ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE MIAMI MEDIA BLOG
Miami Media got a chance to sit down with Arieb Azhar to talk about his upcoming release Charsi Bhangi set to release this month!
Photo Credit Tazeen Bari
MM: Walk us through the journey behind the Charsi Bhangi release with Miami Media?
AA: In 2019 I attended the APNA conference in Orlando USA where I met Mian Ahmad Hasan and most evenings would end up in a musical mehfil in his room with a bunch of friends. My song 'Charsi Bhangi' was one of the most popular in my repertoire, and when Miami Media was formed Ahmad Bhai immediately wanted to release it. Though I've been singing and performing the song for several years, I had never gotten round to recording it properly in a studio. This was the ideal opportunity to do so.
Photo Credit Mobeen Ansari
MM: The song has a powerful message of inclusivity, peace and harmony. Can you share more about this?
AA: Charsi Bhangi was written by my dear friend Arshad Bhatti who had a bunch of poems that I composed. Arshad is well versed in classical Urdu poetry but has a knack for writing in a more 'awami' or popular style. Few writers today who really know Urdu are able to write in this tongue in cheek style. Charsi Bhangi which literally means 'stoners' and 'dopers' (though Bhang is really the name of the drink that is traditionally made from Marijuana in Pakistan), celebrates all those people who have been left behind in the corporate rat race because they believe in basic humanist values of peace, egalitarianism, honesty and pluralism. The song calls upon everyone to join this movement of people that are bound by friendship instead of greed and interest.
MM: With an exciting new music video, can you introduce the story and talk about the team behind the production?
AA: Charsi Bhangi is the ultimate anti-corporate song, so the video shows us performing in a totally corporate setting but during the course of the song, the energy of the room changes; the wrong type of people leave, and by the end, the concert turns into a fantastic party with people who would normally be considered the outcasts of our society taking the lead. Unfortunately, our shoot happened to coincide with a major demonstration happening in town organized by radical elements in our society due to which several people of the cast couldn't show up and we had to improvise a lot. In a way, it was befitting that the video of Charsi Bhangi was filmed in the face of all this adversity. The production was organised by All4One productions led by Muhammad Baseer and Sara Khan, who has been connected with me throughout the various festivals and other projects that we've organized in Islamabad over the last six years.
MM: What role has the arts community played in shaping the song recording and music video?
AA: Charsi Bhangi already has a sizable underground following because of the various performances that I've done with my band over the last several years. It's a song that artists, in particular, connect with. The musicians in the studio recording included Zeeshan Mansur 'Shani" on the lead guitar who's been playing with me for over ten years besides heading his own band, 'Malang Party', as well as Jasir Abro on bass, Ajay Harry on drums and Jon Saville on keys. The song was recorded in Aleph Studio which is a hub for a lot of quality music and jam sessions coming out from Karachi these days. I called all my friends in Islamabad to act in the studio and I will be forever grateful to all those who managed to show up even under such adverse conditions. I'm glad because this song truly represents the community.
MM: The music video has a large cast that are members of your own community in Islamabad. Can you introduce some of them and their roles in the video?
AA: Of the friends that showed up in their best attire to be part of the video I have to mention Omar Saleem who plays the mafia looking guy who leaves halfway through the song accompanied by Ali Jafri who plays his sidekick; Muqeet Khan who plays the waiter in shining armour; the talented Momina Farooq Khan and Zara Zaman; Omer Qureshi and Farah; Rabia Saleem, Ali Bhatti and Haadiya; Shozab Askari, Gul Mawaz, Kashif and Huma; Hanniah Tarq and Saima Salahuddin; Nidal and Amna and so many others. Also my special thanks goes to Sparley of Khumariyaan and his wife Zara as well as to Omar Saleem's wife Rabia who let him play such a vile character!
Photo Credit Aimon Photography
MM: Could you share what you have been working on these past few years? I know you have been working in various organizations, festivals and conferences. Could you talk about your experiences working on those projects?
AA: After setting up the Art Langar company and organizing our first festival in 2017, I had shifted to Karachi where I was heading T2F (The Second Floor) Karachi's cult cultural cafe and art gallery as its executive director. During this period we also organized the third edition of the Creative Karachi Festival at the Alliance Francaise Karachi. At the beginning of last year, I shifted back to Islamabad and reconnected with the All4One team with whom I did a 16 episode web series with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung entitles 'Maqaam - Life After Corona'. I also had a couple of online concerts and musical projects during the lockdown, most notably a collaborative project of two songs with a fabulous band from the UK called the Soothsayers; we are now planning to work towards an album together. Last year I also performed for the Nottingham Arts Mela online with half my band and presently am doing a collaborative project with Kalaboration in Birmingham for the British Council entitles Songs of Solitude (SOS) which is an artists response to loss in the Corona pandemic faced by a Christian family in Pakistan and a Muslim family in the UK. Later this year we are also planning to organise another Art Langar festival if the Corona crisis has substantially subsided. I am also planning to release another few songs with Miami Media about which I'll be talking more at length shortly!
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