Name one industry in Pakistan that is thriving against all odds? Try music.

We are blessed to have quite a rich culture of music even though the much reviled Zia era didn’t do it any favours. It could be because music is the one thing that gets through to entire nations when nothing else does. Maybe our musicians are just too brave. Or perhaps, it is merely a case of numerous rare probabilities falling in line at the same time.

Whatever the reason, our music is good, and it always has been, in some form or the other. Every generation has had a current trend, an emerging trend and an experimental underground scene that goes on to become the defining sound of future generations.

My focus here is on the music that was unlikely in its era in the country.

Back in the 1930s, the underground scene of the time was ruled by jazz, especially in Karachi. The voices of that era included Lionel Pinto, Joe ‘Bill’ Soares, Ivo D’Souza and Willie Lewis, Carol & Winnie Lobo (Winnie referred to as the 'nightingale of Karachi').

This trend carried through partition up to the '50s. Exact dates are hard to get a hold of (I’ve yet to meet someone who still owns working records), but you can find a detailed history of Pakistan’s jazz roots on this site.

By this time, Pakistani musicians had started participating in non-traditional music. It was mostly underground, not because there was a cultural conflict (we were very open back then, just look at the fashion of the time), but simply because there wasn’t a massive audience for it – just enough to keep the musicians interested, but not enough to garner mass appeal.

We all know that Ko Ko Koreena is considered Pakistan’s first pop song. More than a mere hit, it helped open audiences’ minds to music outside movie soundtracks. This was the '60s, the name Tafo Brothers had grown in popularity since then. Have you heard the track Black Tequila by Wu Tang Clan feat. Ghostface Killah? It was sampled from Tafo Brothers’ Karye Pyar feat. Naheed Akhtar. They have a bunch of albums available on digital media, definitely worth a listen. They alone were not exactly trendsetters, but they created an alternate genre.

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