Chaotic Karachi: Expressions for Sanity

Podcast

Episode 19 of the TIMEZONES podcast series, co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe-Institut. According to the rapper and comedian Ali Gul Pir, Karachi is the most misunderstood place in the world. For TIMEZONES, he produced an episode that will give you a «real» feel of what it’s like to be an artist in this city of a million plus dreams, hopes, and problems.

A world leading magazine called Pakistan «the most dangerous place in the world» but take it from Ali Gul Pir, who has lived most of his life there: «It’s an amazing place. Karachi has given me my identity, my voice, and space to express.» In this podcast episode, he meets artists that he’s friends with, to talk about how they use collaborations and work to express themselves, and he also discovers the hurdles of a Pakistani female guitarist.

→ full transcript of episode 19

Credits

A podcast by Ali Gul Pir

Co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe-Institut

Featuring: Babar Mangi, Sarah Waqar, Shehzad Ghias, Gul Muhammad Recorded at BigFoot Studios

Includes a bonus talk, moderated and produced by Rafay Mahmood, featuring Bilal Ali

Sampled tracks/sounds
00:58 – Bigfoot Music feat. Gul Mohammad: «Haiderum»
03:56 – Ali Gul Pir X Babar Mangi: «Ghareeban Ja Khwab»
04:54 – Sehra music recorded by Babar Mangi (unreleased)
07:42 – Bigfoot Music feat. Kami Paul, Gul Mohammad & Khurram Iqbal: «Maslat»
09:54 – Sarah Waqar: «Nothing Else Matters (Acoustic Instrumental)»
15:13 – Babar Mangi: «Ghareeb Ka Bar»
16:13 – Sound from a political address

Artistic Editor: Suvani Suri
Project Management: Hannes Liechti
Video Trailer: Karrl
Jingle Voiceover: Nana Akosua Hanson
Jingle Mix: Daniel Jakob
Mastering: Adi Flück, Centraldubs
Artwork: Šejma Fere
Copy Editing: Kathrin Hadeler

Listen on

→ Listen to further TIMEZONES episodes

Featured Artists

Babar Mangi is a rapper, writer, and producer from the province of Sindh, Pakistan. He has a film degree and is also part of a rap group called Indus Valley Squad. Follow him on Instagram, X, Facebook, Spotify, or TikTok.

Sarah Waqar is a guitarist and drummer who learnt music at the prestigious National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi, Pakistan, and is currently teaching there. She has performed with many musicians and has done a lot of collaborations with Eastern musicians as well. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or Spotify.

Gul Muhammad is from the Pakistani Hoshiyarpur gharana and is the grandson of Ustashi Ghulam Muhammad. Gul is a sarangi master who is credited with not only spreading classical music in Pakistan through his works but also teaches classical music at Karachi Arts Council. He is also a member of the acclaimed musical group called Sounds of Kolachi. Follow him on Instagram.

Shehzad Ghias is a Pakistani comedian and podcaster who has a Masters in theater and has performed in several countries. His podcast The Pakistan Experience is one of the most watched podcasts in the country. Follow him on Instagram, X, Facebook, or YouTube.

Bonus Talk

Can a Huge Crowd Become a Huge Audience?
moderated and produced by Rafay Mahmood, featuring Bilal Ali

While Karachi is a melting pot of various cultures, foods, and languages, its creative producers, particularly musicians, live every day with looming uncertainty. A city of over 20 million people is fighting over resources such as water and electricity and yet the musicians here keep pumping new life into its fabric and carving a new tomorrow for themselves with every passing day.

Karachi is not hostile to its musicians, the audience loves them, but a lack of a proper music ecosystem and soft control of political parties and in some cases religious outfits makes it really hard for the musicians and the crowd to connect. Every day is a struggle to survive as a musician, a good season of concerts might not come again so one has to live with a backup. Just a few brands who are interested in investing in a select few musicians aren’t enough to turn the huge mass that is Karachi into an audience. The people are thirsty for music, the artists are desperate to perform but the future is uncertain.

Chaotic Karachi: Expressions for Sanity by Rafay Mahmood, featuring Bilal Ali

Rafay Mahmood is a Karachi-based journalist, researcher, and commentator. Follow him on Instagram, X, or Facebook.

Bilal Ali is the front-man of the pop-electro rock band Kashmir. Bilal and his fellows rose to fame by clinching a widely known talent competition, Pepsi Battle of the Bands. Since then, Kashmir has released two albums and toured Pakistan as one of the newer bands catering to the Gen Z listeners. Bilal is now also working on his solo album. Follow him or his band on Instagram.

Playlist

With this playlist you get a flavor of what Karachi music used to be and what it is now. A selection by Pakistani rapper and comedian Ali Gul Pir with songs and tracks from his friends and artists of which he is a fan.

Trailer

by Karrl

The TIMEZONES podcast series plunges into the world of artists and their practices, asking: what does living and working in culture and the arts involve in different countries, cities, and contexts today? The artists’ thoughts on their moods, their social, political, and intellectual realities and their philosophies (of life) have been worked up into experimental audio collages.

The podcasts run the gamut of formats and content, from straight journalism to experimental and documentary approaches, ethnography and fiction, sound art, and improvisation. The TIMEZONES series endeavours to create new artistic forms of storytelling, listening and exchange across the boundaries of geography, time zones, genres, and practices.

The TIMEZONES podcast series is co-initiated and co-produced by Norient and the Goethe-Institut. This episode is supported by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.

Biography

Ali Gul Pir is a rapper, writer, comedian, and actor. He has over eight million views on his songs and has been nominated for Hum TV Awards and won the innovation hero award by Google in 2012. He has acted in numerous television shows for ARY, Hum TV, Aaj TV, and Geo TV channel. International news channels have written about his work, such as BBC, Al Jazeera, and Norient. Ali is passionate about equality and freedom, his work is often about social injustices like corruption, harassment and many others. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, X, Tik Tok, YouTube, or Spotify.

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Chaotic Karachi: Expressions for Sanity

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«TIMEZONES» – Episode 19. According to the rapper and comedian Ali Gul Pir, Karachi is the most misunderstood place in the world. This podcast episode will give you a «real» feel of what it’s like to be an artist in this city of a million plus dreams, hopes, and problems.

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Published on January 31, 2024

Last updated on August 21, 2024

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5 Video Clips from Iran: The Sound of Resilience

Playlist

by Fari Bradley

This delightful list looks at Iran and the diaspora, who are often in a state of self-imposed if not state-imposed exile. We listen to the heartbeat of the resistance of artists through self-awareness and creativity. From rappers to singer-songwriters, Iran’s rich cultural history of Persian empires and millennia of civilization reaches us in composition, costume, musical and lyrical innovation, scenography, and overall style, not to mention the creative means of bypassing the intended cultural isolation by the current regime. Through sheer willpower, these voices find each other and the exiled diaspora across the mesh of wifi signals that hold them together and transcend censorship.

Music: Jarshaa
Video: Jarshaa
Track: Khanevadegi 2 (Familial 2) (Iran, 2022)

If any video captures the width and breadth of Iranian rap music today it is Jarshaa’s monumentally epic magnum opus «Khanevadegi 2» (Familial/Family 2). In a stunning tag-team-style project, 39 different rappers represent each of the 31 provinces of this huge country, each wearing a shirt with their location on Iran’s map. The markedly different musical forms and indigenous instruments, costumes, iconic locations, and regional vocals make this video the musical journey of a lifetime. The sheer effort put into the video edits, the seamless musical transitions, and the mind-blowing concept make this forward-thinking creative feat a classic that any music lover and ethnomusicologist today should be aware of and return to time and again.

Music: Eendo
Lyrics, Music, Production, Video: Ardalan Payvar (Shaadbaanoo)
Track: Fekresho Kardi Taa Be Haal? (Has It Ever Crossed Your Mind?) (Iran/USA, 2023)

Despite all of the efforts to suppress the voices of women in Iran, the image of singer Shaadbaanoo’s kick-ass lyrics being thrown in your face with all the force of the duo Eendo’s creative power defies all odds. While her hair billows in the background, she sings «Free my locks in the air, now the power is all mine». With its driving bassline and gathering beat, this track is dedicated to all the lovers of Iran, asking if we, the listeners, are free of blame. «They call me ‹The Sinner›, the ‹corrupter of humankind›, what’s your crime? Has it ever crossed your mind?» A powerful manifesto for the continuing revolution against the oppressive regime of Iran: «I’m a comrade of Iran, my codeword is Mahsa Amini, my voice reaches far and wide, beyond boundaries.» Mahsa Amini is a code word since the murder of 21-year-old Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini kicked off the women’s revolution in Iran and its diaspora in September 2022.

Lyrics: Shapur
Music: Mahdyar
Track: Marg Bar Kolle Nezam (Down With the Whole Regime) (Iran/France, 2023)

Few raps spit bars like this one, let alone include the actual sound effect of the rapper spitting! This track literally lines up the ammo and spits battle lyrics aimed at the regime of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (like their CIA, called the IRGC which is divided into the Sepahi and Basiji, as mentioned in the lyrics). Not only are the track’s words full of exemplary bile but this rapper’s voice is perfectly pitched to make that particular «kkhhaaack» sound at the back of his throat to shoot, machine gun-like, the appropriate bile aimed back at the IRGC. He flings insults in Persian that are unparalleled in sonic and poetic impact! «We will fight with stones, sticks, power cables and spit» (and then spits).

A woman is the mother of all men
We fight even with stones and sticks
Electric wire and saliva
We all shout together
You brought shame to Iran,
Down with the whole regime!

Music: Sadegh «Booghi» & Soor
Video: Sajjad Ahmadzadeh Track: Ow Ow (Iran, 2024)

This song and video is a spin-off of a clip in which aptly named 70-year-old pensioner and taxi driver Sadegh «Booghi» literally boogies for a crowd in a market in the Caspian Sea city of Rasht. Known locally as Uncle Sadegh, he earned the nickname booghi (megaphone), because he went for years to the football stadiums with a megaphone to cheer on his team. The globally viral video became a symbol of resistance as people all over the world remixed the dance with that catchy song that required no instruments. The lyrics sing of being from Rasht, telling onlookers to «cheer up» as the singer professes their love for them. The Asia Football Confederation’s (AFC) official online page posted a video of the Iranian team players, male and female, dancing to the song, remixed by musician Sajjad Ahmadzadeh.

The regime tried to censor Booghi’s videos as he quickly amassed thousands of followers, because dancing in public, as well as men and women dancing together, is outlawed by the regime in Iran. The men from the video were blindfolded and beaten and made to sign a pledge that they would never sing or dance again. Booghi’s page content was deleted, yet the regime’s cyber army was forced to reinstate it after mass outrage, and «Ow Ow» went as far as Africa!

Music: Labyrinth
Video: Priscilla Kounkou Hoveyda
Track: Etehad (Unity) (Iran/Turkey, 2023)

In the south of Iran, a strong tradition of Black culture and music is rooted in Gulf spiritualism, naval culture, and Bushehri identity. The band Labyrinth from Bandar Abbas identifies as such, producing music and videos with this woven into their work. Afro-Iranian identity surfaces as instrumentation, makeup and hair, choreography, and musical style (traditional trance) in urban coastal settings. Now, in exile in Turkey due to their music, projecting into a self-aware «post-women’s revolution Iranian reality», their powerful music takes on the politics of the enduring Woman, Life, Freedom movement since Mahsa Jina Amini’s murder.