€œLong time back, before I even started off with my career, I had my share of hard times in my life and school days,†Atif reminisces. It plays in Hindu households all over India and in Lahore, Atif shares, there are young Christian boys who work at the petrol pump he frequents they begin their day by playing the qawali out loud. €˜Tajdar e Haram’ is the most requested song, even beyond Pakistan. All by the grace of God it went well and it’s the most requested song today.†I compiled it, keeping in mind that we will get criticized for it but I really don’t care about that. Bilal and Faisal were worried about how we would air it so I told them to let me make my version of it. Sabri sung it so well a long time back and it was a very tough job because the qawwali was 21 minutes long and we cut it down to ten minutes. “It felt like God really wanted me to do it. €œIt was a huge thing for me,†we begin talking. He epitomizes the oxymoron of being an arrogant saint, if there ever was one.Īnd ‘Tajdar e Haram,’ an ode to the Prophet (P.B.U.H.), was the biggest hit of 2015.
He nurtures a sense of spirituality beyond his rock star status when he talks, it appears he is grateful for his success but at the same time aware of his abilities that have allowed him this success.
We meet in his hotel room, two hours before he is scheduled to perform and while Atif loves to talk, he keeps his voice low and controlled, to protect those precious chords that have carried him on to where he is today. It’s more than that, obviously when he pelts out one hit song after the other on stage. It’s obvious in his lazy smile and the confidence of his casual posture. Atif may be on a journey to unparalleled heights – who knows where life takes him next – but he’s already managed to assimilate unprecedented stardom for a Pakistani artiste and he’s aware of it. And he talks of newfound fame as something that scars and scorches and something that he doesn’t ever want to go back to. He has ‘been there and done that,’ he refers to his initial hunger for fame.
Settled, calm and successful, he no longer carries the restless energy that he did ten years ago. He’s in Pakistan today but is flying out to Los Angeles at 5am tomorrow morning, straight after concert, on a tour that has seen him perform live in eight mammoth shows in nine days. The constellation of his concerts shine all over the world, from popular destinations like India, Dubai and the USA but also places like Lagos and Budapest, where very few Pakistanis have ever performed on such a scale as he has. In fact, his popularity equals the rest of the music industry, combined. With a massive following of over 18 million on Facebook, 466K on twitter and more visibility than any single artist in the country on Instagram, where 791,000 fans trail him, he is collectively the most followed celebrity on social media. Atif Aslam talks to Aamna Haider Isani about how his life has evolved around work and family and how important it is to maintain a distance between the twoĪtif Aslam, by all descriptions, is Pakistan’s most celebrated artist today.
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