no different than any mass gathering. People overdosed at Bonnaroo (a Tennessee-based festival that showcase all types of music), someone was stabbed at the Stones in ’69, and people were trampled at The Who in 79,” noted music expert and Rolling Stone journalist Steve Baltin. “The crowds [at EDM shows] are not violent or aggressive so the only question is if security can stop drugs coming in and the answer is probably not. There are always drugs at rock, country, or hip hop shows. I saw drunk people at a Neil Diamond show, it happens everywhere.”

Medical professionals assert that it is when drugs like molly — which is said to be the active ingredient in ecstasy known as MDMA— are mixed with contaminants that trouble arises. But some EDM fans insist the drug is an important part of the shows.

“For me [while listening to electronic dance music], the drug makes the music almost sound better,” said an 18-year-old from the New York area who takes molly at concerts.

And troubles aside, there is a distinct appeal to these types of parties.

“It’s the communal vibe. Dance music has always been about bringing people together for a shared experience through the energy of a dance floor. The sensory overload is incredible,” Krauss explained. “As festival culture becomes more pervasive, there is great competition to provide not only the best music, but the most incredible production value as well.”

And man EDM devotees and music industry executives insist that the genre is much more than mere drug-fueled fests. Indeed, it is making its mark on the mainstream music world.

Daftpunk won Record of the Year at the 2014 Grammys while Dubstep was used last year for a video advertising President Obama’s State of the Union address. The top EDM DJs are paid well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to spin a single set. And believe it or not, many attend these parties because they really do love the music.

“Not all EDMers are raging drugged out nutcases,” added longtime dance party devotee turned journalist Ariane Sommer. “It’s more of a lifestyle movement than a way to party. People feel they belong.”

Follow @holliesmckay on Twitter.

 

[ghazi52]

Electronic dance music is generally composed and produced in a recording studio with specialized equipment such as samplers, synthesizers, effects units and MIDI controllers all set up to interact with one another using the MIDI protocol. In the genre's early days, hardware electronic musical instruments were used and the focus in production was mainly on manipulating MIDI data as opposed to manipulating audio signals. Since the late 1990s the use of software has increased. Many modern electronic music production studio generally consists of a computer running a digital audio workstation (DAW), with various plug-ins installed such as software synthesizers and effects units, which are controlled with a MIDI controller such as a MIDI keyboard. This setup is generally sufficient to complete entire productions, which are then ready for mastering.

A typical home studio setup for EDM production with computer, audio interface and various MIDI instruments.

 

[Mutakalim]

Wow, what an achievement. lol

 

[El Sidd]

#NoblePeaceAward
#DanceToSriNagar