Voicing a 'soul connection'

Aadee’ to his screaming fans, homegrown rockstar to proud Pakistanis, ‘besura gayak’ to a livid Abhijeet and ‘that woh-lamhe and pehli-nazar hit singer’ to Indians. Atif Aslam’s stirred quite a lot of people in his yet short but brilliant career.

Call him what you may but you cannot ignore his sonorous, deep vocals and amazing range that belie his chocolate-hero looks and his age. All of 25, he already has three best-selling pop-rock albums, huge Bollywood hit numbers like ‘Woh Lamhe’, ‘Aadat’, ‘Tere Bin’ and ‘Pehli Nazar’ and fans in many countries, right from Pakistan to India to US and the UK, going crazy at his concerts. There are people imitating his singing, his sense of style (funky bracelets-mufflers-jackets-chains) and his boy-next-door attitude, so much so that there was an ‘Atif Aslam Look-alike Sing-alike’ reality show on a Pakistani television channel recently! The Pakistani government too seems to be mighty impressed with this crooner and awarded him the ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’ (Star of Excellence), one of the highest civilian awards of the country, early this year. Atif’s in fact the youngest ever individual to be honoured with this award and the lad has had a fabulous year with his latest album ‘Meri Kahani’ still going great guns, back-to-back Bollywood hits in ‘Pehli Nazar’ from Race and ‘Bakhuda Tumhi Ho’ from Kismet Konnection and his hugely successful world tour.

While on a small break after the “exciting but exhausting” tour, as he puts it, Atif spoke to Sunday Herald about the controversies that always seem to surround him, right from the break-up with the band Jal and his friend GoherMumtaz to his contemporaries’ derision, his passions and future plans. Inadvertently, he also revealed the secret perhaps to his enormous appeal — an ability to grin at himself. Excerpts from an interview:

A voice such as yours, deep and passionate, is undoubtedly God’s gift. But it is surprising that you haven’t had training of any sort! How did you learn to sing?

Singing was just a hobby and I first sang on stage for a college competition when I was 16 — that too after my friends forced me to. It picked up from there. For me, singing is a soul connection to my God. The more balanced an individual’s mind and soul, the better will be the singing, I feel. So you can imagine how balanced my soul is!(laughs)

Do you plan to take up musical training now?

I believe training my voice now will have an adverse impact. The trainer might impose his touch on me. I want my voice to remain raw and express emotions naturally, just at they come to me.

You write many of the lyrics for your album songs yourself. Many of them speak of intense sadness and angst. How do these lyrics strike you? Do you labour over them or they strike you suddenly?

I write lyrics with the help of my brother Shahzad Aslam. Sometimes I come up with a tune and ask him to help me out with lyrics and sometimes we write the lyrics first and then set it to tune. Some are done in a jiffy, some take months.

Your popularity in India seems to have generated a lot of controversies. Some singers like Abhijeet and Sunidhi Chauhan have claimed on television that “you can’t sing” and you are “overrated”. Your comments?

Well, this is a democratic world and everyone has a right to say whatever they want. If somebody has said something against me, it shows their concern; that they are afraid of this untrained guy. I enjoy these comments as these guys are far more experienced than me. In fact I am surprised that a rank newcomer like me is making them feel insecure. I honour and respect all of them as I have learnt a lot from them.

Controversies, in fact, seem to follow you. Do you feel targetted? How do you handle all the attention?

This is all part of the game. There’s really nothing one can do except concentrate on work and move ahead.

Your live performances have been big hits in several countries. Which do you enjoy more — playback singing or live performances?

Live with great acoustics and loads of screaming fans!

Which is your personal favourite from all the songs you have sung and composed so far and why?

My personal favourite? It has to be ‘Yakeen’ from my album ‘Doorie’. It is straight from my heart.

Finally, are you singing any Bollywood number in the near future? Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Meri door ki nazar zara kamzor hay, so cannot see that far(laughs). But seriously, I hope to continue to reach further heights. There are several projects in the pipeline and Inshallah! they will be completed soon.