“If music be the food of love, play on” said Shakespeare. Too long has sound and rhythm been submissive to the restrictions of 19th century music. Electronic music is the future. Look around we're in 2010.

The electronic music scene in Pakistan has always been relatively underground. However with the continuous efforts of local producers, Disc Jockeys (DJs) and party organisers, it has finally made its place and is here to stay.

Electronic dance music (EDM) and parties/raves (often all-night events) go together like peaches and cream. That is why this particular genre of music is more upbeat and is produced for a dance-entertainment environment. Some prominent names in the local scene include Getafix, aka Syed Salman Shah, a Psytrance music producer signed with two international labels, DJ Faisal Baig, a house music DJ from Karachi, Salim Ahmed, a house music DJ from Islamabad, who also hosts his own resident show Electro Therapy on FM89 and Waqas Zafar aka Project Fusion a commercial trance DJ who also hosts his own radio show by the name Infinite Imaginations on FM91. There are other aspiring DJs/producers but since there is no platform for exposure they remain largely unknown.

“The EDM scene in Pakistan will most likely remain underground, as it's usually linked with the consumption of illegal substances. There are certain people that have tried, including myself, to promote the EDM scene here but they gave up at the end,” says Getafix. There have been namely two prominent event management teams trying to promote EDM parties/music in Pakistan GEM from Islamabad which was started by Getafix and Yellow Butterfly operated by a bunch of friends from Karachi. The problem with EDM party organisers in Pakistan is bad management and permission/from the authorities. Most of these organisers don't know anything about electronic music. These events require state-of-the-art music equipment, preferably an all-night setting with a line-up of at least 4-5 DJs playing diverse sets. Most events happening here will line-up an opening DJ playing mainstream music and towards midnight there will be two DJs playing the same genre back-to-back. Furthermore I have heard from DJs that people in Pakistan at raves will pester them to play Indian songs and as usual a fight will break out forcing the organisers to call it a wrap. “I must say that these event management teams are doing a great job, if only they could concentrate on the EDM genre more rather than focusing entirely on public Bollywood fetishes,” Project Fusion states.

On the contrary EDM promotes a culture of nightlife where - believe it or not - women are respected and people are genuinely friendly. Some electronic music festivals around the world lasts up to three days, consisting of a line-up allocating different time slots to artists and DJs. Attendees of up to 80,000 people have been recorded at a festival in Amsterdam. Considering 'parties' are still considered taboo in our society, the electronic music culture has remained suppressed. “I don't think parties are taboo anymore. People want to party, they want to let off steam and they want to have a good time. What's wrong with having a good time?,” says Salim Ahmed.

There are two radio shows solely dedicated to electronic music and DJs like Salim Ahmed and Project Fusion painstakingly play live shows on Saturdays in the late hours between 1am and 3am. They have a large listener base and fan following. A good DJ is one who knows both his music and the crowd, and enjoys him/herself. “The major challenge when I started my radio career in Pakistan, was that at the time not many people had an idea that EDM is a main genre,” says Project Fusion. Unlike concerts, electronic music, in order to be heard live, doesn't require just an audience. It's more about inspiring artistes/DJs reaching out to people through their sound and about dancers that seek a deeper, almost ritualistic meaning, inside the collective trance experience presented to them by the music. The DJ being their guide and the events are attended as a collective experience, what could almost be called a ceremonial event. Unless more support and encouragement isn't given to event management companies, the EDM scene will remain enigmatic. Worthy to mention here was an EDM fusion album by Circle of Trust (COT) last year.

The album was mixed by Getafix and after Ali Haider's fruitless attempt to merge Urdu vocals with trance music, COT are the only artist to have tried it again.

So where is the scene headed in Pakistan? “More people are getting into it. More DJs and producers are coming up, although at a very slow rate. More clubs need to open up, this will give incentive to aspiring DJs to perform and more people will end up listening to EDM. I think EDM will remain underground in Pakistan for a very long time,” says Salim Ahmed.

“At the moment it is very difficult to tell bearing in mind the security situation of the country and public attitude towards EDM. We need to open our horizons and think out of the box. These event management teams must be supported by law because they are entertaining general public,” says Project Fusion, adding that, “even at the fragile situation that the country is going through, these event management teams are doing a great job. The law enforcement agencies can provide assistance to these teams in arranging and executing healthy EDM events of international standards so other nations can see that we live in a country that is not just occupied by a bunch of terrorists. Only then we can achieve a healthy EDM scene in Pakistan.”