New software for Pakistani musicians

Laila Dodhy writes in to announce the launch of her new software for Pakistani musicians. It’s called Gaana Mangwao. Noting the impact of captions on the accessibility of music across the world, Laila who in her spare time is a UX expert, built software that automatically transcribes audio from songs into captions in multiple scripts. In her own words:

Gaana Mangwao is a multilingual tool that transcribes songs in Urdu, Roman Urdu, and English, adding timestamps and song structure for Musixmatch compatibility. This allows musicians to easily upload lyrics to platforms like Spotify, Instagram, and Apple Music.

Beyond transcription, producers use it for vocal backing, and songwriters for song iteration. Tested with Pakistani musicians, it's highly effective, with one user noting “99% kaam hogaya hai.” Guidance for Urdu keyboard and transliteration keyboard installation is provided for minor edits.

We also offer instructions for captioning multiscript songs and font installation, based on feedback from Pakistani and Indian music listeners.

We're looking to expand to regional languages like Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi. If you're a musician interested in user testing has any queries, email lailadodhy@gmail.com.

Inside baseball is that I’ve been advising Laila on this project, a perfect combination of this life on Hamnawa and my other life. This sort of tool is the perfect example of how AI can benefit culture.