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Power Vocals
He
burst onto the music scene with Aadat, a song he sang with his
erstwhile band Jal. His throaty vocals, described by a fan as �a dark
horse running in the wild� very soon caught the imagination of
Bollywood. What followed is a string of chart toppers, right from Woh
Lamhe to Bas Ek Pal, Bakhuda tumhi ho to the latest Tuu jaane naa for
Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani. Atif Aslam is the good-looking singer with
a golden voice. In Bangalore for the first time, here�s a snatch from
the conversation Bangalore Mirror had with him:
You are having a great run in Bollywood today with every song of yours turning into a super hit. Does the success surprise you?
It
doesn�t surprise me at all. Playback is certainly different from the
kind of music I do. Pakistan, where I come from, has a pop and rock
band culture while in India it is about Bollywood so I knew the music I
did was different and would be received well here. I get nominated for
awards too but what surprises me is that I don�t win them. (comments
tongue in cheek)
Your critics strongly rant that you sound the same in all your songs. Any comments?
I am not a trained singer but the critics are trained.
We�ve read that you trained to be a cricket player. Are you still pursuing it? And who is your favourite cricketer?
Yes,
I trained in the Pakistan Cricket Academy and started playing with
cricketers like Shoaib Akhtar. I even got selected for the under-19
team but now I am losing my touch as I don�t practice it enough. Wasim
Akram is my favourite player and talking about the Indian team, it�s
Sachin Tendulkar.
A musician once
stated that Pakistani bands have a stronger presence in the
international music scene than Indian bands. As a successful Pakistani
rock singer yourself, why do you think it is so?
I
think it is because Bollywood has a very strong presence in India. It
takes over everything else. They don�t give any prominence to pop
artists to perform. Talent needs to be appreciated. I guess that is the
key reason. Pakistani music is original and that is why it is working
in India. Directors form here come to us and ask us to sing in our
style. I think it would be right to say that �Pakistan has the talent
while India has the market.�
Tell us how is your family reacting to your stardom?
Initially
when I got into singing, my parents asked me: �Why do you want to
sing?� They were disappointed. They wanted me to become a doctor or an
engineer. I was even a candidate for the Pakistan air force. I saw my
dream of becoming a cricketer being neglected so I decided to just
collect my pocket money into recording a song. Today, after seeing all
the accolades I receive, my parents appreciate me.
What do you enjoy more - live performances or recordings?
Definitely
live performances. You just don�t have to bother about the notes and
you have all that high that comes from performing in front of the
audience. Recordings are bo-o-oring (he drawls).
What is the one song that always gets requests from crowds wherever you go?
(Answers
without any hesitation) Gulaabi Ankhen. At a recent concert I had the
audience asking for it like anything and I was really surprised by it.
To think it was not even a song! It was meant to be aring tone.
Somebody just recorded it and uploaded it and it just travelled from
Pakistan to India.
Finally, music to you is�
Music to me is like the sea. | 
