The Music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple influences, a distinctive Pakistani music has emerged.
Vital Signs were a Pakistani pop and rock band formed in Rawalpindi in 1986 by two Peshawar University students. After their formation, they soon became Pakistan's first and most commercially successful as well as critically acclaimed act. The band's popular lineup consisted of keyboardist Rohail Hyatt, bassist Shahzad Hasan, guitarist Nusrat Hussain and vocalist Junaid Jamshed. Rooted in Rawalpindi with some influence from Western music during the conservative regime of President Zia-ul-Haq, the Vital Signs utilizes several genres, ranging from pop music to rock, and often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. In the early 1990s, they came to be perceived by many Pakistani fans and country's cultural observers as a "promising new era of cultural revival". Their enormous popularity significantly opened a new wave of music and a modern chapter in the history of Pakistan.
Aamir Zaki was a Saudi born Pakistani guitarist-songwriter and composer. Zaki is widely considered by many as one of the most influential guitarists in Pakistan's history, and is considered to be among the pioneers of rock music in Pakistan.
Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema. Indian pop is closely linked to Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and the Asian Underground scene of the United Kingdom. The variety of South Asian music from different countries are generally known as Desi music.
Nazia and Zoheb were Pakistani pop duo from Karachi, Sindh formed in 1980. The group consisted of two siblings, Nazia Hassan and Zoheb Hassan, who were singing sensation and pop icons across South Asia. They are regarded as pioneers of the Pakistani pop scenes, and were one of the most successful Asian pop duos of all time, selling more than 105 million albums worldwide.
Biddu Appaiah is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro disco, and Indian pop, he has sold millions of records worldwide, and has received an Ivor Novello award for his work. He has been ranked at number 34 on NME's "The 50 Greatest Producers Ever" list.
Qurbani (transl. Sacrifice) is a 1980 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic action thriller film produced, directed by and starring Feroz Khan. The film co-stars Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman, Amjad Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Aruna Irani, Amrish Puri and Kader Khan. Qurbani was famous for its music, especially the Bollywood disco song "Aap Jaisa Koi" sung by Pakistani popstar Nazia Hassan and produced by Biddu, as well as the song "Laila O Laila".
Hindi film songs, more formally known as Hindi Geet or filmi songs and informally known as Bollywood music, are songs featured in Hindi films. Derived from the song-and-dance routines common in Indian films, Bollywood songs, along with dance, are a characteristic motif of Hindi cinema which gives it enduring popular appeal, cultural value and context. Hindi film songs form a predominant component of Indian pop music, and derive their inspiration from both classical and modern sources. Hindi film songs are now firmly embedded in North India's popular culture and routinely encountered in North India in marketplaces, shops, during bus and train journeys and numerous other situations. Though Hindi films routinely contain many songs and some dance routines, they are not musicals in the Western theatrical sense; the music-song-dance aspect is an integral feature of the genre akin to plot, dialogue and other parameters.
Nazia Hassan was a Pakistani singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist. Referred to as the Queen of South Asian pop, she is considered one of the most influential singers in Pakistan. Starting in the 1980s, as part of the duo Nazia and Zoheb, she and her brother Zoheb Hassan, have sold over 65 million records worldwide.
Zoheb Hassan is a Pakistani pop icon, singer, songwriter, producer, and was a part of the superduo Nazia and Zoheb.
Pakistani popular music or shortly Pakistani pop music refers to popular music forms in Pakistan. Pakistani pop is a mixture of traditional Pakistani classical music and western influences of jazz, rock and roll, hip hop and disco sung in various languages of Pakistan, including Urdu. The popularity of music is based on the individual sales of a single, viewership of its music video or the singer's album chart positions. Apart from within Pakistan, Pakistani pop music has also achieved an influential following and popularity in neighboring countries and is listened by members of the Pakistani diaspora, especially in the Middle East, Europe and North America.
Disco Deewane is a 1981 Pakistani pop album released by Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan. The music was composed by Indian-British music director Biddu who also produced it under the label of HMV India/Saregama. It charted in fourteen countries worldwide and became the best-selling Asian pop record to-date. The debut album led Nazia Hasan to overnight fame. It changed trends in music across South Asia, where it broke sales records. In India, it sold 100,000 records within a day of its release in Mumbai alone, went Platinum within three weeks, and went Double-Platinum soon after.
Star/Boom Boom is the second studio album by Pakistani pop duo Nazia and Zoheb, released in 1982. The Bollywood film Star used the album's music as its soundtrack. The album was thus also released as Star, a Bollywood music soundtrack album. The album featured music composed by British-Indian producer Biddu.
Hotline was the fourth studio album from the Pakistani pop duo of Nazia and Zoheb, released in 1987. It was produced by the Indian producer Biddu. Along with several other albums from Biddu and the Hassan duo, its success in India contributed to the creation of the Indi-pop market. It was also released in the United Kingdom in 1987. It was the best-selling album of the duo after Disco Deewane.
The Indian Music Industry (IMI) is a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in India. It was founded on February 28, 1936, as Indian Phonographic Industry (IPI). It is the 2nd oldest music industry organization in the world that was involved in protecting copyrights of music producers and supporting growth of music entertainment industry. In 1994, it was renamed as Indian Music Industry (IMI) and represented India at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It is also registered with the West Bengal Societies Registration Act. All major music labels in India are part of this association. Record companies like Saregama (HMV), Universal Music Group (India), Tips Industries, Sony Music India, Virgin Records, Magnasound Records, Aditya Music, Times Music, Zee Music Company and T-Series several other prominent international, national and regional labels are part of the IMI. The IMI represents over 75% of all legal music sales in India.
"Aap Jaisa Koi" is a song from the soundtrack of the 1980 Bollywood film Qurbani. It was the debut song of Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan, and was composed by British Indian producer Biddu. The song was featured in the film as an item number, picturised on Zeenat Aman. It has been remixed and sampled by many other artists.
Amit Khanna is an Indian film producer, director, writer, and journalist. He was the founder chairman of Reliance Entertainment, former president of the Producers Guild of India, and the founder trustee of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image. He is credited with having coined the term Bollywood. Khanna has also won three National Film Awards as a producer and lyricist.
Sabir Zafar is a leading poet and lyricist in Pakistan. He has written songs for many Pakistani films, singers such as Nazia Hasan, Sajjad Ali, Ali Azmat and his band Junoon, as well as many successful TV drama serials. He was awarded a Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan in 2010.
Made in India is an Indi-pop album by Alisha Chinai, with production by Biddu, released in 1995. It was the first album by an Indian pop (Indipop) artist to be sold on a scale comparable to Hindi film music albums, with over five million copies sold in India. The album established Indipop as a discrete genre and its singer Chinai became the genre's main proponent.
Camera Camera is the 1992 studio album by Nazia and Zoheb. Primarily in the Urdu language, the album also featured two English songs. Reviews noted that the album was influenced by the Pet Shop Boys. The album came several years after the successful run of four LPs which had ended with the 1987 album Hotline. This fifth album enjoyed only modest success and was the duo's last.
