Overview: A musical tale of two cities Lahore & Karachi

The music of Karachi has no definite history to speak of as opposed to Lahore. Karachi is a modern city with a modern sound. It is the sound of realism, at times resounding with the harshness of reality and sometimes echoing its soul. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Charles Dickens’ literary masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities, begins with these words. Though the novel has a theme of self-sacrifice and resurrection, the starting line of the novel can be applied here in Pakistan to two of its largest and most prominent cities — namely Karachi and Lahore.

Indeed both cities have seen the best and the worst of times as far as the music industry’s concerned. But how do these cities relate to one another? How does their music combine and form the modern music scene as we know it? The music that originates from the Punjab is as intricate as its historic architecture. Lahore, the “garden of the Mughals”, has seen a myriad of melodies, genres, and vocals alongside a variety of musical instruments (both new and old) over the past few decades.

This has given rise to the city’s diverse sound of music and rapidly evolving culture from the earthy qawwals of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Punjabi ditties of Abrar-ul-Haq, pop sensations Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar, the underground Lahori grunge/rock revolution (of a handful of bands) during the early ’90s and the revolutionaries of yesteryear such as Malika-i-Tarannum Noor Jehan, Farida Khanum, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and many more. In addition, the dhol maestro Pappu Saien and the master of the ek-tara, Saien Zahoor (both of whom have performed for people at shrines and concerts) to the fresh crop of commercialised Lahori pop acts (of both the past and today), the jaded, angst-ridden rockers/bands such as Shahzad Hameed, Call and eP, music from Lahore has been assorted at best.

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