Rahat Fateh Ali Khan — who learned to sing under the tutelage of his famous uncle — gave a statement before his concert in Toronto on Sunday praising Dosanjh for doing justice to the piece.

“It would be appropriate to say that very big artists get nervous when performing [Nusrat] sahab’s songs, but Diljit has fully done it justice, to the best of his ability, in a wonderful way with all his heart,” Rahat said.

“We can see it and hear it too, so I will appreciate [him].”

Dosanjh made history on September 12, becoming the first Punjabi artist to headline a show at Wembley — one of the world’s biggest event stages.

At the venue, which has hosted greats such as Michael Jackson, Queen, Madonna, David Bowie and U2, the Punjabi singer led an emotional crowd as they sang along to Nusrat’s work.

It was a departure from his usual style, as his own body of work leans into modern styles like hip-hop. He initially shot to international fame by blending traditional folk music with hip-hop.

As for making history, he’s been doing that for a while now.

In 2023, Dosanjh became the first Punjabi artist to perform at Coachella. In June 2024, he made his debut on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Later that year in October, the singer became the first South Asian artist to appear on the cover of Billboard Magazine.

She also won Video of the Year, which she dedicated to country legend Dolly Parton, praising the recently deceased performer’s music and saying “every single song she wrote, her storytelling was so vivid”.

“She handled this fame with such grace and love and gratitude,” she added.

Swift used the occasion to premiere the video for her new single ‘Patient Zero’, which stars actors Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson. In the track, Swift warns a woman about her partner, with whom the singer had a toxic relationship.

“If he’s killing you / I got you / I was patient zero,” she sings.

But Swift struck out in some of the show’s biggest categories, including Artist of the Year, which went to the queen of pop, Madonna.

While accepting the prize, Madonna reminisced about how her manager scolded her backstage at the very first MTV awards show, where she briefly mooned the audience in a performance fumble.

“My manager said my career was over,” she said, adding that he wasn’t her manager anymore.

Known for creating an indelible VMAs moment when she kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera onstage during a 2003 medley, Madonna also opened the show with her first performance at the event since that night.

Sporting knee-high boots and her platinum tresses loose, the 68-year-old pop queen sang ‘Bring Your Love’ alongside Sabrina Carpenter before medleying with Charli XCX for ‘Danceteria’.

While accepting the award for Best Collaboration after their performance, Madonna and Carpenter joked about how the material girl direct messaged via social media to get them into the studio for the collaboration.

Grunge band Nirvana received the Video Vanguard award. They are the first group to receive the top honour in more than 20 years. Frontman Kurt Cobain died by suicide in 1994, after studio albums Nevermind and In Utero skyrocketed to success.

“Nirvana continues to resonate so deeply because people are still hungry for authenticity,” bass player Krist Novoselic said after a video retrospective of the band’s videos.

“Something real, something uncompromising. Something that tells you it’s just okay to come as you are.”

Thai artist LISA, a member of girl group Blackpink, won the award for best pop for ‘Dream’, featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi.

The vast majority of awards were doled out offstage during an evening far better known for its performances and stage antics than its prizes.

Kacey Musgraves headlined a tribute to late country legend Dolly Parton, while Teddy Swims, Sombr and Raye offered a soulful tribute to crooner George Michael, 40 years after the release of his landmark album Faith.

Rapper Snoop Dogg hosted the ceremony, which aired on CBS and MTV.

The tour’s promoters — who Sheeran credited with making the decision to boot Macklemore — announced in an update on Instagram that his shows at the Gillette Stadium near Boston will be cancelled “due to severe weather warnings”.

They said the decision was made with the safety of “fans, staff and everyone involved with the shows as the top priority”.

This is just the latest in a series of setbacks for Sheeran, who has been in the news ever since Macklemore — who was opening for the singer — used his concert stage to call for a “free Palestine”.

While the crowd cheered the rapper on, some pro-Israel groups called for action against him. The action came when Macklemore was taken out from the rest of the tour at the insistence of venue owners who refused to let Sheeran’s shows proceed otherwise.

Among those venue owners was Robert Kraft, the pro-Israel businessman described by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “friend” of the country. It was his venue in Massachusetts that was impacted by the concert cancellations.

Earlier, all of Sheeran’s supporting acts walked out of the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, including the tour’s live band, as the singer scrambled to defend his decision and make a statement that could please both sides — it did not.

The rapper has since announced he will be donating the $1 million he earned on Sheeran’s tour to organisations working in Palestine and called on Kraft to match his pledge.

This was met by the singer and the businessman announcing they’d be donating $2m each to “aid in the region”. Macklemore’s appeal was answered by children’s entertainer Ms Rachel, who matched his donation with $1m to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

Macklemore is now preparing to continue his contribution with his Free Palestine tour. He announced shows in Dublin, London and Paris on Thursday, saying all proceeds will go to Palestinian organisations.

Meanwhile in Palestine, Israel continues killing Palestinians in Gaza, with the death toll from the brutal war on the territory sitting at 73,928. Israeli military action has also led to over 175,000 injuries as per the health ministry in Gaza.

Macklemore, who was opening for Sheeran’s Loop Tour, shouted “Free Palestine!” and told Palestinians they were “not forgotten” during two concerts earlier this month in New Jersey.

The ‘Thrift Shop’ star was quickly booted from the US tour — a decision that Sheeran said was made by tour promoters, not him — provoking outrage among musicians and pro-Palestinian activists.

“What happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage,” Macklemore, 43, said in an Instagram post.

“When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention,” he added.

Macklemore announced three shows in London, Paris and Dublin for late October, with US dates also planned, and said all proceeds will benefit pro-Palestinian organisations.

“It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore,” he said.

“People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a Free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it.”

Macklemore’s removal has opened a can of worms for the Grammy-winning Sheeran, who has typically steered clear of making any overt political statements.

But last weekend at a show in Philadelphia, he broke his silence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by describing the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate”.

“I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry,” an emotional Sheeran told his audience, who responded with cheers.

Four other supporting artists, including American singer Finneas, have also pulled out of Sheeran’s tour in solidarity with Macklemore.

The track first came out in 2022 as part of Coke Studio Season 14. It features vocals by Hasan Raheem and Justin Bibis along with electro-pop beats by Talal Qureshi.

Xulfi, who led the project, expressed his happiness over seeing the song reach listeners around the world.

“Representation is what puts us on the global map of everything. It might just look like a soundtrack in a movie, but music has the power to set the narrative and tell the world about who we are, where we come from, where we have reached and what we stand for. ‘Peechay Hutt’ in a Hollywood movie is part of that revolution,” wrote Xulfi.

The exciting news comes shortly after another historic win for the producer. Coke Studio’s ‘Pasoori’, which he also curated and produced, recently became the first Pakistani-made music video to reach one billion views on YouTube.

Now that ‘Peechay Hutt’ is on Netflix, it will reach millions of subscribers. The song’s music video, at the time of this article’s publication, already has over 28 million views on YouTube.

The Best of the Best soundtrack also includes major international artists such as BLACKPINK, Hanumankind and AR Rahman. This makes the inclusion of ‘Peechay Hutt’ all the more meaningful.

The song’s famous demand to ‘make way’ now means something different: Pakistani music is moving forward — and the world is making room.

Best of the Best is a coming-of-age story directed by Lena Khan and co-written by Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam. The plot revolves around childhood best friends Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia) as they join their university’s competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team and set their sights on the US championship. It’s a story about friendship and celebrating South Asian culture on a global stage.

The film, however, recently found itself in hot water over a joke in which Maya tells a girl “guys throw themselves at you like you’re the last plane out of Kabul” — a line critics say makes light of the trauma of the 2021 US evacuation of Kabul.

The Encore will be released on Friday, Swift said in an Instagram post. The Life of a Showgirl was released last October and topped several records, with every one of its 12 songs landing in the top 12 of the Billboard Hot 100.

The new tracks were written after Showgirl had the biggest debut for an album in modern music history based on album sales and streams, Swift said.

At that time, “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max (Martin) and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album,” the pop superstar said in an Instagram post. “Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs.”

The expanded Showgirl will feature the single ‘Patient Zero’, which the pop superstar teased and subsequently announced on Tuesday, alongside ‘Cleveland!’, ‘Pink Clouding’ and ‘Babylon’.

Martin and Shellback are songwriters who have worked with Swift on several of her studio albums.

Swift’s announcement followed her appearance this month in a comedy sketch at television’s Emmy Awards that convinced her fans she was teasing new music.

‘The Fate of Ophelia’, the lead single off Showgirl, brought in 92.5 million official streams in the US in its opening week, according to Luminate, a firm that tracks music sales.

There were no special programmes on TV, no official tribute from the government, not even a poster in Lahore’s Liberty Market, that’s what her grandson, actor Ahmed Ali Butt said on Instagram on Wednesday, when he complained about how Pakistan doesn’t do enough to honour its artists.

Addressing his late grandmother, Butt said, “If it weren’t for your songs that people still listen to… the state would have forgotten you yesterday.”

The actor claimed Pakistan had never given its legends their due by neglecting to document their work, hijacking their copyrights and by “making sure the artist and their legacy are never protected”.

“It’s a shame how we have forgotten our own identity and culture and the people who contributed their lives to it,” Butt said.

Other countries, he said, celebrated the achievements of their stars by making films on them and teaching their work to the next generation. In contrast, “it’s sad and heartbreaking to see Pakistan losing its own identity”.

The truth is, it was genuinely surprising to see the lack of celebration on Noor Jehan’s 100th birthday, especially considering her massive contributions to music in Pakistan.

Born on September 21, 1926 in Punjab’s Kasur, she had her start in show business as a singer and actor in the 1930s. Her six-decade career saw her record over 10,000 songs in Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.

Noor Jehan’s patriotic anthems, sung in the 1960s, continue to form a part of Pakistan’s national identity, especially when it comes to honouring the sacrifices of those who laid down their lives for the country.

The singer’s repertoire was diverse. She could really sing anything — be it uplifting anthems, ballads or romantic songs. Much of the songs she lent her voice to ended up as evergreen classics.

Find Images’ list of some of her best songs here.

The television networks said the honour for the 14-time Grammy winner “celebrates a sustained and influential body of work from artists who have pushed creative boundaries and developed a clear directorial voice”.

The MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Snoop Dogg, will air live from Los Angeles on Sunday on CBS and MTV and stream on Paramount+ in the United States. The ceremony will be available internationally on Paramount+ and MTV the following day.

The singer-songwriter, a seven-time VMA Best Director nominee and four-time winner, has earned recognition for videos and films including ‘The Fate of Ophelia’, ‘Opalite’, and ‘Anti-Hero’.

Beyond her directing work, the ‘Bad Blood’ singer has won four Grammy Album of the Year awards. Her latest release, The Life of a Showgirl, sold more copies than any other album in the modern era during its first week of release, according to Billboard, citing data from Luminate, a firm that tracks music sales.

One hundred years after she was born, she is still one of the most beloved singers in South Asia. Noor Jehan was born on September 21, 1926, as Allah Wasai in the city of Kasur. She started singing and acting as a young girl and turned out to be so good at it that it earned her the title of Malika-e-Tarannum (the Queen of Melody).

And like the musical royalty that she was, Noor Jehan went on to record around 10,000 songs in Urdu, Punjabi as well as Sindhi. During the 1960s, her voice became a major part of the Pakistani identity after she lent her voice to several patriotic songs (milli naghmay), including the evergreen ‘Aye Watan ke Sajelay Jawano’. To this day, those songs are a source of comfort, courage and hope for many Pakistanis.

But it isn’t just her powerful vocals that define Noor Jehan’s legacy; it’s also the diversity of her songs. She could sing anything — be it uplifting anthems, ballads or romantic songs. What’s more, her work transcends generations.

This sort of artistic immortality deserves to be celebrated for another 100 years — and what better way to do it than by revisiting some of her best tracks?

‘Mujh Se Pehli Si Muhabbat’

Penned by one of the greatest Urdu poets in the history of the language, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, this song was sung so perfectly by Noor Jehan that the poet famously said: “It’s not my song any more, it belongs to Noor Jehan now.”

‘Chandni Raatein’

This soft, dreamy song has seen many renditions by different artists after it was first performed by the legendary singer for the 1952 Pakistani film Dupatta. British-Indian music producer Bally Sagoo’s version from the 90s is probably one of the most popular ones.

‘Muhinji Preet Naein, Muhinjo Pyaar Nao’

Not a lot of people know that Noor Jehan also sang songs in Sindhi. ‘Muhinji Preet Naein, Muhinjo Pyaar Nao’ (My love is new, so is my affection) was performed as a duet with with Ustad Muhammad Yousuf for the 1970 Sindhi film Ghoonghat Lah Kunwar.

‘Sanu Nehar Wale Pul Te’

Easily one of the most recognisable songs in the history of Pakistani music, this song was performed by the Queen of Melody for the 1973 Pakistani Punjabi film Dukh Sajna De. To this day, many hum this song while waiting for people who don’t value the importance of showing up on time.

‘Aye Puttar Hattan Te Nahi Wikde’

This is a touching Punjabi song about a mother’s love. It is but one example of the versatility of the emotions Noor Jehan’s voice has the potential to evoke in people, across generations.

Noor Jehan’s illustrious career spanned over six decades and she died in Karachi on December 23, 2000, at the age of 74. She continues to live on in the hearts of many, thanks to her immortal voice, poise and grace.

The song has been sung and composed by Khalid and Zain-ul-Aabdin. Both singers contributed to the lyrics as well, along with Sufiyan Ahmed and Salal Ahmed.

The track, which has been produced by Seventean, is about longing for love and reassuring your beloved that you’ll be by their side if they take a chance on you.

Switching between Sindhi and Urdu, the song’s incredibly catchy hook — “Tu munjhi ahain (you are mine)” — is something that’s stuck in our heads.

‘tuu’ leans into a genre of desi pop popularised by Hasan Raheem and Taha G — easy listening that makes you want to dance.

In the music video, the boys hang out, head to an arcade, walk through the aisles of a grocery store, man a food kiosk and generally do what pop boys do in music videos about love. It’s got a hazy, retro effect with dim lighting and a slightly blurry nature that adds to the fun nature of the song — it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

We could be wrong, but it appears that part of the video has been shot in Karachi’s Creek Walk, which immediately takes us back to Hasan Raheem’s ‘Joona’, which was shot in a grocery store in Bukhari Commercial.

There’s something about a video shot with a lower budget that utilises the city you’re in that just works. It proves that you don’t need flashy elements and a massive budget to produce something great.

Thousands of fans welcomed the 57-year-old, known mononymously as Assala, at a venue in the Syrian capital where she bowed and opened the show with songs hailing the Syrian people.

“Souls of my heart, I missed you,” she repeatedly said to endless cheers on Thursday night. “My loves, my people, I swear, until this moment I could not believe that I am among you. I want to tell you how much I dreamt of this.”

There was a heavy security presence for the concert, after some religious conservatives launched a campaign calling for its cancellation. Half of the show’s proceeds will be donated to charity.

Driven into exile, Assala Nasri rebuilt her life in Cairo while keeping music alive across the Arab world

Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who overthrew Assad in 2024, have welcomed Assala. Culture Minister Mohammed Yassine Saleh has dubbed her “the daughter of Damascus”.

Joining her on stage, he said her return was that of “every honest Syrian and every free person”.

Assala was among the first artists to express support for the peaceful anti-Assad protests that erupted in 2011, refusing to partake in events supporting his government. She was booted from the Syrian artists’ union for her stance and was the target of media campaigns.

She went into exile, living in Cairo with her family and playing shows in various Arab countries. The bloody repression of the protests led to a 13-year civil war that killed more than half-a-million people. At Assala’s show, small Syrian flags rippled in time with the music, with many in the crowd unable to hold back their tears.

“I never thought this day would come. It’s like a beautiful dream,” concert-goer Sawsan Wadha, 56, said. “We are very happy that our country is moving forward,” added 40-year-old Lynn Nahas.

On her new record, The Syrian Album, Assala covers folk songs from all 14 of Syria’s provinces as an homage to her country’s cultural diversity. She sings for the cities scarred by war, but also for the coastline in mourning after last year’s killing of hundreds of members of Assad’s Alawi minority, and for Druze-majority Sweida, which also saw sectarian violence.

Recovery through art

Assala’s piercing, powerful voice rang out as she made her way through the album’s tracks at Thursday’s concert. She also performed fan favourites like ‘Samehtak’ and ‘Sandooq’, with the jubilant, tearful crowd singing along.

Assala and her family only returned to Damascus this week. An antiques dealer in the capital returned the oud, or Oriental lute, that had belonged to her father, a celebrated musician.

Conservative Muslim figures had expressed criticism in the run-up to the concert.

Egyptian preacher Hani Dahab, who lives in Syria, launched a social media campaign with the slogan “Cancel the Sinful Concerts”. He accused the culture ministry of seeking to “give society a secular character”.

Syrian Salafi preacher Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi condemned what he called a “concert of music and debauchery”, while a group of preachers in Damascus called on the culture minister to take into account “the religious identity of society”. While not addressing the critics directly, Assala said at the show that “recovery will only happen with art and music”.

Syria has seen a cultural boom since 2025, but also the rise of preachers and conservative religious movements in public spaces and at universities, raising fears of restrictions on freedom.

Originally published in Dawn, September 19th, 2026

Pairing singer Hasan Raheem with rising talent Izzchugtai over an Umair Tahir production — the producer better known simply as Umair — ‘Rangeen’ transforms yearning, affection and young romance into something far more vivid.

It opens with Raheem on a rooftop during Basant, surrounded by kites and the restless energy of Lahore. Then he spots her — a girl (model Sukaina Zaidi) across the way — and just like that, an entire romance unfurls in his head.

From there, the video slips into pure fantasy. Hasan pictures the whole arc — the courtship, the connection — against the backdrop of the song’s central theme: “Rangeen qisson ko tere… mera lahoo kar gaya (My blood lent colour to your stories).”

Izzchugtai’s arrival shifts the energy once again, giving the song another colour and dimension. His character sees what Raheem’s doesn’t — the girl’s evident lack of interest — and in one sequence, he can be seen talking sense into a seemingly frustrated Raheem.

Director Arham Ikram keeps everything deliberately unreal. Hashim Ali’s production design leans into nostalgia — pastel walls, patterned tiles, old computers, CDs, cassettes and film posters that evoke an early-2000s vibe.

With a nod to Coke Studio’s Nu.WAV, of course.

But reality, as it tends to, has other plans.

In a sparkly, pink rickshaw, Raheem, with his mother, played by Salma Hasan, and Izzchugtai and Umair, can be seen travelling to a house in the neighbourhood where there’s a wedding.

Again, Ali’s sets have been intricately designed and bring a wealth of colours to the screen. A two-storey facade glows against a deepening blue evening, dressed for celebration. Warm fairy lights trace the outlines of every window, door and balcony rail.

As the imagined romance reaches what feels like its natural conclusion, we hear a shehnai — played by Muhammad Salim — signalling a wedding: of the girl Raheem has been dreaming about. Unfortunately, she’s marrying someone else.

It’s a sharp, bittersweet twist, yet ‘Rangeen’ resists turning heartbreak into tragedy.

Amidst all of this, ‘Rangeen’ gives us Raheem dressed as a dulha once again while he’s dreaming about his beloved. In an Instagram clip, the singer can be seen grooving with Zaidi to the track.

For fans, it became a moment to poke fun at Raheem — as it inevitably brings to mind his promotional campaign for the music video ‘MEMORIES’, when people thought he had actually gotten married while he was, at the time, still single.

One user pointed out, “Fake shadi bohat pasand hai apko (You seem to like fake marriages a lot).”

Another wrote, “Memories ki memories triggered.”

Is this an obsession? Some users seemed to think so.

Speaking about the new song and music video, Kamal Khan, the executive producer for Coke Studio Nu.WAV, said: “‘Rangeen’ was kind of easy in the best way. Hasan and Umair already had it. The song, the world, everything. They knew Izzchugtai would work. Arham knows Hasan well enough to just get it. He brought this cool filmy, coming-of-age feel to whole video. He just belongs in that.”

With its inaugural edition, Nu.WAV is set to deliver a packed and diverse roster, including Asim Azhar, Maanu, Sabaat Batin, Shae Gill, Young Stunners, and Aaryan SDQ.

In a clip shared on Friday by the BBC Asian Network, the ‘Khabbay Sajjay’ singer said he thought Aamir’s new song ‘Pablo’ was a “banger”.

“She’s an amazing artist and I relate to her with the expressiveness and I’m so excited to see this side of her as an artist.”

Azhar said Pakistani listeners need to stop being so critical with how they listen to music, treat songs like a form of expression and not like they’re judging on Pakistan Idol.

“Yeah, she’s an actress, but she dropped this song [too]. For me, I conceived [sic] it as, ‘Okay, nice.’ She’s an artist. She’s she’s writing. She’s writing her feelings. She’s expressing how she feels.”

Azhar appeared to be particularly impressed with the song’s lyrics, which Aamir wrote herself. “I think each and every line addresses a major controversy in just in one-liners. I think that’s very smart.”

Azhar said he wanted “Pakistani pop girlies” to outnumber men in the field and hoped Aamir’s ‘Pablo’ could act as a step in that direction.

“I think there’s so much potential and this is just the beginning… I feel like Hania Aamir dropping ‘Pablo’ is going to give inspiration to so many more girls in Pakistan, in South Asia [and] in the world, even maybe.”

‘Pablo’, which released on September 9, was a vibrant Punjabi diss track aimed at Aamir’s many haters. At various points in the song she said she was “vibing” and “chilling” while all her opps were in the back “fuming”.

The song featured a message from Indian reality star Rakhi Sawant telling Aamir to be brave and face her haters with courage. When it was critiqued after its release, Sawant was one of the first to leap to Aamir’s defence, calling the actor her “sweetheart”.

Macklemore was dropped from Sheeran’s Loop tour on Monday after he delivered a speech calling for a free Palestine earlier this month. The decision sparked all of Sheeran’s other supporting acts to withdraw in solidarity with the rapper on Tuesday.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Macklemore said he wanted to shift the conversation back to where it was supposed to be, “to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation and still fighting for their freedom”.

He invited billionaire Robert Kraft to match his donation, saying, “Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting.”

Kraft has close philanthropic ties to Israel — to the point that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel does not have a friend more loyal than Robert Kraft,” when presenting him an award in 2019.

He owns the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts and had told Sheeran that the tour’s shows at his venue would not go ahead unless Macklemore was dropped.

The rapper said his speech and his stance were never about headlines and controversy, they were always about the rights of Palestinians to “freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland”.

He said he wanted to bring attention to “the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them and physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back in”.

Macklemore said writing a cheque was one of the least costly ways for him to support the people of Palestine and there were activists and organisers out there “who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine”.

He said aid wasn’t enough to address the crisis fully, calling the situation in Palestine a “manmade injustice”. He said the true need was for “political change” and that Palestinians “should not have to wait another day” for basic rights.

In his caption, Macklemore listed the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, Heal Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid Palestine, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees — commonly known as UNRWA — and American Near East Refugee Aid as the six organisations he would donate his earnings to.

Kraft pledges $2m “to the region”

Kraft responded to Macklemore’s post with a statement carried by Gillette Stadium’s social media accounts where he said he had already agreed to make a donation — and so had Sheeran.

In the statement, Kraft said he had “dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people” and that he “believed deeply that all lives are worth protecting”.

The businessman said Sheeran had approached him earlier to match a donation of $2m “to aid in the region”. He said he was happy to do so and the singer was now approaching other venue owners with the same proposal.

Kraft said he wanted people speaking out in favour of Palestine to know he had “supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians [and] brought young Palestinians and Israelis together to build businesses, create jobs and forge relationships” for decades.

These pledges come after the decision to drop Macklemore from the Loop tour caused an outcry among both fans and the entertainment industry.

Sheeran responded to the controversy on Tuesday saying he did not use his professional platform for politics and the decision to drop Macklemore wasn’t his to make — he said these matters were dealt by the tour’s promoters.

All of the singer’s supporting acts, including singer Finneas and the tour’s band Boega, decided to withdraw from future shows in solidarity with Macklemore.

Sheeran posted a statement on Instagram, saying he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” and that there were “too many wars across the world”.

“The suffering and pain caused on both sides is human tragedy,” Sheeran said.

The singer said Macklemore had approached him a year ago to join the tour and like all of Sheeran’s other supporting acts, he was allowed to choose his own setlist.

Sheeran confirmed that the rapper was dropped from the tour following threats from venue owners — including Robert Kraft, an American billionaire with ties to Israel — saying they would not allow shows to proceed if Macklemore was performing.

The singer said he spent a week talking to venues and to “promoters, along with activists on both sides” to try and come to a resolution, “but the venues’ and promoters’ decision was final”.

Sheeran said he would never let down his fans, nor would he abandon the people attached to his tour, but the decision to boot Macklemore from the tour came from the promoter.

The ‘Shape of You’ singer said his shows were “a place for everyone to feel welcome” and he had his “personal views on the devastating conflict” that he chooses to keep away from his professional platform.

“There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics — my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum,” he wrote.

While Macklemore said the singer was a friend he happened to disagree with, Sheeran just said he respects the rapper’s “strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes”. He said there was, however, “room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace”.

“If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change,” Sheeran said.

Supporting acts withdraw from tour

The backlash to Sheeran’s statement was severe, with all the musical artists set to perform with him bowing out from the tour in support of Macklemore.

Singer Finneas, who was set to support Sheeran in six shows in November, withdrew from the tour on Tuesday saying, “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.”

Irish singer Aaron Rowe, who had 10 upcoming shows on Sheeran’s tour, called the singer a friend, but said he couldn’t continue to be part of the tour. In a post on Instagram on Tuesday night, he said the people of Ireland “know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation”.

Rowe said, “I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children. I would lose all respect for myself to carry on as normal.”

Irish pop group Beoga, who also play as the tour’s live band, said they had been friends of Sheeran’s and will continue to be. “As musicians, playing to [crowds as big as Sheeran’s] is the stuff of dreams, but to play in venues that silence anyone advocating for a Free Palestine is simply not an option for us.”

Danish pop band Lukas Graham also dropped out of the tour on Tuesday. “We should be able to speak about war, about civilians being killed, about children who deserve to grow up. Wherever they live. Whatever flag flies over them,” wrote lead singer Lukas Forchhammer on the band’s social media accounts.

“Money doesn’t give you the right to own the conversation. Nobody’s bank balance should decide who gets to speak or which suffering we’re allowed to acknowledge.”

Macklemore has been outspoken about his support for Palestine, but this recent controversy comes after the rapper addressed one of Sheeran’s concerts in New York on September 4. His calls for a “Free Palestine” on stage sparked a petition from the American Israeli Council wishing to see him booted from the tour.

He responded to the backlash by releasing a speech from the venue on Instagram, where he reiterated his stance and said he wanted the words to be loud and clear, “so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them”.

The rapper made these remarks before performing ‘Hind’s Hall’, his 2024 protest song paying tribute to students at New York’s Columbia rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza and renaming one of their campus halls of residence after Hind Rajab — a six-year-old girl killed by Israel in 2024.

One of the most prominent faces in the recent campaign against Macklemore, Kraft, is an alumnus of Columbia University. He suspended his family’s financial support of the institution in the wake of pro-Palestine student protests, saying he was “not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken”.

Meanwhile, violence continues in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed 73,786 people since the war started in 2023 despite a ceasefire being in place since October 2025.

Lebanon is also facing military aggression, with Israel occupying parts of the country and killing nearly 9,000 people since 2023.

According to long-held tradition among the St Thomas Christians of southwestern India, the apostle Thomas, one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, arrived at the Malabar Coast (present-day Kerala) around 52 CE, establishing Christian communities that have endured for nearly two millennia.

While the historicity of Thomas’ journey remains debated, there is broad scholarly consensus that Christian communities have existed in the Subcontinent since at least the early centuries of the Common Era and were integrated into wider Eastern Christian networks centred in West Asia, particularly through Syriac-speaking churches linked to Persia and Mesopotamia.

Long before the arrival of European powers and their ecclesiastical institutions, these early South Asian Christian traditions evolved in dialogue with local languages, poetic forms and musical sensibilities.

From the Punjabi Zaboor of Imam-ud-Din Shahbaz to church choirs, Karachi’s golden age of live music and the digital worship of today, the story of Christian music in Pakistan reveals a rich musical heritage shaped by vernacular traditions, cultural exchange and generations of Christian musicians

The making of a vernacular Christian tradition

From the 16th century onwards, the arrival of Portuguese, Dutch and, later, British missionaries significantly expanded Chris­tia­nity’s demographic and institutional presence, gradually extending it into northern India and regions that would eventually form Pakistan.

During the British colonial period, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Christianity took root most visibly among marginalised and oppressed communities, particularly the Dalits — so-called ‘low-caste’ Hindu groups in Punjab and Sindh. Scholars widely agree that the overwhelming majority of Pakistani Christians today trace their ancestry to these mass conversions, undertaken not merely as acts of faith but as responses to entrenched caste hierarchies, social exclusion and economic exploitation. For many, conversion represented the promise, if not always the fulfilment, of dignity, education and social uplift.

This social history is crucial to understanding the development of Christian music in Pakistan. Unlike the courtly or classical traditions of the West, church music here emerged largely from village congregations, mission schools, urban settlements and labouring communities, where biblical texts were sung in Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi and later Siraiki, often set to familiar melodic modes and rhythmic cycles.

From its earliest stages, Christian musical expression in the region developed in close conversation with its surroundings, absorbing influences from folk idioms, Sufi devotional practices and South Asian poetic metres, while gradually shaping a distinct sacred repertoire.

The Psalms in Punjabi

The indigenisation of Christian congregational music in Punjab found its most decisive expression in the translation and musical interpretation of the Zaboor, the Book of Psalms.

Inherently poetic and lyrical, the Psalms were especially amenable to translation, versification and song. As a scripture acknowledged not only in Christianity but also in Islam, where it is understood as a Divine revelation granted to Prophet Dawood, the Zaboor also occupies a unique interreligious position. By the late 19th century, it had begun to circulate widely in Punjabi, composed explicitly for singing rather than recitation.

Central to this process was Reverend Imam-ud-Din Shahbaz. He was a gifted poet who rendered all 150 Psalms into metrical Punjabi between the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Drawing on Punjabi poetic metres and indigenous melodic frameworks, including ragas [musical scales] such as kaafi, bhairavi and paharri and performed in bhajans [Hindu devotional songs] and kaafi-like forms accompanied by harmonium and tabla, Shahbaz’s Psalms entered the shared village soundscape, resonating beyond church walls among Muslim and Sikh listeners as well.

The raga-based musical settings of this Punjabi Psalter were composed by Radha Kishan, a Hindu musician, further underscoring the collaborative and intercommunal nature of this musical project. Shahbaz’s translations remain in use among Punjabi-speaking churches today and represent one of the earliest sustained efforts to express Christian scripture within the musical tradition of the region.

This vernacularisation was consolidated by the Sialkot Convention, established in 1904, which emphasised collective Psalm singing and preaching in Punjabi and Urdu.

Offering a revivalist alternative to Western ecclesiastical formality, the Convention embedded local sound and language at the heart of Protestant worship. Vernacularisation was not limited to Punjabi alone. Urdu hymnody, which developed alongside it, drew on the language’s rich tradition of devotional and lyrical poetry. Collections such as Geet Ki Kitaab and later Naya Geet Gao compiled Psalms and hymns in easily singable Urdu, using straightforward verse forms and melodies that congregations could quickly learn and follow.

As church historian Robert Eric Frykenberg has observed, Christianity in South Asia was shaped through sustained intercultural engagement with local religious worlds rather than being simply transplanted from Europe.

By the early 20th century, Punjabi and Urdu Psalm singing had become central to Christian communal life in what would soon become Pakistan, resonating in village churches, mission schools and urban congregations. While doctrinally distinct, this emphasis on sung scripture, emotional supplication and communal participation created a cultural familiarity with Sufi and folk devotional practices.

Punjabi and Sindhi Christian hymns often moved within the same emotional registers as kaafi and bhajan, drawing upon idiomatic expressions shaped by Sufi figures such as Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain and Sachal Sarmast. Transmitted both orally and in print, these musical practices were shaped less by court musicians than by local singers, harmonium players and choir leaders, through whom Zaboor and hymnody emerged in Pakistan not as imported artefacts but as living, vernacular traditions.

The harmonium and the church

The trajectory of the harmonium in the Subcontinent closely mirrors that of Christian music itself.

Originally patented in 1842 in France by inventor Alexandre-François Debain as a foot-pumped reed organ, the harmonium reached India through missionaries and military regiments and was even reportedly used by the poet and composer Dwijendranath Tagore in his private theatre as early as 1860. It was later modified into its hand-pumped form by Dwarkanath Ghose of Bengal — one of the first inventors of the Indian-style harmonium — making it better suited to local performance contexts.

As Brian Bassanio Paul notes in his article From Hymn Books to Hashtags, following the British annexation of Punjab in 1849, Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist missions established centres in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Sialkot, introducing European hymnody, choral singing and the harmonium into churches and educational institutions.

Over time, the instrument’s portability and sonic compatibility led to its widespread adoption in rural congregations and, by the early 20th century, it had become central not only to Christian worship but also to Sikh, Hindu and Sufi devotional practices. By this period, the growth of mission schools, urban congregations and parish churches had also provided the institutional scaffolding for Christian musical life in Pakistan.

Church choirs, often guided by clergy or dedicated lay musicians, offered structured opportunities for musical training and cultivated generations of skilled singers and instrumentalists, who performed in worship, weddings, religious festivals and community events. Notably, many Christian choirs sing in four-part harmony, blending South Asian melodic sensibilities with choral techniques introduced through missionary education.

From church choirs to popular music

From the mid-20th century onward, Christian musicians trained in church choirs, mission schools and parish ensembles played a subtle but formative role in Pakistan’s emerging media industries.

Mission schools and church choirs encouraged musical training, particularly in harmony, choral technique and sight-reading. These skills of instrumentalists, arrangers and vocalists were much sought after in professional settings. As musicologists such as Regula Qureshi and Alison Arnold have noted in their respective studies of South Asian music, this kind of training positioned Christian musicians to move fluidly between devotional, theatrical and popular idioms without rigid genre boundaries.

Music composers such as Robin Ghosh played pivotal roles during the golden age of Pakistani cinema; orchestras led by figures such as Sohail Rana, Master Inayat Hussain and Khwaja Khurshid Anwar frequently employed violinists, cellists, pianists and other players drawn from church-trained ensembles; and playback singers such as Irene Parveen, Sunny Benjamin John, Saleem Raza (born Noel Dias) and A Nayyar lent their voices to many iconic geets and ghazals of the era.

Their proficiency in Western harmonies and experience with choral and instrumental textures enabled them to refine film scores, particularly in orchestration and background arrangements, even if their individual contributions were rarely credited. This subtle presence helped shape the sonic sophistication of Urdu and Punjabi cinema from the 1950s onward, while also influencing the formative musical ambience of radio and television.

In the wake of Independence in 1947, Karachi, then the nation’s capital, had emerged as a vibrant hub of cultural fusion. Its cosmopolitan population and growing economy fostered a lively music scene, where nightclubs and cabarets became stages for experimentation and live performance.

Many of the city’s skilled musicians, largely from Christian communities of Goan and Anglo-Indian descent, brought Western styles such as jazz and swing to local audiences. These venues were not just entertainment spaces, but sites of cross-cultural exchange, where diverse communities gathered to celebrate music.

This golden era of live music helped cement the foundations for Pakistan’s pluralistic musical landscape, complementing the enduring influence of church-trained musicians in film, radio and television.

From television to the digital age

Television further expanded these opportunities: programmes around Christmas and Easter, as well as variety shows, showcased Christian musical talent, most famously the Benjamin Sisters, whose harmonised vocals brought church-trained choral aesthetics into millions of homes.

Yet, the vibrant nightclub and cabaret scene that had nurtured many Christian musicians was largely dismantled during the Ziaul Haq era, curtailing live performance opportunities and leaving numerous musicians unemployed. Despite this, the pre-Zia live music culture had already laid the groundwork for Pakistan’s rock and pop explosion in the 1990s, with many artists drawing on the technical skills, improvisational fluency and Western-influenced aesthetics honed by Christian performers a decade earlier.

In the 21st century, Christian music in Pakistan has increasingly found a home in digital spaces, extending its reach far beyond parish walls and broadcast studios. Online platforms host vernacular Psalm renditions, hymn recordings and experimental projects, often produced by independent musicians or parish collectives.

Collaborative initiatives, such as the Leo Twins’ masterful renditions of the Zaboor, exemplify this evolution, blending Eastern and Western instrumentation with traditional Psalms and featuring instrumentalists including Louis J Pinto (Gumby) on drums, Melvin Arthur on bass and Joshua Keyth Benjamin on keys.

By reinterpreting centuries-old musical practices in contemporary idioms, these digital projects continue a historical trajectory of adaptation, resilience and local resonance, linking the church-trained expertise of past generations to a globally accessible audience and demonstrating the enduring creativity and vitality of Pakistan’s Christian musical heritage.

This essay is the third in a series on religious music in Pakistan, originally commissioned by the Centre for Social Justice. The first, Sounds of the Sacred, was published in Icon on December 7, 2025. The second, When Punjab Sang As One, was published on May 24, 2026.

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, September 13th, 2026

In a statement to Rolling Stone, the promotion agency Messina Touring Group said, “As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s US Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming US tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans. After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”

Macklemore responded to the news on Instagram, saying he didn’t know what to say after hearing he had been dropped from the tour, so he was “going to speak from the heart and share the truth”.

The rapper said Sheeran was not the victim here — and neither was singer Pink, who criticised the rapper’s comments on Instagram earlier — the real victims were “the men, women and children [in Palestine] who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence.”

Macklemore said Sheeran was a friend and nothing in his response was meant to “tear down his character”.

“But as I told Ed multiple times over the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.”

The rapper explained that Sheeran had told him he received a call from businessman Robert Kraft — the owner of Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, where the two were set to perform — saying the tour stop would not go ahead unless Macklemore was dropped.

Sheeran, he said, was in a difficult position, “His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.” Macklemore said he and the singer had a back and forth on the subject, but in the end the singer’s stance remained that he doesn’t “take sides”.

The rapper said he gets why someone wouldn’t take sides — it has its cost. “But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”

Macklemore said his advocacy on stage and Sheeran’s implicit support might have encouraged others to speak out, which is maybe why it was so important to “silence” him.

He also called out the weaponisation of antisemitism allegations, saying, “When criticising Israel, opposing Zionism or saying ‘Free Palestine’ gets conflated with hatred of the Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.”

“There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed,” Macklemore said.

The rapper said he hoped this doesn’t sour his ties with Sheeran and that this “painful disagreement” doesn’t end 13 years of friendship. He also said he didn’t need all 10 of the shows he was scheduled to do with the singer, just two were enough.

He said if saying free Palestine cost him his stage but meaningfully shifted the conversation, “then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on”.

Macklemore has been outspoken about his support for Palestine, but this recent outburst from pro-Israel figures and organisations comes after the rapper addressed one of Sheeran’s concerts in New York on September 4. His calls for a “Free Palestine” on stage sparked a petition from the American Israeli Council wishing to see him booted from the tour.

He responded to the backlash by releasing a speech from the venue on Instagram, where he reiterated his stance and said he wanted the words to be loud and clear, “so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them”.

The rapper made these remarks before performing ‘Hind’s Hall’, his 2024 protest song paying tribute to US students rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza.

In a statement, Kraft confirmed he had threatened to not let Sheeran’s shows go ahead if Macklemore was part of them, citing his “recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery”.

The venue owner said he agrees with the rapper that too many people have been killed and too many people have suffered, but, “much of my time and attention for the last decade has been focused on the fight against antisemitism and hate of all kinds, and I feel a responsibility to stand up when I believe that line has been crossed.”

Kraft said he would “welcome the opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts, because ultimately our goal is the same — peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate”.

The Kraft Group has long been associated with Israel, with the website for the family’s philanthropic initiatives including a separate section for projects undertaken in the country.

The controversy has attracted support for Macklemore, notably from children’s entertainer Miss Rachel, who said, “Ed Sheeran had an opportunity [to] show we won’t be bullied into punishing people for supporting Palestine. Instead, he caved to people refusing to accept what the world knows. A genocide is happening in Gaza. We all need to speak out against it.”

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg also voiced her support in the comments under Macklemore’s post, saying, “Full solidarity and free Palestine. Artists’ very active silence in the face of injustice and genocide will not be forgotten.”

“Punjabi aa gaye oye! (Punjabis have arrived),” announced Indian superstar Diljit Dosanjh, as he brought one of the most popular genres of South Asian music to one of the world’s biggest stages.

Part of his Aura World Tour, the performance drew around 90,000 people, according to one of the videos posted to Instagram by Dosanjh’s team.

As if the event wasn’t magical enough, Dosanjh moved his fans with his powerful rendition of ‘Sanson Ki Mala Pe,’ a classic originally sung by the late Pakistani legendary artist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Fans waved lights and sang along to Dosanjh’s soothing voice as Wembley — known for hosting memorable performances by Michael Jackson, Queen, Madonna, David Bowie and U2 — echoed with emotion.

Despite the fact that Dosanjh mainly sings in Punjabi, which is a major regional South Asian language, the 42-year-old Indian star shot to international fame by blending traditional folk music with modern hip-hop.

And Wembley wasn’t his first time writing history.

In 2023, Dosanjh became the first Punjabi artist to perform at Coachella. In June 2024, he made his debut on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Later that year in October, Dosanjh became the first South Asian artist to appear on the cover of Billboard Magazine.

“I’m standing on stage in this city I love so much thanks to your support and your love,” she told the crowd. “The path was rocky, the road was longer than planned, but I held on.”

The star announced in 2022 she had been diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological condition which causes muscle spasms and left her unable to perform.

Dion seemed overwhelmed at times and broke down in tears during her opening number, holding out a microphone to the audience to help her through the bridge.

“I promised I wouldn’t cry, but they’re tears of joy,” she said, speaking mostly French throughout.

The staging was muted and Dion mainly wore a series of black gowns, leaving little to distract from her obvious emotion at being back in front of a crowd.

“She did not shy away from what she suffered and she shared it with her audience,” British fan Catherine Rushforth said as she left the arena in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris.

Dion strutted confidently through her familiar on-stage theatrics, pulling faces and playing air guitar, and belting out ballads, including My Heart Will Go On and All By Myself, which made her one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.

We Don’t Change

But she opened with one of her biggest French-language hits On Ne Change Pas (We Don’t Change), an apparent reference to her extended absence.

Her 16-concert residency, with a further 10 dates next year, has caused a frenzy in the French capital where crowds gather outside her swanky hotel until the early hours hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

“Her fight is an example for all of us, it’s wonderful,” said fan Julien Faruch, a chef.

Originally published in Dawn, September 14th, 2026

The Junoon singer released his new single, ‘Yahan Wahan,’ on Saturday alongside a dystopic music video which, according to a disclaimer at the beginning, has been “created through a combination of human direction and generative AI tools.”

The song is a retelling of human suffering — of all kinds — occurring “yahan, wahan, kahan, kahan” (here, there, and everywhere), as the recurring lyrics put it.

The video, which feels like a sci-fi movie, begins with Azmat waking up trapped in a secure facility where he is forcibly injected with unknown substances.

He eventually overpowers his captors and escapes — but not before he ventures deep into the bowels of the facility, stumbling upon human clones suspended in glass tanks, a theatre of brain-washing populated by endless rows of suits wearing VR glasses emblazoned with the word ‘OBEY’.

“What life is this?” he asks in the lyrics, “Where everyone is imprisoned? Why is happiness lost? Only ashes are left.”

Outside, he finds a world of rubble and ruin, where he picks up an electric guitar and starts to play. Eerie, glowing alien-like figures surround him, taking in the performance.

The viewer is then taken through a montage of people facing hardships worldwide — indigenous tribes fending off attack, the suffering of all living things brought on by poverty, food scarcity, climate catastrophe and the military-industrial complex that profits a wealthy few.

“Break them,” he encourages listeners, “The chains of cruelty. All of you break the shackles, gather all your might, and lives will change for the better,” he sings.

The video ends with Azmat leading a horde of survivors facing off against what appears to be a group of soldiers and an armoured vehicle.

With a runtime of roughly five and a half minutes, the music video for ‘Yahan Wahan’ includes graphic content and simulated violence. Discretion is recommended for sensitive viewers.

Despite the use of AI to make the video, ‘Yahan Wahan’ is a well-intentioned effort at clubbing together all the ills Azmat believes are plaguing the word.

That being said, with so many divided over generative AI’s role in the creative business across the world, it remains to be seen how Azmat’s attempt will be received by fans and critics alike.

It all started when Aamir released her debut single ‘Pablo’ on Wednesday — a message to her haters — as she celebrated her 10th year in the entertainment industry.

And then, a hater came for her, as it turns out.

A social media commentator known as Dr Ejaz was far from impressed with the song. In an Instagram video titled ‘Hania Aamir’s Pablo Is Simply A Mess,’ he wondered why a celebrity as popular as Aamir would mark such an important career milestone with a track he thought was “bad.”

He said that after 10 years in the entertainment industry, she should’ve aimed for something “bigger.”

His review wasn’t entirely negative, though — the critic singled out one part of the song for praise: Rakhi Sawant’s contribution.

“The best part of the song was Rakhi Sawant,” he pointed out, referring to the outro of the song, which features Sawant telling Aamir not to worry about anything, and encourages her to face her haters like a “lioness”.

“If she weren’t in it, the song would have been completely bland… There’s a bit of life in the song now — thanks to Rakhi Sawant’s lines in it. Otherwise, the song’s video isn’t that enjoyable, the production quality isn’t up to scratch either and the tune of the song isn’t there either,” Waris claimed.

Sawant, however, wasn’t having it. Commenting under Waris’s video, she wrote: “Listen, I love you all but do not say anything to my honey. She’s my sweetheart. Haniya”

That’s not the extent of Sawant’s loyalty, either — the Indian media personality has since been posting videos of herself on Instagram with ‘Pablo’ playing in the background.

Aamir sure is lucky to have a friend like Sawant, don’t you think?

The song, written and composed by the actor herself, starts with a piano tune fitting Aamir’s usual cutesy charm. But then she clears her throat and we dive straight into the song’s Punjabi hip-hop soul.

The actor sings about how people think she’s “fake” because she’s too pretty and how she’s too guarded. For the opps, she sings, “Assi hassde te tussi pichhe sarhde-sarhde. Assi chill ay te roz panga lai re ne. (We’re laughing and you’re back there fuming. We’re chilling and you’re trying to pick a fight.”)

Aamir says she has fans following her everywhere she goes, and that her “Pindi attitude is watched by all of India”.

Then, perhaps taking a cue from rappers everywhere, she says she’s got mansions she keeps empty but her many friends are there to keep her company and all her antics to keep her busy — the same ones everyone’s so mad about.

The actor says she isn’t out here planning her next move — unlike the scheming haters — but is just “vibing to the beat, doing my groove”. She says she doesn’t even give interviews, but she still stays in the news.

She tells the haters, “Son, sit down, breathe a little. We’re all people here, everyone’s gonna answer for what they do. Learn to live within your means.”

The biggest surprise is the outro, which has a special guest. Indian reality TV star Rakhi Sawant takes over the mic for a special message to Aamir, “Hania, my jaan, don’t get tense. Understand? Don’t take any tension. You’re a hoor (maiden of heaven), there’s divine light on your face. They’re jealous of your beauty.”

Sawant calls Aamir a lioness and tells her to face her foes with courage. “Jo darr gaya, samjho marr gaa (The one who gets scared is as good as dead,)” Sawant tells the actor.

Really, ‘Pablo’ just goes to show that Aamir sees all the hate she’s getting and she does not care. Her message to her opponents is clear: Save your breath, you’re wasting it hating on me.

The 16th edition of the melo, which is set to take place on September 21, seeks to commemorate World Peace Day.

Lahooti Melo began dropping names of the lineup for the Larkano Edition 2026 on Instagram earlier this week.

In addition to mainstream singers like QB and Shafqat Amanat Ali, the festival will platform folk singers like Tahir Mithu, Ustad Noor Bux, Fakir Zulfiqar, the father-son duo of Ashique and Musadique Nizamani and Farzana Bahar.

The organisers of the festival are also in discussion with artists from other provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan, and will soon be announcing the rest of the lineup as names are finalised.

Lahooti Melo was co-founded by Saif Samejo, a member of the Sufi rock band The Sketches, and the founder of the Lahooti ashram in Hyderabad, and his wife Sana Khoja in 2016. Samejo will also be performing at this year’s melo.

The melo has always centered a particular cause. This year’s theme is centred around peace, cultural diversity, and music and the arts as a means of bringing people together and promoting peace, with a focus on celebrating our shared cultural heritage, Khoja told Images.

In the past, it has highlighted the #MeToo movement and climate change.

Coke Studio announced the news on Sunday in an Instagram post thanking “every single person who pressed play, sang along and made [‘Pasoori’] their own”.

The soulful Ali Sethi-Shae Gill duet was released on February 7, 2022 and amassed a billion views just shy of four years and seven months on YouTube. This doesn’t come as a surprise, though; the song has been immensely popular since it first released.

It was Spotify’s most streamed Pakistani song the year it was released and is still both Sethi and Gill’s most-streamed song on the platform, with almost 405 million streams.

A press release said the song was the second most searched term in the Songs category on Google in 2022 and took the top spot among songs found using the Hum to Search feature.

Coke Studio also posted a reel featuring Sethi and Gill alongside music producers Zulfiqar Khan (Xulfi) and Abdullah Siddiqui, thanking fans for helping them reach this milestone.

Sami Wahid, the general manager for Coca Cola in the region, said, “For nearly two decades, Coke Studio has carried Pakistan’s music, languages and stories to audiences across more than 180 countries, and ‘Pasoori’ shows what can happen when a song remains deeply rooted in its identity while connecting across borders. Four years on, audiences around the world continue to discover and return to it. For us, this milestone reflects what Coke Studio has always stood for: creating space for Pakistani artists and ideas to travel globally, and showing the scale at which our culture can resonate.”

‘Pasoori’ was a global sensation from the start, having inspired a number of covers in Pakistan, India and even outside the subcontinent. The song made it onto the soundtrack for Disney’s Ms Marvel — a show that drew heavily from Pakistani culture since its protagonist was a Pakistani-American.

Over 90 per cent of the song’s YouTube views were from outside Pakistan. The official music video has been viewed in over 60 countries.

‘Pasoori’ was also remixed by Coke Studio Africa, with Sethi collaborating with Marwan Moussa and Reekado Banks for a version of the song infused with Nigerian Afrobeats.

As is the case with many popular Pakistani songs, Bollywood also tried to take it over with a version of their own — sung by Arijit Singh no less. That made a lot of people very angry and was widely regarded as a bad move.

Well, it’s finally out — and people have really strong feelings about it.

Titled ‘Dil,’ the first song features overnight Pakistani sensations Afusic and Ali Soomro of ‘Pal Pal’ fame and newcomer Zoha Waseem, who shot to viral fame last year with ‘Majboor’.

The heart of ‘Dil’ beats with its catchy catchphrase, “Jeenay ka maza hai Dil de ke (the joy of living is in giving your heart).” The track opens with Afusic appearing seemingly untethered — at one point even floating in the air — while lamenting the experience of falling in love.

In the second half of the song, Waseem mesmerises with her signature soothing vocals, which have the potential to become the next viral hit for Instagram and TikTok reels.

Directed by Kamal Khan, the song delivers an intentionally retro-inspired visual feast. While Nu.WAV is all about showcasing the next generation of artists, the video for ‘Dil’ plays with an ironic contrast — with old-school televisions and purple neon lights. It perfectly showcases the tunes of modern love (and heartbreak) played through a vintage lens.

As expected, the internet had thoughts. Many seemed to be equating Nu.Wav with Coke Studio instead of treating it as a separate platform with a separate sound.

One X user bemoaned that for Pakistanis, everything from cricket to Coke Studio is now ruined.

Another user had a cheeky remark about the Gen-Z spirit of Nu.WAV.

Suffice it to say, ‘Dil’ hasn’t really been able to win the hearts of Coke Studio fans yet.

But Nu.WAV has a lot in store as the inaugural edition features a diverse line-up, including names like Asim Azhar, Hasan Raheem, Maanu, Sabaat Batin, Shae Gill, Young Stunners, Izz Chughtai and Aaryan SDQ, presenting well-known artists with fresh voices who are redefining Pakistan’s current music scene.

During an interview with Mirchi UAE on Monday, the Pakistani singer, who has also worked extensively in India, shared his views on the differences between the compositions featured in the popular music series in both countries.

When asked exactly what gives Coke Studio Pakistan an edge over its Indian counterpart, Aslam simply replied “jaadoo (magic)”, with a smile.

“Compositions on both sides are good, but the rawness of our music is missing [in Indian music],” he said. “Indian Coke Studio believes too much in commercialism, whereas Pakistani Coke Studio offers original compositions. A few people work on those compositions and it’s almost a do-or-die situation; but you can also add your own flair to it,” he added.

Aslam, who shot to international fame after the massive success of his breakout solo single ‘Aadat’ in the early 2000s, is back after a 19-year gap between albums with Subah Aye Na.

He built a massive fan-following in Bollywood by singing popular Hindi movie songs that eventually became huge hits across the world. Aslam first gained fame in Indian cinema with the breakthrough track ‘Woh Lamhe’ from the movie Zeher (2005). He then went on to sing many famous romantic songs, including ‘Tere Bin’ from Bas Ek Pal (2006), ‘Pehli Nazar Mein’ from Race (2008), and ‘Tu Jaane Na’ from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009). Later successful Bollywood tracks include ‘Jeena Jeena’ from Baldlapur and ‘Dil Diyan Gallan’ from Tiger Zinda Hai (2017).

Aslam has also been an integral part of Coke Studio Pakistan, delivering some of the most iconic and timeless performances on the hit show over the years. From his mesmerising take on the Sufi classic ‘Tajdar-e-Haram’ in Season 8 and soul-stirring rendition of ‘Wohi Khuda Hai’ in Season 12, to modern pop-fusion hits like ‘Sajan Das Na’ and ‘Go’ in Season 14, his journey showcases his unmatched vocal range that continues to enchant millions of fans across the globe.

In an interview with Images last month, the pop icon explained how his new eight-track album was not “a planned rebellion” and that it’s his way of “breaking away from convention”.

Thirty years after the rap legend’s death, the jury found Davis, 63, guilty of murder after just a few hours of deliberation.

“Count one, murder with use of a deadly weapon, guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon,” the foreperson of the jury announced to the court.

Davis, who faces possible life in prison without parole, addressed Judge Carli Kierny after the verdict was announced and stated his intention to appeal.

The one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips was accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing of the hip-hop artist after his own nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur’s entourage at a Las Vegas casino.

“Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand,” prosecutor Binu Palal said during closing arguments. “So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr Shakur.” Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, was shot about two hours after the casino confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was riding in the front passenger seat.

According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.

Davis is the only person who was in the Cadillac that evening who is still alive.

The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, was wounded.

The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has been one of America’s most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.

Davis, whose Crips were one of a patchwork of rival gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, is the only person to have been charged in connection with the shooting of Shakur.

Sentencing is scheduled for October 13.

Confession

The investigation into Shakur’s murder sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the case was revived when Davis’s memoirs were published in 2019.

Davis has repeatedly boasted over the years of involvement in Shakur’s murder — in interviews with law enforcement and media and ultimately in his autobiography, Compton Street Legend. He has since backtracked and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

Palal, the prosecutor, played clips from Davis’s various alleged confessions as part of his closing arguments.

Michael Sanft, Davis’s defence attorney, characterised his client’s confessions as fiction and lies partly designed to promote his book.

“You’re reading a book that is fiction and not fact,” Sanft told the jury.

“But the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession, that he was there and present at the time of the shooting.” Sanft said there was no evidence implicating Davis in Shakur’s murder other than his own statements.

In the run-up to the trial, Davis’s lawyers tried in vain to keep the book from being introduced as evidence, along with remarks he made in an interview with police in 2008.

Shakur, who was 25 when he died, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the US East Coast against the West Coast.

Known for hits like ‘California Love’ and ‘All Eyez on Me,’ Shakur — the son of a Black Panther — was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, but quickly became the epitome of California hip hop when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.

Cover photo: Reuters

Mohsen Namjoo, 50, whose work mixes Persian traditional music with more modern styles and had been living in the United States, flew into Tehran late last week, with his arrival welcomed by official media.

But his return ran into immediate controversy after a video said to be from his wife was posted criticising his move, prompting the singer to publish a swift rebuttal.

In her video published by Prague-based Radio Farda, Namjoo’s wife was quoted as saying that she had been completely unaware of his decision to return and the singer had effectively been missing for several days.

Namjoo responded in a video published by the ISNA news agency on Sunday that while he had made the decision to return “a few months ago”, he had kept the move under wraps.

He hailed the “utmost kindness” he had encountered since his return and responded to criticism by saying “I have come to see my homeland and my family”. The official IRNA news agency on Friday praised his “patriotic positions” in opposing the US-Israeli strikes during the war that caused widespread infrastructure damage and civilian casualties.

Originally published in Dawn, September 1st, 2026

Among the star-studded roster of acts was Chappel Roan, Mitski, Garbage and KATSEYE, who worked to raise the $10 million the festival donated to a number of welfare organisations.

This donation was matched by Melinda Gates, who made a surprise appearance on stage with Rodrigo and promised another $10m through her Pivotal Ventures. Gates commended the singer for “showing a new generation how much their voices matter”.

Partner organisations set to receive funding from the festival’s proceeds include Baby2Baby — which provides underprivileged children with essentials such as formula, diapers and clothes — the National Women’s Law Centre, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the National Institute for Reproductive Health.

While the event was organised to benefit US charities, Rodrigo has also previously shown her support for children abroad — in March, she appeared on a charity album to support children impacted by wars in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen.

That cause received a subtle nod at the press meet before the Daisy Chain Fields festival as well, where the singer wore a dress from Palestinian fashion brand Nol Collective featuring traditional tatreez embroidery at the hem.

A more overt tribute was given to the late country singer and philanthropist Dolly Parton, who died on Tuesday at the age of 80.

Rodrigo joined Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan on stage for a duet of her songs ‘Building a Mystery’ and ‘Angel’, dedicating the latter to Parton.

“I want to dedicate this song tonight to the OG matriarch, beautiful goddess of country music,” McLachlan said on stage. “The biggest philanthropist in the history of country music, Dolly Parton.”

Among them was 22-year-old Mohammad Alif, who had travelled 109 kilometres from Comilla to see Atif Aslam perform.

“I have been listening to Atif Aslam since I was 10,” Alif told me. “Seeing him perform in person today feels like a dream.”

The moment Atif Aslam took the stage at 8:52 pm, thousands of voices erupted in unison: “Atif! Atif!” For the next two hours, the audience sang along to one hit after another. The rain and the long wait no longer mattered.

For years, young Bangladeshis listened to Pakistani music online. Now they are braving rain, paying premium ticket prices and travelling long distances to see their favourite artists live. What explains the growing appeal?

Unlike Alif, 19-year-old Mushfiqa Jahan, a Jahangirnagar University student, did not get the chance to attend the concert. Her family would not allow her to go, so she followed the event through videos that flooded the internet.

“I regularly listen to Atif Aslam on YouTube,” says Mushfiqa. “His lyrics resonate with my feelings. I really wanted to see him perform in person.”

Alif and Mushfiqa are far from alone. For thousands of young people in Bangladesh, Pakistani music has become a part of their daily playlists. But this fascination did not emerge overnight.

From online playlists to crowded concerts

Pakistani music has not suddenly become popular in Bangladesh. Rather, its popularity has only become more visible in recent years.

For more than a decade, many young Bangladeshis have been listening to Pakistani artists through digital platforms. For much of that time, however, their enthusiasm remained confined to personal playlists and online communities.

That began to change after 2024, as improving diplomatic and cultural ties coincided with a growing number of Pakistani artists coming to Bangladesh for live performances after official exchanges increased.

Direct flights between the two countries resumed after years of suspension in January 2026. One concert after another revealed something that had long existed but was largely invisible: a loyal audience built over years of online listening was finally coming together in person.

The trend became increasingly visible on stage. Atif came to Dhaka for a concert in April 2024. He was back again in November the same year, performed at a university event in December 2025 and, most recently, headlined another major concert on July 24, 2026.

At a press conference in Dhaka on July 23, 2026 Atif Aslam described Bangladesh as his second home. “I have performed all over the world, but nowhere do I receive the kind of response I get from audiences in Bangladesh,” he said.

Atif Aslam is far from the only Pakistani artist attracting audiences in Bangladesh. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan made two concert appearances in Dhaka in December 2024, while the Pakistani band Jal returned to the country after a 14-year hiatus.

In 2025, Aima Baig, Kaavish and Roxen frontman Mustafa Zahid made their Dhaka debuts. Abdul Hannan, who had performed with Atif Aslam in 2024, returned in 2025. Bayaan followed with their first concert in the capital in 2026, while Murtaza Qizilbash is set to make his Bangladesh debut in September this year and Hasan Raheem later this month.

Concerts by artists such as Atif Aslam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have evolved into some of Bangladesh’s biggest music events, drawing audiences from across the country. Despite relatively expensive tickets, they remain in strong demand. For many young fans, these concerts have become more than live performances — they are shared cultural experiences built on years of listening to Pakistani music.

Prominent Bangladeshi lyricist and media personality Faisal Rabbikin believes Bangladeshi audiences’ interest in Pakistani artists is nothing new. “Several Pakistani artists have long enjoyed a strong following in Bangladesh,” he says. “When communication between countries becomes easier and diplomatic ties improve, cultural exchange naturally expands. The growing number of concerts by Pakistani artists in Bangladesh is part of that process.”

Mohammed Shoeb, an assistant professor in the Department of Music at the University of Dhaka, shares a similar view. He says Bangladeshis have been listening to Pakistani music, particularly ghazals, for decades.

“Earlier, listeners relied on television and radio,” he says. “Today, young people can easily discover music from different countries on digital platforms and decide for themselves what they like, free from preconceived notions. Digital platforms have made that possible.”

Why do Pakistani artists resonate with Bangladesh’s youth?

For many young Bangladeshis, Coke Studio Pakistan has served as a gateway to Pakistani music. Its fusion of folk traditions, qawwali and contemporary pop has attracted a wide audience on YouTube.

At the same time, streaming platforms have made it easier than ever to discover artists beyond mainstream Bollywood music.

Twenty-four-year-old Marin Amin has been listening to Pakistani music since childhood and has attended several concerts by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif Aslam in Dhaka. “There’s something different about Pakistani music,” says Marin. “The way they present their music really appeals to me, and I find it easy to connect with it.”

She believes the appeal extends beyond her generation. “It’s just as popular with people younger than us. Sometimes, when I listen to these songs, it feels as though they are telling my own life story.”

According to young Bangladeshi singer Angel Noor, Indian films have also contributed to the popularity of Pakistani music in Bangladesh. Ultimately, however, he believes it is the quality of the music that keeps listeners coming back.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t listen to Pakistani music. The quality of their songs is excellent,” says Angel.

That influence has also shaped his own work. He says he has tried to blend elements of Pakistani music into his upcoming 12-track album, with Pakistani musicians collaborating on the arrangements. “I’ve tried to give my upcoming 12-track album a Pakistani flavour,” he adds.

Performances, not passports

Mohammed Shoeb believes that, when it comes to music, listeners care more about quality than nationality.

“When people listen to a song, they don’t stop to think whether it is Indian or Pakistani,” he points out. “What matters is the melody, the voice, the lyrics and the way it is presented. Pakistani music has a distinctive quality, and that is why it has built such a strong following among young people in Bangladesh.”

Faisal Rabbikin believes the growing popularity of Pakistani music in Bangladesh reflects more than the success of a handful of artists. It is also the result of expanding cultural exchanges, the rise of digital platforms and the changing musical tastes of young listeners.

“Today’s youth don’t choose music by looking at an artist’s passport,” he says. “They simply decide whether a song is good.” But he’s also quick to add: “Cultural exchanges should never be one-way. Just as Pakistani artists are performing in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi musicians should also have regular opportunities to perform in Pakistan and elsewhere.”

That night on Madani Avenue, some like Mohammad Alif saw a long-held dream come true. After years of listening to Atif Aslam’s music, he watched the singer perform live for the first time. For others like Mushfiqa Jahan, however, the wait continues.

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, August 23rd, 2026