"Hungaami Halaat"

The Bollywood style of music and videos in "Doorie" has diappointed many of Atif's fans in Pakistan who had been liking Atif for his "Jal Pari" style songs. About this Atif said "Touring internationally made me think that I should take my music global by releasing it worldwide. I collaborated with a lot of people and thought up a plan for a commercial album, which is not my type of music; which is not ATIF. I just wanted to explore that side of the music. When I composed and wrote these songs for Doorie, I kept in mind that this album has to be commercial". He also told that he would soon be releasing an album named Hangami Halaat which would be an original 'atif style' album. Regarding his videos he says "I think that was a requirement because the Indian audience can never accept my 'Mahi Vey' video or my 'Rangoun Mein' video. They have a different concept about a pop or a rock icon. He has to be a heart throb. Girls here can't sit on motor bikes, in India girls ride them. It's a different culture altogether. They (my Indian videos) are for an international audience

"Doorie"

Album Cover of Doorie.In December 2006, Atif Aslam released his much anticipated album called "Doorie" along with the video of the title song "Doorie" in India and Pakistan. Some of the songs in the album include "Hum kis galli", "Maula", "O re piya". One of the most critically-acclaimed tracks was "Kuch Is Tarah", composed by past collaborator Mithoon.The album was produced in collaboration with Indian lyricists and composers. A month later the video of "Hum kis galli" was released. Like the video of "Doorie", it was shot in India. The album proved to be success. The videos of doorie (remix) and Ehsaas (included in both "jal pari" and "Doorie") were released one after another in the months of march/april.

Across The Border

Whilst the drama of lyrics & composition ownership continued in Pakistan, Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt called Atif Aslam to seek his consent to include "Woh Lamhey" in the soundtrack of his new motion picture, Zeher (2005). The song (especially the remix version) became a hit & dominated airplay on almost all major FM stations throughout India for a period of 6-8 months. This pattern of a slow playback song by Atif in the movie, supplemented by a remix version released for radio airplay was to become standard procedure with Atif’s songs on the Indian market.He recorded a song for the movie Kalyug (2005), entitled Juda Hokey Bhi - a slight variation of the ever famous Aadat song. Like with “Wo Lamhey / Bheegi Yaadein”, a slow version became the theme for the movie and part of the official soundtrack, whilst a remixed version was released to hit the radio stations and desi clubs worldwide.After recording for Kalyug, an Irani director in Hollywood contacted Atif and within very little time, Atif recorded three songs for that same director’s Hollywood movie, Man Push Cart and was rewarded with a small cameo role in the movie.Atif re-emerged in the subcontinent with a new track, “Tere Bin” (Without You) for the Bollywood Movie, Bas Ek Pal (2006). The song "Tere Bin", composed by upcoming music director Mithoon, who was also responsible for rearranging "Woh Lamhe" and "Aadat", became a hit in India and Pakistan.

Awards

Best song, Best Composition, Best Lyrics "Aadat"- 2nd Jazz Indus Music Awards (Pakistan).
Best playback singer, Best debut singer - Sahara Sangeet Awards (India).
Best Song, Best Lyricist, Best Composition - ARY Music Awards (Pakistan).
Most Wanted Male - The Musik Awards (Pakistan).
Best pop star of the year - Filmazia awards (Pakistan).
Best album of the year "Doorie" - 2007 LUX style awards (Pakistan).
Received Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Star-of-Excellence) from the Pakistan government.
Best stylish musician of 2007 - MTV Pakistan style awards.
Most stylish MUSICIAN - MTV STYLE LYCRA AWARDS INDIA

Popular Songs

Woh Lamhe - from the movie Zeher. This song did a business of more than $1,000,000 in India.[citation needed] This song opened the doors of bollywood for Atif and he is now one of the few singers of the nation who are doing play back singing in bollywood.
Pehli Nazar Mein -from the movie Race
Tere Bin - from the movie Bas Ek Pal
Hum Kis Gali Ja rahe hain
Aadat - from the movie Kalyug
Mahi ve
Doorie(was an album)
Kuch Is Tarah
Meri Kahani
Chor Gayai
Pehli Nazaar Mein - Race
His songs Aadat and Ehsaas were included in a Hollywood art movie Man Push Cart. The film had its world premiere at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. The film entered the "official selection" of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and won the Fipresci Critic's Award at the London Film Festival.

Controversy

After the release of the song Aadat by Jal, there were disputes within the band about Atif's brother being the band's manager. At this point Atif broke off from the band to do his own solo album. As both the Jal, "Aadat", and Atif’s album, Jalpari, shared certain tracks (such as "Aadat", "Wo Lamhey", "Dil Harey") an unofficial war over rights began which resulted in both sides claiming to possess hard proof to support their respective claims (that, they alone owned the concerned songs). The hype this feud gave to both Atif and the new Jal was extraordinary and split the music fans with the fans of each side backing their respective favourite.

Music career

One day he was singing with his friends at the college canteen. His friends urged him to participate in the singing competition on Independence Day celebrations at PAF College Lahore and Sargodha in 1998. He performed there and won the competition. After HSc, Atif joined Punjab Institute of Computer Science Gulberg Campus. He was not able to give time to cricket due to his busy study schedule here.
His hobby of singing continued with him entering the singing competition of his college. There were a total of 8 participants. The media team entered Atif's name in the competition at the eleventh hour. He won the competition by singing the hit number Duur of Strings. He kept on winning these competitions every semester until he announced that he will no longer participate in them so that someone else can also win the competition.
He met Goher, a guitarist and his future Jal bandmate, at his college. Together they practiced and started doing mini concerts for their friends. Atif used to perform Junoon and Strings songs at these concerts. They started performing in their college, McDonalds and other restaurants.
Atif recorded the song Aadat at Mekal Hassan's Studio. Atif and Goher formed the band Jal, which means water. The song became popular on different musical websites in Pakistan. The song was also being on aired on major Radio channels of Pakistan like City FM 89, FM 100, Mast FM 103, FM 105 etc. The video for this song was released on Ary The Music and then it was played on almost all the channels.
Atif released his first album Jal Pari on 18th July 2004 by Sound Master and IC records. It was declared to be the best selling album of the year within just 5 months of the release.[citation needed] In the meantime Atif also cleared his Bachelors in Computer Science (hons) from University of Central Punjab. On 14th April 2007 Atif Aslam performed in Royal Albert Hall.
On 17th July 2008 Atif Aslam will be the second singer to perform in Colosseum in Rome, Italy after the peace concert held on 12 May 2002.

Early life

At the age of 9, he moved to Islamabad where he continued his studies at Saint Paul's School. Atif came back to Lahore in 1995 where he continued his studies in Divisional Public School (DPS),Model Town, Lahore. He was selected in his school cricket team as a bowler. He was putting his best efforts to become a professional cricketer. He practiced at the nets at Shapes club in Lahore where Imran Khan used to give tips on bowling to him.[citation needed]Atif spent most of his school life in DPS model town.At that time he was more interested in cricket than music. He passed out of DPS after completing his matriculation exams.
Atif started his HSc in PAF College, Lahore, and around this time he became interested in music. His eldest brother had a collection of more than 8,000 songs in almost all music genres, and Aslam developed a habit of listening to all kinds of music. He was a quick learner and soon grasped the control of his voice.
He now Has 3 albums including; Jal Pari, Doorie, Meri Kahani.

Atif Aslam

Atif Aslam (Urdu: عاطف اسلم)(born March 12, 1983) is a Pakistani pop singer. He was born in Wazirabad and educated in Lahore and Rawalpindi. He is well-known in the Subcontinent for his hits Hum Kis Galli , Aadat, Woh Lamhe, Doorie,Tere Bin and Pehli Nazar Mein. He was formerly the lead singer of Jal.

Aural tradition

Many types of music, such as traditional blues and folk music were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs were handed down orally, or aurally (by ear). When the composer of music is no longer known, this music is often classified as "traditional". Different musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those which demand improvisation or modification to the music. A culture's history may also be passed by ear through song.

Performance

Performance is the physical expression of music. Often, a musical work is performed once its structure and instrumentation are satisfactory to its creators; however, as it gets performed, it can evolve and change.
A performance can either be rehearsed or improvised. Improvisation is a musical idea created on the spot (such as a guitar solo or a drum solo), with no prior premeditation, while rehearsal is vigorous repetition of an idea until it has achieved cohesion. Musicians will generally add improvisation to a well-rehearsed idea to create a unique performance. Many cultures include strong traditions of solo and performance, such as in Indian classical music, and in the Western Art music tradition. Other cultures, such as in Bali, include strong traditions of group performance. All cultures include a mixture of both, and performance may range from improvised solo playing for one's enjoyment to highly planned and organised performance rituals such as the modern classical concert, religious processions, music festivals or music competitions.
Chamber music, which is music for a small ensemble with only a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than symphonic works. A performer may be referred to as a musician.

20th century

In the 20th century there was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity worldwide and new media and technologies were developed to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. The focus of art music was characterized by exploration. Claude Debussy has become well-known and respected for his orientation towards colors and depictions in his compositional style. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th century art music. Jazz evolved and became a significant genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half of that century, rock music and rap music did the same.

Romantic

Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were transitional composers, leading into the Romantic period, with their expansion of existing genres, forms, and functions of music. In the Romantic period, the emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over the orientation towards technique and tradition. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and in the role of concerts as part of urban society. Later Romantic composers created complex and often much longer musical works, merging and expanding traditional forms that had previously been used separately. For example, counterpoint, combined with harmonic structures to create more extended chords with increased use of dissonance and to create dramatic tension and resolution.

European Baroque

The first operas, written around 1600 and the rise of contrapuntal music define the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque era that lasted until roughly 1750, the year of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Allegory of Music, by Filippino Lippi
Allegory of Music on the Opéra Garnier
German Baroque composers wrote for small ensembles including strings, brass, and woodwinds, as well as Choirs, pipe organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. During the Baroque period, several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further, including the Fugue, the Invention, the Sonata, and the Concerto.[6]

Medieval and Renaissance Europe

While musical life in Europe was undoubtedly rich in the early Medieval era, as attested by artistic depictions of instruments, writings about music, and other records, the only European repertory which has survived from before about 800 is the monophonic liturgical plainsong of the Roman Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called Gregorian chant. Several schools of liturgical polyphony flourished beginning in the 12th century. Alongside these traditions of sacred music, a vibrant tradition of secular song developed, exemplified by the music of the troubadours, trouvères and Minnesänger.
Much of the surviving music of 14th century Europe is secular. By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers used a smooth polyphony for sacred musical compositions such as the mass, the motet, and the laude, and secular forms such as the chanson and the madrigal. The introduction of commercial printing had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles.[citation needed]

Ancient

A range of paleolithic sites have yielded bones in which lateral holes have been pierced: these are usually identified as flutes[3], blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. The earliest written records of musical expression are to be found in the Sama Veda of India and in 4,000 year old cuneiform from Ur.[citation needed] Instruments, such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments have been recovered from the Indus valley civilization archaeological sites.[4] India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music (marga) can be found in the ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. The traditional art or court music of China has a history stretching for more than three thousand years. Music was an important part of cultural and social life in Ancient Greece: mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual ceremonies; musicians and singers had a prominent role in ancient Greek theater
In the 9th century, al-Farabi wrote a notable book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqi al-Kabir ("Great Book of Music"). He played and invented a variety of musical instruments and devised the Arab tone system of pitch organisation, which is still used in Arabic music.[5]

History

The history of music predates the written word. The development of music among humans must have taken place against the backdrop of natural sounds such as birdsong and the sounds other animals use to communicate.[citation needed] Prehistoric music is the name which is given to all music produced in preliterate cultures.[citation needed][2]

Definition of music

Greek philosophers and medieval theorists defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies, and vertically as harmonies. Music theory, within this realm, is studied with the presupposition that music is orderly and often pleasant to hear. However, in the 20th century, composers challenged the notion that music had to be pleasant by creating music that explored harsher, darker timbres. The existence of some modern-day genres such as death metal and grindcore, which enjoy an extensive underground following, indicate that even the harshest sounds can be considered music if the listener is so inclined.
20th century composer John Cage disagreed with the notion that music must consist of pleasant, discernible melodies. Instead, he argued that any sounds we can hear can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound,"[1]. According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "the border between music and noise is always culturally defined--which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.... By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be."[1]
The composer Anton Webern stated "With me, things never turn out as I wish, but only as is ordained for means—I must", which sets out his view of the underlying generative process of music. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe believed that patterns and forms were the basis of music; he stated that "architecture is frozen music."
The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions (and their recreation in performance), through improvisational music to aleatoric forms. Music can be divided into genres and sub-genres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial. Within "the arts", music can be classified as a performing art, a fine art, or an auditory art form.