The 20 Best Pakistani Pop Songs … ever!

Now, now atif lets not get all weepy here, okay. I believe
one has to have a little more brains for ana to relate to him.
Your comment lacked all this its as simple as that.
And ana I really do envy you for actually believing that chowk will allow itself to print what
is certainly NFP`s most radical and bizzare and of course most amazing piece of work.
I was just suprized that he submitted Cactus Gas here after the rightwing bashing his
Acidity got here.

atif #29

i think you should stop wondering when or if i would ever relate to you, and wondering about other things like hmmm, `will i die being as clueless as i am right now. .` or `will the bigness of my heart exceed the bigness of my. . . .` you know, things that are really worth wondering about. :)

vaisay i can`t relate to everything and everyone at chowk. i certainly can`t relate to arroganoramuses, and chowk is in no short supply of those. perhaps a visit to the eye doctor might just cure your vision problem, although depth perception might be a whole different matter.

if that day should ever come when i will relate to you. . . it will. until then, as faiz said, `tum apni kar guzro. .jo hoga dekha jayega` how`s that?

ana - you wrote ``i could actually relate to this. . .given that i`ve heard more than a few of these songs.``

actually, i have noticed that you can relate to everything and everyone on chowk, except me. you treat me like your third sokun. all i asked NFP was WHY he thinks his list to be the ``best ever`` songs, what criteria he used etc etc.

i wonder if a day will come when you will ``relate`` to me.

When I say ``Pakistani Pop Songs`` I obviously mean largely Urdu ``(post)-modern music`` made, bought and listened to by the country`s urban, middle-class youth cultures.
Perhaps this is also true for Indian pop music and culture?
Sometimes certain songs and albums do manage to cross over and spill onto the tastes of working class, suburban and rural listeners, such as Abrar`s ``Billo,`` Vital Signs` ``Dil, Dil Pakistan,`` etc., but it very much remains to be a youth-oriented middle-class happening.
So, ``pop`` here does not strictly mean Popular. Because if it did, then players such as Attaullah, Naheed Akhtar, Mehdi Hassan, Noorjehan, etc., would certainly have made it on this list. But like I said, this list is more about the birth of fusion (in the late-`80s) between Western pop/rock influences and popular Pakistani film music.
This list was drawn and concluded mainly as a tribute celeberating the sounds and ways, the idealism and as well as the cynical commercial savy of urban middle-class generations of young artists and fans that ever since the late `80s have largely managed to tackle the rot set in by the socially retarding ways of the Zia dictatorship.

rgds,
NFP

HisExcellency #23 So, in Pakistan Urdu is considered to be urban modern? Good for it. In India,this is hardly what one can say for Hindi.Actually teenagers and aunties think it is hip to say that they cant understand a sentence of Hindi.And that is probably why urban Hindi pop is almost non existent. Hindi literature is also languishing .But that is going way off topic.
And just thought i would mention, Blind Melon`s ``No Rain`` and ``Sar keeay ye Pahar`` are two great songs that remind me of each other. ``No Rain`` is also a wonderfully introspective song with great guitaring.

arre trashman, kya hua? jealous???!!! oh dear i hope i haven`t begun a tiff here!!!! *evil laugh*

vaisay i read it somewheres. i know. not very helpful. and yes i mean to say he actually submitted Cactus here. and why the heck wouldn`t it be allowed here on chowk? chowk has been known to publish drivel (currently a front page story is just that). cactus is, in my humble opinion, NOT drivel. : )

i just saw `east is east` again after many years. and if you`ve read Cactus and seen the movie, doesn`t the constant usage of the word `you bustaa` remind you of the patriarch george khan??!!

now back to our regular programming.

Good one NFP, but I thought you quit writing on music? Havent been
seeing you in Instep and bandbaja lately. So what`s the deal?
And ana, where on earth did you read Paracha`s Cactus Gas? I
thought he EXCLUSIVELY mailed me a copy! And you mean to say
he actually submitted Cactus here on chowk?? You really believe
Cactus will be allowed here??

For the most part this list is cool.

Songs that help launch a `movement` of sorts even if they are not musically brilliant need to be counted as among the greats. HisExcellencies : hava hava, heer, dil dil pakistan, dam mast qalandar (NOT jazba-e-Junoon) are legible candidates for the top ten list.

However, I agree with Wajahat on songs like `lift karaday`. Many happy-go-lucky `social commentary` numbers preceded this song. Such as Billo. Or something even earlier: `Chief Sahab`.

Speaking of which, NFP made a huge mistake in leaving out Sajad Ali`s `Chief Sahab`.

re: #17 by jang

+++
what music do ordinary pakistanis (like auto-rikshaw drivers or taxidrivers) have in their collection?
+++

Most truck & wagon drivers in Pakistan are Pashtuns, so they either prefer Pashtu filmi cassettes. However, no truck driver`s collection is complete without a few albums of Ataullah Issa Khailvi. He used to be very popular in the 80s and early 90s. Most of his songs are in Seraiki, Hindko (a Pushto dialect spoken in Potohar region) and Punjabi. Some of his best tracks include Kameez Teri Kaali, Theva, Way bol saanwal, Khaama Paaday Shah, Tussaan Nu Maan Watanaan Da, and Baalo Battiyaan.

Punjabi truck drivers like Ataullah but also listen to Tufail Niazi, Noor Jehan, Inayat Hussain Bhatti, Alam Lohar and (recently) the new Punjabi pop singers (Abrar, Naseebo Lal, Akram Rahi, Shazia Manzoor).

Taxi drivers are usually more urbanized. They develop a taste for Urdu songs, just to sound more sophisticated than their rural counterparts. So usually they will always keep one or two classic albums of Kishore, Lata, Rafi and Mukesh. Among the Pakistani Urdu singers, taxi drivers still prefer the filmi singers (Waris Baig, A. Nayyar, Masood Rana and Saleem Raza). Sometimes driving in Karachi, one does hear Ahmed Rushdie playing in taxi stands.

I don`t think any of the pop stars (Junoon, Vital Signs, Hadiqa, Komal, Collage, Ali Zafar, Awaz, Strings) have a following outside the English-speaking crowd.

Can someone shed some more light on this question?

Almost all the songs mentioned by Paracha are worth listening. Recap made me remember the good old days when Pop music was being born in Pakistan and teenagers like me were being influenced by it. Older generation used to make joke of it and as a teenager, I always got irritated by it.
Concerts arranged at World cup 96 were just amazing. After Abrar`s Billo and Junoon`s Jazba e Junoon (Just before Sayyo ni`` I guess) , Pop Music was banned on PTV and this ban remained there for almost one year (So stupid of Nawaz Sharif).

Made me remember a lot about the past days. It was so interesting (and so irritating when Pop music was banned and criticized).

I think that a few more songs can be added to the list.

Overall, a very good article.

jang,

some older ladies and aunties like my mother, for example, can also listen to stuff like `billo de ghar` and junoon and mohammad ali shyhaki (i just realized HE wasn`t on the list. .grrrr). ammi likes alamgir. but if they think that pop music is shameless and for kids, and if they don`t think that all music is haraaaaam, then they will listen to the music they grew up with which just happens to include hindi filmi gaanay as well. and ghazals, and qawwalis.

as for the taxi drivers and riksha vaalay, depending on where they are, they listen to filmi gaanay from indian and pakistani fillums, and nazia and zoheb hassan`s `bolo bolo na, kya hai mera naam. . .STAR!` and a variety of other music. imagine that! and in the punjab, they also get a kick out of listening to punjabi fillum songs, particularly those sung by the malika-e-besharam, oops, i meant the malika-e-tarannum noor jehan.

and when `billo de ghar` came out, all the punjabi men were singing it, english speaking vaalay, riksha chalanay vaalay, taxi drivers, lafangay chasing women in the streets.

yeah i know your question was tongue-in-cheek, but i thought i`d answer it with tongue-half-in-cheek.

I haven`t heard any of these songs, except Purani Jeans. LOVED it ! It was probably the only song that came close to being the anthem of our class in my last year of engineering. The lyrics and the tune both are simple but soulful. It never failed to create that nostalgic atmosphere whenever it was played at any college function.

Nice list of songs. But a top 20 can`t have some 30+ songs. And half of those songs are not pop!
Interesting read nevertheless.

Some songs need to be deducted from this list in whose place the following may be a good bet for all money:

Jazba-e- Junoon (Juoon)
Dil Dil Pakistan (Vital Signs)
Ek Baar Kaho (Ahmed Jahanzaib)
Bin Tere Kya Hai Jeena (Jawad Ahmed)
Afreen Afreen (Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)

???????????????

what music do ordinary pakistanis (like auto-rikshaw drivers or taxidrivers) have in their collection? is it different than english speaking ones who own cars? how about older ladies and aunties?

These songs can definately be classified as the most popular songs ever because no one can get enough of them. But isn`t the tune of Ham Kinaray Par Kharay Hain by Sajjad Ali a rip off? Heard Channo`s music was too.

Cheaters enjoying the credit that others deserve.