Singer Zeb Bangash has released a song in collaboration with Shamali Afghan, as part of a love letter to Afghanistan’s culture and music.
Zeb Bangash elaborated on the meaning behind this soulful song as well during an interview with BBC Urdu.
There she claimed, “This song was a dedication to the days and nights and the current situation of Afghanistan and the people who were living there.”
She added, “I listened to Afghan music a lot as a child. During the 80’s when many Afghan refugees migrated to our country, among them were a lot of musicians and they would give live performances of their songs in our home."
"Among them was the man Shah Wali whom my grandmother use to consider as her son, and Shamali is his son which is why I chose to collaborate with him.”
“I had wanted to collaborate with Shamali for a long time because I found his voice to be quite beautiful and unique like his father’s was. Within a week we had come together at my house where we shot the videos and recorded the songs."
"We couldn’t find any other location due to covid, and my nieces and nephews were a lot of help. We had initially planned to release the song at the end of the year, but the way the circumstances in Afghanistan changed we realized that it was absolutely necessary to release this music to remind everyone of the beauty of Afghan music and culture.”
She signed off by saying, “I had visited Kabul three or four times and I loved the music over there. I also feel that the creativity and the love people have for music over there is quite breath-taking and much more refined than the music culture of Lahore."
"I remember that even when you would go to small shops like a tikka shop there would be a live show taking place and local people would be playing their instruments.”
