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Striking up a revolution
‘The problem arises when major blunders are made by labels, sponsors or producers who pick up an average artiste talent-wise, and try to sell him or her as the best of the best. Sponsorships can help artistes based in Pakistan or the US as long as the sponsors make the correct decisions in selecting the artistes for promotions,’ says Danish Rahi
Danish Rahi is an aspiring Pakistani artiste from New Jersey who is all set to give the local music industry a new flavour. His debut album, Fiza — The Evolution, has been well-received in Pakistan and the videos of Farishta, Chalo Mere Saath and Downtown Exit are doing the rounds on the music channels. A melting pot of rock, rap, pop and dance, Danish’s music has the backing of American producers Ron Haney and Bart Schoudel from the band, The Churchills.
Danish has quite an interesting story to tell on how he entered the field of music. “I came to the US for higher education and after graduation I shoved my bags on the back seat of my old Mustang and drove for about 18 hours to reach New York City. I wanted to explore the computer graphics and music industries and test my skills. I did free-lance projects until I was hired by a firm, but it took me another year to begin recording Fiza.”
One of the things that makes Danish’s music stand out is the synergistic visual representation as he is actively involved in the production of all his videos. “I develop the concepts from scratch and stay involved throughout. I have professional training in editing and visual effects so I do a lot of cuttings myself.” Many critics have labelled the video of Chalo Mere Saath as ostentatious to which he says, “According to one theory whatever you produce will be praised and criticized simultaneously. I’m trying to take our music industry to the next level. I have introduced a different flavour and I take the flak as a compliment.”
What kind of vision does Danish harbour for his new album and how dynamic is the evolution he is vying to bring about through this project? “My vision is a strong music industry in Pakistan competing successfully on the international level with a substantial infrastructure. Fiza — The Evolution is a strategically designed project, created as a high-end evaluation device that can examine the credibility of the Pakistani record labels, their distribution strategies and the technical capabilities. In addition to that, it is a sign of what’s on in the near future as the album was recorded using state-of-the-art equipment and software.”
His take on commercialism and sponsorship in music is that the visual and performing arts and showbiz are two different entities. “The problem arises when major blunders are made by labels, sponsors or producers who pick up an average artiste, talent-wise, and try to sell him or her as the best of the best. Sponsorship can help artistes based in Pakistan or the US as long as the sponsors make the correct decisions in selecting the artistes for promotion.”
Considering the importance Danish entails to evolution in the medium of music, it is not surprising that he strongly advocates experimentation. “Creation cannot happen without experimentation and evolution cannot happen in isolation. In music, experimentation is the key for creating new sounds and compositions. That’s how new schools of thought are made and we evolve, moving forward in time. I see a lot of experimentation which is encouraging. I think we are headed in the right direction but we need to seek perfection and be more detail-oriented, not only in the audio department but also in the videos.”
Danish has had the enriching experience of working with people from diverse backgrounds and has learned a lot from the expertise of his production teams. “I try to work with people from whom I can learn something. In music production, I mostly work with Ron and Bart, great musicians who pick up my ideas quickly. They have done productions for various companies and labels like Universal, along with the soundtrack for Spin City starring Michael J. Fox. In addition, I work with session players and that way I come in contact with a lot of musicians with their own unique skills. As for my video production team, it changes according to the location and storyboard.”
A singer is an artiste who needs to incorporate versatility in his repertoire. Danish thinks that the definition of being talented is now changing. “Being a really good singer is simply not good enough. You have to be a good producer, director, writer and businessman at the same time. There are many ropes available to guide upcoming artistes on how to take the right steps and approach labels and promoters. My advice is to learn as much as possible about the cardinals of the industry and be consistent.”
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