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Artists You Should be Listening to

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Artists You Should be Listening to

Zeerak Ahmed
Apr 8, 2021
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Artists You Should be Listening to

hamnawa.net

This a list of artists and series producing new music that I find interesting to follow. I’m often asked which artists people should be listening to, and this list is a way to collect those names. It is also an effort to categorize and organize the music scene to make it legible and understandable. Classification & labeling are the first steps in identifying the diversity of any ecosystem. From there, one can learn to identify things that are related, the nature of those relationships, and allow audiences and artists to understand what is happening.

The artists named below have put out new music in the last two years, and I find their musical output substantial and interesting. Categories, then sub-categories, then artists are sorted alphabetically. Series are in a separate category at the end.

The problem with any exercise like this is that it is an editorialized effort masquerading as neutral. In that this list reflects an opinionated view of the music industry. Both in terms of who is on it and how they are categorized. I expect healthy disagreement. If you find something missing, egregious or have other comments, please do reach out.

It is important to acknowledge that this list is a representation of a classist vantage point. There is a body of music produced and released outside of audio streaming services. Often this is correlated with music produced in languages other than Urdu and Punjabi, from geographies outside of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and catering to predominantly lower socioeconomic classes than many of the artists that make up this list and the audiences that listen to them. I know less about that area of music, but hope to grow my knowledge of it.

I’ll try to keep this list living. Expect additional artists to be added, labeling to get more specific and descriptive, and for artists to be recategorized as they change their style or as we find better ways of organizing things.


Electronic

Dhishkan

  • Abdullah Kasumbi

  • Block-2

  • Dynoman

  • Ghauri

  • Rudoh

  • SomeWhatSuper

  • Talal Qureshi

Electronica

  • Alien Panda Jury

  • Abdullah Siddiqui

  • Fake Shamans

  • Marshall Ahmad

  • Nawksh

  • Shamsher Rana

  • Slowspin

  • Stupid Happiness Theory

  • Sunraz

  • TMPST

  • Tollcrane

Hip hop

  • Bohemia

  • Eva B

  • Faris Shafi

  • Guru Lahori

  • Hashim Nawaz

  • Iqbal

  • Jokhay

  • Kaky Thousand

  • Lyari Underground

  • Maanu

  • Moji

  • Mujju

  • Raamis

  • Rozeo

  • Salor

  • Sami Amiri

  • Sunny Khan Durrani

  • Talha Anjum

  • Talhah Yunus

  • Young Desi

  • Young Stunners

  • Xpolymer Dar

Pop

Alaap pop

  • Abbas Ali Khan

  • Kaavish

  • Naseebo Lal

  • Sanwal Esakhelvi

  • Sajjad Ali

  • Schumaila Rehmat Hussain

  • The Sketches

  • Wajiha Naqvi

  • Yashal Shahid

Art pop

  • Dolce & Ghabraana

  • East Side Story

  • Haniya Aslam

  • Mehdi Maloof

  • Mystical Shayari

  • Natasha Humera Ejaz

  • Poor Rich Boy

  • Sameen Qasim

  • Shorbanoor

  • Wooly and the Uke

  • Zulfi

Bhangra

  • Abrar ul Haq

    1

Electro pop

  • Ahsan Pervaiz Mehdi

  • Ali Alvi

  • Gentle Robot

  • Hassan & Roshaan

  • Janoobi Khargosh

  • Maria Unera

  • Mooroo

  • Saba Jaswal

  • Sajid & Zeeshan

  • Taha G

  • Towers

  • Zoha Zuberi

Glow pop

  • Biryani Brothers

  • Misbah

  • Zahra Paracha

Instrumental

  • Aziz Kazi

  • Jaubi

  • Khumariyaan

  • Mughal-E-Funk

Lofi

  • Amna Riaz

  • Mahak Qayyum

  • Shajie

R&B pop

  • Asim Azhar

  • Hasan Raheem

  • Izzchughtai

  • Natasha Noorani

  • Shamoon Ismail

Vocal pop

  • Abdullah Qureshi

  • Adnan Dhool

  • Aima Baig

  • Annural Khalid

  • Atif Aslam

  • Bilal Khan

  • Bilal Saeed

  • Jimmy Khan

  • Meesha Shafi

  • Momina Mustehsan

  • Nirmal Roy

  • Omar Mukhtar

  • Quratulain Balouch

  • RFB

  • Sanya Shahzad

  • Umer Farooq

  • Uzair Jaswal

Rock

Alaap rock

  • Ahsan Bari

  • Ali Hamza

  • Auj

  • Bayaan

  • I.F.R.A.

  • Khamaaj

  • Mehak Ali

  • Nishtar Park

Alt rock

  • Kashmir

  • Rutaba Yaqub

  • Sikandar Ka Mandar

Metal

  • Karakoram

  • Takatak

Pop rock

  • Ali Noor

  • Black Hour

  • E Sharp

  • Tamaasha

  • Rushk

Progressive

  • Ali Suhail

  • Keeray Makoray

  • VIP

  • Wisdom Salad

Qawwali rock

  • Asrar

  • Darvesh

  • Dhool

  • Saakin

  • Soch

Traditional Desi

Kafi

  • Abida Parveen

  • Sanam Marvi

  • Tahseen Sakina

Qawwali

  • Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers

  • Hamza Akram Qawwal

  • Zain Zohaib

Contemporary classical

  • Aizaz Sohail

  • Ali Pervez Mehdi

  • Ali Sethi

  • Arooj Aftab

  • Fariha Parvez

  • Farheen Raza

  • Mekaal Hassan Band

  • Natasha Baig

  • Nirmala Maghani

  • Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

  • Shujat Ali Khan

  • Sounds of Kolachi

  • Surkhwaab

  • Zeb Bangash

Series

Branded shows

  • Bisconni Music

  • Coke Studio

  • Nescafé Basement

  • Pepsi Battle of the Bands

  • Velo Sound Station

Independent Series

  • A for Aleph

  • Acoustic Station

  • Bigfoot

  • Braadri Broadcast

  • Boss Menn

  • The Dream Journey

  • Karachi Community Radio

  • Khimor-ê-Maraka

  • Laal Series

  • Miracle Mangal

  • Smog City Sessions

1

Abrar ul Haq makes it onto this list almost purely because of the legendary Bol Qalandar

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