The Patari Journal

Stories and spotlights from the world of Pakistani music

• Atif Aslam: a guide to Pakistan's biggest pop voiceFrom a college band to a subcontinental superstar — where to begin with Atif Aslam.
• Noor Jehan: a guide to the Queen of MelodySinger, actress, legend — an introduction to Malika-e-Tarannum, Noor Jehan, across her Urdu and Punjabi masterpieces.
• Mehdi Hassan: a guide to the King of GhazalThe voice that defined the modern ghazal — where to begin with Shahenshah-e-Ghazal, Mehdi Hassan.
• Abida Parveen: a guide to the Queen of Sufi musicWhere to begin with the most powerful voice in Sufi song — the essential recordings and the poets behind them.
• The golden age of Pakistani film musicBefore pop, before Coke Studio, Lollywood ruled — and its playback singers made some of the most beloved music Pakistan has known.
• An introduction to Pakistani classical musicGharanas, raags and the ustads who kept a centuries-old art alive — a gentle way into Pakistani classical music.
• The rise of Pakistani pop: from Nazia Hassan to nowHow a teenager with a disco hit opened a door — and the bands and stars who walked through it.
• Women who shaped Pakistani musicFrom the Queen of Melody to the Queen of Sufi song — the women whose voices are the backbone of Pakistani music.
• Coke Studio: the performances that changed Pakistani musicSince 2008, one TV show rewired how the country — and the world — hears Pakistani music. Here are the moments that mattered.
• Balochi music: sounds from the westFrom ancient desert folk to a viral new generation — a way into the music of Balochistan.
• Saraiki music: the soul of southern PunjabThe language of Khwaja Farid and the desert — emotional folk, Sufi kalam, and the voices that define it.
• Sindhi Sufi and folk: where to startThe music of the Indus — Shah Latif's poetry, desert folk and modern Sindhi rock, and the voices carrying it.
• Where to begin with the Urdu ghazalThe most refined form in South Asian music, and the five voices that will teach you to love it.
• Pashto music: 8 artists to knowFrom the folklore of Zarsanga to the pop of Gul Panra — a way into one of Pakistan's richest musical languages.
• A beginner's guide to qawwaliWhat qawwali is, where it came from, and the recordings to start with — from Nusrat to the Sabris.
• The greatest voices of Pakistani music: 12 legends to knowA guided tour of the artists this archive exists to preserve — the qawwals, ghazal masters, folk icons and pop pioneers who made Pakistani music what it is.
• New to Pakistani music? Start hereA short, opinionated door into Pakistani music — from a national anthem in disguise to the queen of Sufi song.
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: the voice that carried qawwali to the worldHow the Shahenshah-e-Qawwali took six centuries of family tradition and made it speak to the whole planet.