The absence of a functioning live music scene, for a variety of reasons, has resulted in the general ‘pop’ sound turning more and more heavily electronic. Electronica you can create far more easily in the privacy of your bedroom, mostly either by yourself or with a very good, usually self-taught producer, instead of having to scour music haunts for talented instrumentalists to collaborate with.

This is not to say that moving towards electronica requires less skill, only that there are far more roles for one person to fill, so it helps not having to spend years learning only one instrument at a time. One person almost synonymous with electronic music in Pakistan is Talal Qureshi.

Talal Qureshi is a well-known name in the underground (now the new mainstream?) music scene in Pakistan. He’s collaborated with Adil Omar on their project SKNM, has performed at the South by Southwest music festival in the United States, and performed with Diplo, Major Lazer and Skrillex among others. Personally, my favourite Talal Qureshi song is the one he did with Naseebo Lal, Aag.

Faris Shafi is one of Pakistan’s most popular rappers, with a massive cult following in the country and among South Asians abroad, and yet isn’t written about much. Perhaps that has to do with the fact that every single song that he writes includes some profanity. And that too in Urdu (somehow it doesn’t sound as bad in English or a non-South Asian language). But in Urdu, it’s too close to home and feels extra vulgar.

The bad boys of the rap and electro-pop scene in Pakistan, Faris Shafi and Talal Qureshi, join hands once again for Vitamin D

But once you move past that you realise that pretty much all of Shafi’s songs and poetry are a social commentary on Pakistani culture, touching upon economic inequalities, religious hypocrisy, political and social instability, corruption and the usual evils we have become so accustomed to — to a point where we have stopped noticing. Most of the time, at least.

Together, both of these artists have collaborated on so many songs together it’s hard to keep count. And every time Faris Shafi and Talal Qureshi have collaborated together, they’ve created magic. Case in point: classics such as Nazar, Jawab De and Clap.

Vitamin D, their latest collaboration, is no different. They’ve collaborated on both the production and the music video. We’ve lost the jaded and melancholy Faris. In Vitamin D, he’s issued a diss track that has him in very good spirits indeed. The song is very NSFW (Not Safe For Work) or even to listen to on the home on a speaker if you have people around. There’s a strong bassline that accompanies the electronic pipes; it flows through the song to give it its groove.

He’s spouting truths in Vitamin D that I now realise aren’t really referring to the vitamin we get from the sun (ahem). The lyrics will have you giggling at times for how ridiculous they sound but, at the same time, they cannot be repeated for the profanity or the kind of insinuations contained in them.

But Vitamin D is a typical Faris Shafi song, in that he’s tried to, yet again, hold up a mirror to society. He’s been on a roll these past couple of years and here’s hoping this isn’t the last we’ve heard of him.

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 21st, 2022