Atif Aslam’s life changed. He is now out with his second Indian album Meri Kahani
Were you always interested in music? In
school my only passion was cricket. It was during college that I was
first drawn to music as my eldest brother was having a collection of
more than 8,000 songs of almost all music genres. I soon started
listening to all kinds of music, started singing but was still not
really interested in music. At the insistence of my college friends I
participated in the singing competition on Independence Day
celebrations and won.This became a habit. Later I met Goher and we
began doing mini concerts, singing songs by Junoon and Strings. After
recording Aadat at Mekal Hassan’s studio I named our band as Jal which
means water, the essence of life. The song was a rage. Then things got
going.
You had a good innings in
India with hits in Zeher, Kalyug (in which Aadat was used) and Bas Ek
Pal (Tere bin) as well as the album Doorie. How is your new album Meri
Kahani different? Meri Kahani can simply be stated to be
the journey and life story of Atif Aslam. It is a soulful, poignant
album, composed, arranged and rendered with a kind of depth and
sensitivity. There are eleven songs and I am introducing a new sound
from Pakistan with a lot of ‘live’ instruments.
How would you describe the sound? Well,
unlike Doorie this album has a greater variety with Sufi, traditional
as well as contemporary tracks. I would say that it is not at all
commercial, though I have Soft Rock in the song Chhod gaye. There is a
‘live’ feel. Acoustics for me is much more spiritual and closer than
electronic. In a way, you could say that I will be introducing a form
of underground music here.
Have you also written and composed these songs? Yes, I have. What else do you do back home? Well, I keep doing concerts, gigs and albums. I now have my own studios too.
Are you singing in any forthcoming Hindi film? Yes,
Tips, the label which is releasing Meri Kahani, is producing Race
directed by Abbas-Mustan with music by Pritam. I have sung a beautiful
song that’s called Bhool jaa.
Has India or Indian artistes influenced you in any way? Nature
remains my biggest inspiration. I keep observing people who radiate
positive energies. From India I love a lot of musicians, particularly
A.R.Rahman, Sonu Niigaam and Sunidhi Chauhan.
Will you keep doing projects in India? Yes, Pakistan has the talent, and India has the market
