Komal Malik

As a child Komal ( who originates from Lahore and currently resides there) was fond of singing and always participated in her school talent contests and won many prizes as a young singer. During her formative years and indeed in College she always had a passion for her music and this was proven when she went on further to win even more recognition as a performer, winning more recognition and prizes at local level.

Aspiring to reach the top she set out to convince her parents to give her the blessing she so needed to succeed . The overall mindset was that she has no professional background and indeed the family’s initial mind set did make her think twice. However after persuading her family she has never looked back. With their blessing Komal set out to conquer her dreams.
Fully supported by her elder sister Kiran who was instrumental in persuading her parents the two sisters set out to create an ~artist~ one that could perform well but also attract large crowds to events that she was performing in .

Komal says that she is where she is today by the grace of the Almighty above and her after that her mentor and elder sister Kiran. Her parents also play an active part in her career and shower her with their blessings. Others that Kiran holds in High esteem are people like her singing mentor and “ustad” Karamat Hussain Sahib , who is her teacher and through this wonderful gentlemans dedication, hard work Komal came to learn the art of Classcal music.

Komal has performed at many concerts and events with well known performers from all over the world and was successful in releasing her debut single and video in 2010. RABBA WAY was received openly by the public and was played well on the TV channels and radio station. The American audience along with the UK also reacted positively to the release. This encouraged Komal to relase her second single and video , “Jagay Tere Sapney” which was also played on all Pakistani music channels besides the International Channels. The second track was the making of KOMAL – it showed she had landed. The response was huge and this lead to many offers from overseas for Komal to perform. Initiall she resited as she was wishing to concentrate on the Pakistani crowds as she firmly belives she is where she is today because of the local fans and appreciaters. After many offers she finally chose an overseas media partner and is currently in the process off arranging her first overseas tour. A little resistant at first but she now realises that as a professional singer she should aim to satisfy all her audiences both local and foreign.
With the birth of JAGEY TEREY SAPNAY – ( loosely translated as awaking your dreams) she was approached and interviewed by several media outlets, namely BBC Asian Network in the UK, Fever Fm Leeds – Bradford, Awaz FM, Din TV Pakistan, DM TV UK, . Many other channels both in radio and TV have brodacst the tracks and on her fan page these have been published.
Komal enjoys performing live and unlike many big name “international stars” she does not mime to a CD. Her music is played live with a live band. This in itself is an achievement. When you listen to Komal you hear KOMAL not a digitally enhanced CD which is mimed to.

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Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab innovates off classical Pakistani, Sufi & pre-partition South Asian music, creating original compositions honoring ancestral roots,for a sound that is fresh, graceful, and musically complex. Paying homage to classical sufi legends such as Abida Parveen and Reshma; neo-soul and jazz icons such as Sade and Ella Fitzgerald; and contemporary world musicians such as Marisa Monte and Fat Freddy’s Drop, Arooj presents an original, interactive sound embraced by young and old, South Asian and beyond.

Originally from Lahore, Pakistan, Arooj moved to the U.S. in 2005 to study Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music. Having completed her education and now based in New York, Arooj is working as a fulltime performing artist, music composer and sound editor.

Through exposure to diverse musical genres and incredibly talented artists in Boston and in New York City, Arooj is inspired to continuously develop her art and deepen her understanding of the possibilities of music. Layering subtle, intricate, dynamic vocals over acoustic instrumentation, Arooj skillfully re-imagines indigenous soul with signature ‘cool.’

Arooj will soon be releasing her debut album as part of Rebuild Pakistan, an initiative she created to promote a vision of peace and healing for Pakistan, inspiring a global community to rebuild perspective on Pakistan, and urging the people of Pakistan to actively engage in rebuilding their homeland. The album and the initiative harness collective creativity to express solidarity with politically stigmatized, economically marginalized, culturally and spiritually powerful people across the earth.

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Ali Zafar

Ali Zafar was born on May 18th, 1980 in Lahore, Pakistan to Mohammad Zafarullah, Professor of Fine Arts and Kanwal Ameen, who worked in the Library Sciences department at Punjab University at the time. Lahore is not only the place of birth for Ali, but also where he studied. He began his schooling at C.A.A. until 5th standard and excelled in his studies. He then moved to Beaconhouse School where he topped in his matriculate examinations in 1996. He then joined Government College University, where he completed his F.A. in Arts as the class of 1998. After that, Ali pursued his childhood love for painting and went to the “National College of Arts", from where he graduated with honors in 2002. Hence, completing his education. Ali Zafar hit the music scene in 2003 with his single "Channo" which sold half a million copies in just the first week and ended up selling over 5 million copies of his first album "Huqa Paani". The album went on to become one of the biggest hits the country had ever produced and made him a superstar over night. Prior to this, Ali was seen acting on television and modeling on the ramp. He also spend his evenings painting live portraits in a lobby of a 5 star hotel to help raise some extra money to produce his music.With his reputation of being a successful model,actor and a painter his move of releasing a dance single left the nation in awe. His tracks pumped up the dance floors at various weddings, balls and parties. This set a trend and the fever spread, increasing his fan following to a global scale. Apart from this his unique style became an inspiration to the youth and put him on a pedestal to becoming a national icon. He was awarded the "Youth Icon" award in 2007, by the biggest award ceremony in Pakistan: the Lux Style Awards. From then on there was no looking back.  During his career, Ali has managed to win almost all major awards starting from the “Best Album” in 2003 to the "Best Male Artist" at MTV Awards in 2009. He has been on the covers of various style and music magazines and has been the brand ambassador for the most premier companies in Pakistan. Who can resist Ali Zafar's youthful persona, million-dollar smile and charming looks, assets that give him a solid edge and make him the stand-alone choice for most multinational brands that use his image to sell their products. They couldn’t help signing him up even if in competition with each other. He would perhaps be the only celebrity to have endorsed Pepsi as well as Coke, Sony Ericsson along with LG mobile phones, and Instaphone, Telenor and Mobilink. He was the first male to endorse the biggest brand in soaps, Lux, with his hit single "Dekha" which starred all the big female actresses in Pakistan. He has also endorsed brands such as Head and Shoulders, Close Up, Tapal Tea, Tarang Tea Whitener, Lays Chips, Lu Bakery and many others. As of now, Ali Zafar is heading Mobilink Jazz, the biggest telecommunication brand in the region. Ali is now set to further enhance his career by becoming an international super star and cross all barriers. Recently his track "Dekha" has been picked up by the international block buster "Wall street part 2". He is in process of working on tracks sung by him in English for the international market and is looking for the best means and avenues to execute his plans.(http://www.alizafar.net/)

Annie Khalid

Annie was born in Lahore on 27 March 1987. She came to UK at the age of 6 months. She grew up in East London and later moved to Essex with her parents.

Annie was brought up in a multicultural town. She became a part of the East London Dance Company during her school years.

Her music career started in late 2005, when Annie, sitting bored at home, started humming a melody. She met a music arranger through a friend, who helped her compose the very simple, yet catchy song “Mahiya.”

Annie was encouraged by family and friends to take it a step further. She got in touch with a record company and preparations for an ordinary video were made.

The video was soon released in Pakistan. With her simple rendition and style of singing, along with catchy lyrics, the song became an instant hit. It started getting ripped from the video to be sold separately.

Mahiya became the most accessed Pakistani pop song on the Internet for in 2005 and 2006.

Annie won “The Most Wanted Song 2006” viewers choice award at TMA Pakistan, “The Most Wanted Female” 2006 and 2008, “Pride Of Performance” from the 14th August Committee Oslo, Norway and many more awards as her career progressed.

Bollywood cinema moguls Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt expressed their desire to use Annie's song Mahiya, for their movie “Awarapan,” which consequently gained her more fame and fan following.

After the success of Mahiya, she started working with various charities, raising awareness for education and health. Also within this short span of time, Annie became a household name and endorsed high profile brands, including Pepsi, Telenor and Tony & Guy, becoming the most popular female artist in Pakistan to date.

She has also walked the ramp as a showstopper at the 2010 L'Oreal Karachi fashion week, for BNS couture.

2010 proved to be a lucky year for the star. On 25th November 2010 Annie released her UK Debut single “BE MY BABY” along with the remix of the track done by the UK’s Top DJ Judge Jules.

Along with music her charity work was also recognized when she was appointed to be the Goodwill Ambassador for the International Red Cross on September 23rd, 2010, in Norway, where she raised money with the Red Cross for the flood victims in Pakistan by supporting and contributing in various activities. All the proceeds from her UK debut single "Be My Baby" were donated to the flood victims in Pakistan.

This honour gave her the opportunity to represent Pakistan on an international level.

In June 2011, Annie was the first South Asian celebrity to be featured in LOOK, a high-end fashion and celebrity weekly magazine coming out of The UK.

The same month, she launched her café in Lahore, which is located in one of the most popular areas and was an instant hit among the youngsters. AK Lounge continues to grow with the star herself.

She is the first Pakistani Artist to endorse a Label internationally. In August 2011, she signed a contract with Lebara, a telecommunication company, in Norway, for their current campaign. Besides newspapers and billboards, she can be seen on every bus, tube, train and their stations in Norway.

She is at the moment working on collaboration with the famous British – Norwegian boy band “A1″ for a single “Just 3 words” which they will unveil on a performance this October 31st at the O2 Academy in London.

Mahvash Waqar

Mahvash Waqar is a Pakistani artist and current band member of the Laal Band. She is the backup vocalist for the band.  She has also been famous for a stint on the radio network as a RJ.

Mahvash studied Textile designing from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan. She had a keen interest in music from the beginning. So, instead of continuing her studies she decided to join what was then a very new phenomenon of FM radio stations.

Mahvash began her music career in early 2007 when she decided to be a part of the newly formed Laal Band along with Haider Rehman, Aamir, Asif, Salman and Jamal.  The band was formed in response to the 2007 sacking of judges by then President Pervez Musharraf.

Mahvash has played backup vocals for Laal band's debut album, Umeed e Sahar.