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instepprofile
High on life
Haroon Rashid is back with his third studio album, Haroon
Ka Nasha after a hiatus of 5 years. Instep speaks to him about
the new album, the media boom, AMPP, DAT performances and more…
By Shahzeb Shaikh
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Since
the last few weeks, Haroon's 'Jeeya Jaaye' has been playing over and
over on all music channels. The reason: the video is bright, colourful
with themes of love, brotherhood and equality. The song is also interesting.
It's not rock, certainly not bhangra. On the contrary, it is experimental.
If one listens closely, it becomes apparent that Haroon doesn't have
a deep voice. His voice is sharp and slightly sweet, quite like the
man himself.
For someone who has been around in the industry for over a decade,
Haroon makes no bones about being a pop star. He is not deluded with
the stardom that comes attached with being a successful 'pop star'.
This becomes clear as he welcomes me into his studio that he likes
to call, "Haroon's turbo charged funky lil' studio."
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Dressed casually,
Haroon makes me feel right at home. He's friendly, down-to-earth,
decent and humble in person.
The first question that comes in everyone's mind when one speaks of
Haroon is where has he been for the last few years? "After I
launched Lagan, the song 'Mehbooba' became a huge hit. It was a greater
success with ex-pats than with local fans. So, I went on a world tour,
which lasted nearly a year and a half. It took me to every corner
of the world and I was like, 'Wow, I have fans here!' It wasn't till
late 2005 that I actually got breathing time and that's when I started
working on my new album, Haroon Ka Nasha."
Interesting name, though, Haroon Ka Nasha. It leaves one wondering
what nasha is being referred to, that of music, the musician or something
else. Haroon explains the perplexing question and insists that he
has definitely not turned to drugs. It is this reason, which led him
to put a disclaimer in his album inlay, which explicitly denounces
drugs. After Noori's stand on drugs, it's Haroon who makes a statement.
If there is anything he is high on, it's life.
Coming back to Haroon's video, 'Jeeya Jaaye', one thing is clear,
it is a very decent video, certainly a cut above the dark, brooding,
lovey-dovey videos one sees these days. It also carries an important
message. |
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The world is going through strange
times. Wars, global warming, terrorism, religious conflicts make headlines
everyday. Music is perhaps the best way to change opinions and make
statements and more importantly, it often compels one to think. In
Pakistan, musicians are slowly but surely becoming active to change
the image of Pakistan. Haroon is one of them. Other than his own video,
Haroon along with Ali Zafar, Strings, Hadiqa Kiyani, Shafqat Amanat
Ali Khan and Shuja Haider sang the anti-terrorism song, 'Yeh Hum Naheen.'
"There is a lot of turmoil in our world today. And a lot of that
stems from the fact that people are fearful or misunderstand. Many
discriminate against people who are different. What I am trying to
say is that yes, everybody is different but that is what's wonderful
about mankind. And that diversity is something to celebrate,"
says Haroon thoughtfully.
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Haroon has produced his new album himself and according to him, this
is his best work to date. Some would argue that 5 years is too big
a break between one album and the next. Since our music industry is
relatively small and big artists are few and far in between, it seems
a little too much of a gap. But Haroon had his reasons. "I had
to take off my performing artist hat and put on my recording engineer
and producer hat. It really took me about 6 months to get back into
flow because I had made a lot of changes in my studio. I bought a
lot of new equipment and I needed time to learn how to use it. I would
go online and research new engineer techniques, I read books on engineering
(music) and spent hours reading them. Some people insisted this was
a waste of time, but this is a process I really enjoyed doing,"
says Haroon reminiscently.
In the last few years, music industry has grown immensely. With music
channels coming out, media expanding like never before, competition
is ripe. This year alone will mark releases from music's biggest names.
Ali Azmat, Strings, Atif Aslam, Mekaal Hasan Band are some of the
most prolific names in the music today and all are coming out with
new albums. But Haroon isn't threatened or insecure. "Competition
makes one strive to excel. It excites and stimulates. I am happy that
there are many dedicated music channels. And the incredible thing
is that a country like Pakistan has more 24-hour music channels than
most first world countries. That is a testament to how Pakistani pop
music is an indelible part of our culture and society," he says
happily.
Haroon's breaking away from Awaz certainly wasn't easy. This was a
band that was highly successful and was ruling the scene with its
pop ditties. Even though, Awaz did give him fame but branching out
is not as easy as it seems. "Going solo was a major turn around
in my career. I immediately started working on my first album Haroon
Ki Awaz. The album was a critical and commercial hit. It had very
upbeat, frantic and hard-hitting numbers. In my second album Lagan,
I wanted to show the softer and more melodic side of Haroon and it
was vastly different to the debut album. Working alone forced me to
dig deeper into myself and really hone my talents and explore my creative
and technical abilities. It was a really intense and exhilarating
process," says Haroon happily without a tinge of regret.
The one thing that plagues the music industry is the concept of DAT
performances. Where music is progressing, thanks to the platform that
music channels have carved out for established and upcoming musicians,
it is, ironically, the same channels who expect musicians to lip-sync
instead of doing live shows, which is the soul of music. "Often
times, artists perform to a CD, primarily because of technical requirements
for a TV show," says Haroon defensively but also adds, "No
artist should lip sync at a live concert. The audiences in Pakistan
are smart and discerning. I have a five piece live band that I perform
with and that includes a drummer, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist,
and percussionist. We rehearse for hours a week to prepare for live
shows."
If one remembers correctly, last April, there was buzz in the industry
about the formation of AMPP – Association of Music Professionals
of Pakistan – spearheaded by Haroon along with Ali Azmat, Irfan
Kiyani and Tina Sani. The idea was to protect the rights of musicians,
engineers, recording artists, etc. "AMPP is a brilliant idea
and something that the music industry desperately needs. The great
news is that all the major artists are on board. However, there is
no doubt that we have been slow to get off the ground. Now that I
am free from my personal commitment of recording this album I hope
to dedicate a lot more of my time to AMPP and I hope other members
can do the same," says Haroon, setting the record straight.
These days, Haroon is extremely happy, as his second video 'Jua Khela'
has just been released. The video has been shot and directed in Bombay
by Savio Rodriguez ('Sajania' fame) and is set in a Casino. A track
that dwells on the theme of love and gambling, 'Jua Khela' is a very
funky video. In the pipeline is 'Ishq Nasha', which is being directed
by a brother-sister duo of Sadia and Bilal. The video will feature
supermodel Iraj and fashion designer Deepak Perwani. Another interesting
tune on the album is a song called, 'Big Corporation Man' which is
Haroon's satirical take on huge companies driven by greed and profit.
It remains to be seen if Haroon Ka Nasha makes it big with the masses
or not but Haroon is making all the right moves as far as marketing
his album is concerned. Clearly, he is back, with a rocking vengeance.
--Haroon Ka Nasha is out in stores now! |
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