A few months ago, I switched on a foreign news channel which was doing a show on Pakistan, and more specifically, on the topic of politically conscious music coming out of Pakistan. The discussion was rather insipid, focusing only on music with explicitly political lyrics.

Any keen observer of pop music in Pakistan would recognise such an approach to be futile. Music has played a huge sociopolitical role in the country, but one that is not often articulated well.

For example, Junoon – one of the two monolithic bands of Pakistani pop history – is remembered in political terms for the song ‘Ehtesab’, which led to them being banned by the PML-N government. While the song was a classic (and a rare example of an explicitly political song which was also good), it would be reductive in the extreme to cite it as the most politically influential song by the band.

Coming through during a nascent era of democracy after a decade of an infamously repressive dictatorship, Junoon and Vital Signs were at the forefront of a new youth culture, which explicitly sought to break free from the era that came before them.

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Both bands reached their peaks a few years apart, and their albums captured the zeitgeist of their times. The Vital Signs songs about what happens after ‘happily ever after’; and Junoon’s songs about subversive sexuality and inflamed passions put to words the desires of entire generations, and in turn encouraged them to approach their own lives and the society they lived in differently. This is not to say whether that was a good or bad change, but it was a profound one.

However, with the last 10 years and the spectre of terrorism constantly haunting Pakistan; a deluge of songs has come out attempting to tackle this issue, and most of these songs have been terrible. The nadir was a super-song comprising most of Pakistan’s best known artists singing 'Yeh Hum Naheen', a song whose lyrics betrayed how completely divorced from reality it was.

Several years after 'Yeh Hum Naheen', many people have realised the damage caused by our society's refusal to accept or understand the causes of terrorist violence. This song was a symptom of that misguided approach.

In this fraught context, the organising of the #Mpower Fest in Karachi this week represents a refreshing change, and one that has been a long time in coming. Rather than crowbarring political themes into music, the concert is looking to utilise music’s ability to create shared spaces and themes, which can allow people to connect across a range of ideas.

One of the main organisers is 'Empower The Future', a Washington DC-based NGO which promotes environmental awareness and sustainable economic development in developing countries. Empower the Future’s founder Imaad Ahmed says that the popularity of celebrity culture means that people are likely to follow the lives of actors and musicians rather than those people who are working towards social change or similarly unglamorous pursuits.

“So rather than trying to change that culture, we want to utilise it in order to get people to start thinking about issues which matter,” says Ahmed.

It is both a clever and important stratagem, and the festival has worked well in bringing together musicians. The lineup features the likes of Sikandar Ka Mandir, Shajie, Usman Riaz, Zoe Viccaji and Natasha Ejaz among others.

In other words, it’s a lineup featuring many of the best-loved underground acts in the city, and almost all of these have worked tirelessly as amateurs who have put out stellar music for no financial remuneration. In fact, most of them are also on the roster of Lussun TV, a web-based music show that has released three seasons of showcasing the city’s best musical acts. These are artists who don’t attract the mainstream, but rather those who are obsessive and possessive of their music.

Pakistan’s long and rich history of pop music means that such fans are not that rare, and the hope is that the crowd on August 9 is the sort that's eager to engage.

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In order to facilitate that engagement, a range of various NGOs and movements will be present at the event. There is a conference titled Tharparkar: Building a Sustainable Future scheduled for before the musical acts.

The organisers have made arrangements to play short promotional clips and documentaries featuring the efforts of various social organisations present at the event. These will be played on a projector onstage every time there is a band change. The organisations (which include Aware, Resettling the Indus and Search), will also have stalls for concert-goers interested in looking up their work and learning how to help.

The event is primarily meant to link up the proactive and socially conscious youth with civic organisations which offer opportunities to effect positive change. In this way, these worthy causes will not only gain more awareness but also much-needed volunteers and activists who can help them further their efforts.

So if you are someone looking to learn something new or work with organisations tackling the issues you see around yourself, head down to the Arts Council this weekend. And if nothing catches your fancy, you can still enjoy glorious music which has not been turned into a gimmick, but rather harnessed as a source of creating cohesion and community.

Click here for more details on the event, including where to get tickets.