Pakistani political rallies have been transformed in recent years to festive blowouts, designed to entertain as much as inspire supporters to vote.
The formula was first perfected by Asif Butt — better known by his stage persona DJ Butt — an erstwhile wedding DJ who first shot to fame when he played a rally for Imran Khan in 2011.
It was there that the Lahore-based DJ began to perfect his craft, playing contemporary songs to warm up the crowd and musical interludes to the speeches on stage -- injecting some dramatic theatre into long stretches of oratory.
Political parties in Pakistan have used music as a way of spreading slogans and unifying supporters since the rise of pop music in the late 1980s.