Pakistan is blessed to have singers, musicians and composers from almost all genres. With Coke Studio and Nescafe basement in the game for the past 11 years, contemporary music has been taken to new heights. Even though the last season of Coke Studio didn’t make an impact, it is still recognized for bringing in some existing talent into the limelight. One of these exceptional musical stories belongs to Shani Arshad. Coke Studio Season 9 saw the rise of Shani Arshad as an amazing music director. He has tried to intimate Pakistan’s music industry to the genre of Electronic Dance Music and aims on creating more such tracks in the years coming ahead of us.
What inspired you to enter the world of music and make it your own?
I belong to a musical family. My great grandfather Is Ustaad Allah Ditah. He used to play tabla and started his journey from radio. My grandfather also started showcasing his talent on radio. He’d played with the likes of Iqbal bano, Farida khanum, Mehdi Hassan sahib, and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan sahibb. Then my father Ustad Arshad learnt from my grandfather and he also got the honour to play with Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali Sahib. Other than that, my father has worked with almost everyone in the pop industry like Sajjad Ali and Hadiqa Kiyani. All my uncles are musicians too, they play guitar, keyboard, and drums. So, you can say that music has been inherited to me and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do since I was a kid.
What do you love more, music composing or singing or directing?
I started as a music director. Then I entered the world of a composer because when I was in direction, I felt the need to compose during my TV days and then I properly took it up as a professional element. Then, as it goes in this industry, you have to sing a dummy song to pitch it in front of the producers and that is how I improved my singing and now I’m into all these three things.
You have worked with some of the most iconic musicians of Pakistan, how has your experience been?
Amazing, I’ve always wanted to do this. its my life, this is what I want to do every day in the future as well. Just like my father I have also worked with pretty much every singer in the game right now, like Ali Zafar, Haroon, Fakhir, Hadiqa Kiyani, Najam Sheraz, Shehzad Roy, Atif Aslam, Shafqat Amanat, and many more. And I’ve loved every single bit of it.
What has been your most memorable moment in your music career so far?
There have been several memorable moments. I started playing music when I was 15. So, I’ve had a lot of these moments. My first memorable moment was back when I used to create remixes. So, the late Junaid Jamshed was recording in a studio at that time and he heard about my work and called me to the studio. There he asked me to work with him on his album. That is when I worked on two songs with him and then I got calls from Shehzad Roy, Fakir, Haroon and there has been no stop to it since then. Another favorite moment of mine reaches back to when I was 12. I remember going to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s show with my father and I started playing just to get into groove. And then I realized that people were listening to me and began to clap for me. Then I played another song and Khan Sahib smiled and started playing with me along the band. This was a huge honor for me.
You won the award SEPMA ‘Best Single Jingle’ at Shaan-e-pakistan for ‘Manalo food ka love 7up’? How was the feeling?
It felt great. I’ve been doing jingles for the past 12 years. And I can proudly say that more than 70 to 80 percent jingles out there are my creations. It takes a lot of effort and hard work. So much so, I had to give up producing songs at the time I was composing jingles. It’s also one of those fields where your work isn’t really appreciated or appraised. I would like to give credit to the award show organizers who’ve come up with these new award categories to recognize the work of artists in this field as well.
Which famous musicians do you admire? Why?
I admire many artists from Pakistan and India both. From Pakistan, I’m the biggest fan of my father and I’ve not seen such skill and tone quality in other any other artist playing table in Pakistan after him. Other than that, I’ve learnt a lot from Khawaja Khurshid Anwar and Wajahat Akhtar. I started listening to them and then learnt the art of composition too. I’m also a huge fan of Master Abdullah. From India, I keenly follow AR Rehman. He gets the credit for introducing some new technology into music in the subcontinent and many people follow him belonging to the world of modern music. I also like Ismail Darbar’s compositions from India.
You just released your video song ‘ADHA ADHA’, how’s the response?
The response has been pretty good from YouTube, friends and audience. The song has been played multiple times on the radio as well. Bloggers have appreciated the song and have been writing articles on it as well. The video was also well received. This wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of director, Ali Sohail Johra. Also, the actors were great and the entire cast and crew were great. EDM has started to pick its pace in this part of the region and my EDM tracks being underground, mostly refrained to jingles like the old one in Ufone. Adha Adha is one of my first electronic track of its kind.
How would you want the world to remember you?
I just want to be recognized as a good music composer and director. Nothing really more than that 😀
What goals do you have going forward in life?
Right now, I’m working on another track that is being directed by Nabeel Qureshi. All I can say as of now is that the track isn’t an EDM track. I will be bringing various different styles into the song. I’m also working on my project “Mausiqi”. And this is the first time I’m talking about it. I’ll be launching it on Eid. It will be a one of a kind projects, packed with exceptional performances from different artists, and musicians.
All Image Sources: www.facebook.com/shaniarshadali
