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PAKISTAN: Instrumental Folk & Pop Sounds, 1966​-​1976

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Malkauns 02:48
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Spring Dance 03:22
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about

Spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal has compiled a mind-blowing set of Pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. It’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period: The Panthers, The Mods, The Bugs, The Blue Birds, The Abstracts, The Aay Jays, The Fore Thoughts, Nisar Bazmi, and Sohail Rana.

Situated between Afghanistan, India and Iran, the collision of cultural influences in Pakistan gave birth to music that was, and still is, unlike anything heard anywhere else on the planet. By the late 1960s, previous restrictions on musical expression began to soften and bands that were playing American and British pop covers became popular in Karachi’s burgeoning night club scene and at private dance parties. Long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became the popular drug of choice on college campuses across Pakistan. Soon, hippies from both North America and Europe began flocking to Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Very few of the bands that formed during this time actually got to record. Like their neighbors in India, the Pakistani record industry was more focused on releasing “filmi” music, which had just started to incorporate the electric guitar and electric sitar.

Pakistan’s musical revolution ended in June 1977 after a coup d’état and the establishment of a pure Islamic state governed by Sharia law. This marked the end of the “Swinging ‘70s” in Pakistan as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country. Television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship. After the clamp down, many Pakistani musicians left the country and moved to America, Canada and England.

credits

released March 11, 2022

Licensed From – EMI (Pakistan) Ltd.

Compiled By, [Assembled By] – Stuart Ellis

Many thanks to Ahsan Sajjad (The Panthers), Alan Bishop, Azim Lakhani (The Thunders), Fasahat Hussein Syed (The Panthers), Gökhan Aya, Henri Smeets, Jimmy Jumshaid (The Bugs), Hisham Mayet, Lynette Dias-Gouveia, Mark Gergis, Marthy Coumans, Milan Hulsing, Mohammed Yousuf, Norman Braganza (The Panthers) and Umer Sheikh.

Artwork and photos provided by Ahsan Sajjad, Azim Lakhani, Fasahat Syed, Lynette Dias-Gouveia, Marthy Coumans and Milan Hulsing.

Front Cover: Sabby Noronha with Peter Macky & Leslie Patrick.
Back Cover: The Panthers.

All tracks licensed from EMI Pakistan.

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Sublime Frequencies Seattle, Washington

SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, other forms of human and natural natural expression not documented sufficiently enough by various communication channels. ... more

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