The media has done an outstanding job of misrepresenting the music community. A recent article in a section of the press suggests that musicians are fixated on singing songs in English. Not only is that reductive but that’s just inaccurate.

If //orangenoise, Adil Omar, Poor Rich Boy and Mole sing in English, others such as Sikandar Ka Mandar, Bumbu Sauce, Jarar Malik, Bilal Khan and many others sing songs in native languages. In mainstream modern music, chances are that you’ll find more Bollywood playback numbers than an English song. Must we pick on musicians?

The silver lining is that musicians will go on, one way or another. Other than what’s already been mentioned in the main article, here is what you should expect from the year ahead.

Zoe Viccaji is definitely releasing her new album this year plus a music video, directed by Adnan Malik.

Omran Shafique is recording with Chaand Taara Orchestra and is planning to put a single out by the summer. He’s enjoying his role as producer and is also producing singles for Teeen, a band that features the stars of tomorrow, particularly one Sara Haider.

More Rushk songs are in the pipeline. Rushk is one band that shouldn’t be missed for any reason because no one in mainstream has been able to match the songwriting of Uns Mufti.

Forever South (FXS) have a lot of stuff brewing for the year ahead including an EP from TMPST and a web series.

Adil Omar and Talal Qureshi, the boys from Islamabad are constantly producing music and have a collaborative EP in the works. — Maheen Sabeeh