In this conversation with Instep, the ‘Jhuki Jhuki’ singer talks about producing the hit song on the Bol soundtrack, working in hisstudio with Zeb & Haniya and Noori and why he prefers releasing singles over an album...
By Shahzeb Shaikh

Instep: Tell us about the response to your last album, Ankahi.

Shiraz Uppal: The response to my last album, Ankahi was great. As it was simultaneously released in Pakistan and India by Fire Records and T-Series respectively, it was heard and consequently appreciated by a larger market. Both record labels promoted it well across the globe and T-Series loved the track ‘Rabba’ and included it in the John Abraham film Aashayein.

Instep: Which song on the album is closest to your heart?

Shiraz Uppal: Although all the tracks are really close to my heart as I’ve spent equal amount of time in composing and producing each track but the one that I love the most is ‘Roya Re’. It was also a part of Pooja Bhatt’s movie Dhoka and was received well across the board.

Instep: In addition to working on your own music, you’ve also worked with Atif Aslam, Zeb and Haniya and Noori in the studio. Tell us about that...

Shiraz Uppal: It always feels great when I produce a song for others as music production is my passion and I enjoy it more than singing. I loved producing ‘Hona Tha Pyar’, which was sung by Atif Aslam and Hadiqa Kiyani for the movie Bol. I love the way Atif improvises on a given melody and this song was a huge success. I like experimentation and Zeb and Haniya’s ‘Daam’ was a new experience for me as it belonged to a different genre of music. Noori’s music is very high energy and it involves live instrumentation that I love to record and mix.

Instep: How do you view the current music scene?

Shiraz Uppal: Well, the current music scene is not that good. There are not many concerts being organized because of security reasons in our country. We are only doing corporate shows for multinationals which are limited to their employees and are not open to general public. A ticketed concert that is open to the general public means that people are only there to listen to you and it’s a different high altogether. I don’t see our music industry flourishing in the near future as all of the other industries of our country are going down on the graph. So when the overall situation of our country improves, the music scene will improve as well.

Instep: How difficult is it to survive as a musician in Pakistan?

Shiraz Uppal: For a budding artist or artists not in the mainstream, it is very difficult to survive in the prevailing conditions. For an established artist, it’s not that hard. It’s an era where only the fittest survive so one really needs to make a conscious effort to keep his music up to date and needs to keep on experimenting to survive.

Instep: How was the experience of working with the Bol unit?

Shiraz Uppal: It was a wonderful experience. Shoaib Mansoor is a multi-talented person and I love all of his work to date. His ear for music is good as well and he knows how to extract the best out of a music director.

Instep: In your opinion, how important are music videos?

Shiraz Uppal: Music is more seen than listened to nowadays. So a video is as important as the song itself. On most occasions, people remember only those songs that come attached with music videos and are frequently shown on TV. I have noticed that songs on my album which have been released with music videos are way more popular than singles without videos.

I have released three videos from Ankahi - ‘Rabba’, ‘Mann Laga’ and ‘Roya Re’. Now since the album is two years old, I am planning on releasing new singles and videos soon. I have collaborated with Rafaqat Ali Khan and produced a Qawwali ‘Data Di Deewani’. The video has been produced by Fire Records and should be on air soon.

Instep: How important is corporate sponsorship for an artist?

Shiraz Uppal: A brand has marketing budgets in the millions and when they sponsor an artist, they take the responsibility for the promotion of that artist along with their brand. So they invest a good amount in making promotional videos whose budgets are sky high and those videos are shown on rotation on all the channels because the brand has bought the air time. A brand sponsorship definitely benefits the artist because not many artists can spend millions of rupees on videos and promotional stuff.

Instep: Many artists are choosing to release singles with videos rather than full albums. What is your game plan?

Shiraz Uppal: These days I am only concentrating on producing singles rather than making a whole album. The trend of making an album is changing because the artist can create a single and release it as a music video rather than relying on the record label to release their whole album.

Instep: Tell us about judging Pakistan Music Stars?

Shiraz Uppal: It’s been a lovely experience and I am amazed to see that we have so much talent in our country. Unfortunately there aren’t many platforms for such talented contestants to show off their skills. Besides judging, I even loved performing with them. Most of the contestants are really skilled and have a bright future in music. Reality shows of this sort should happen more frequently and on all the channels because it’s the only way to promote the hidden talent of our country who cannot afford to make a video and come on TV.

Instep: You also picked up the Indian Mirchi Music Award 2011. Did you expect it?

Shiraz Uppal: No. I felt awesome. I got it for my song ‘Rabba’ which was featured on the soundtrack of the film Aashayein. I got the award for Best Upcoming Music Director. I felt proud when I won the award considering other nominees were Sanjay Leela Bhansali amongst others.