Abdullah Siddiqui — The Music Prodigy You Should be Following
Abdullah Siddiqui has already made waves in the industry with his EDM music. His song, Resistance has 3.5 million views on Youtube. At the young age of 18 he already has been nominated twice for the Lux Style Awards as the Best Emerging Talent in music.
Mashable Pakistan got a chance to talk to him about his work and future plan.
What was that specific point in your life when you knew that you want to pursue music full time?
I actually hadn’t made that decision until very recently, when I sprained my ankle. I had to make six separate phone calls just to cancel all the things I’d scheduled for the two days I would be immobile. It occurred to me at that instant that without even realizing it, I was already a full-time musician. And it was right then that I made the active decision to make music plan A rather than plan B.
Share your journey that led you to Nescafe Basement.
I’ve been steadily putting out music since 2015, and I had some indie success with my earlier material. I released “Resistance” in August 2018, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was gaining a lot of traction. That track led to a lot of opportunities and exposure for me, and it was around that time that I got a Facebook friend request from Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Xulfi). I thought that was a good sign, and I decided to ask him if I could audition for Nescafé Basement. But literally right as I was about to message him, I got a text from him asking if we could meet. So I went to his studio, and he laid out for me this elaborate vision he had for the song, in terms of how it would be staged and arranged. I really loved everything he was saying, and I agreed to it immediately. The actual creative and technical process that followed was amazing and grueling but I could not be prouder of the end result.
I read somewhere that you just got done with your A-levels and are headed to college, can you share what you plan to study and if you will be on a break from music during this period or working simultaneously on it.
I’m actually in college now. I’m at a liberal arts school, and I’m sort of dabbling in everything from history to film to psychology. I do eventually plan on majoring in Computer Science, though. And I haven’t been taking a break from music. In fact, I’ve been working on an album that I hope to get out in a couple of months.
How supportive have your parents and family been?
Well, they struggle with it, as I think many Pakistani parents would. But I’d like to think they have their moments of pride in me. There is a constant social and pseudo religious stigma around music, particularly in the professional practice of it. I personally find this deeply hypocritical, and I invite anyone who finds art to be ignoble and gratuitous to live a life stripped of it, and then tell me just how wrong and unnecessary it is to aspire to make a living from its practice.
When you are done with your studies is music something you plan to take up as a full time profession or will it be supported with a backup plan?
I do want a backup plan, which is why I’m in college. The truth is, there’s no such thing as a full time professional musician in Pakistan. Not really. I am still hopeful though that by the time I graduate, we’re in an ecosystem where someone like me could sustain themselves with just music.
Pakistani music has always been known and appreciated for its quality and uniqueness, but the industry has not grown at the same level to become a solid financial resource. Your thoughts on the subject of what is the missing link and how can it be resolved.
Where do I even begin? It all goes back to that stigma I mentioned. Pakistan doesn’t value music enough, which means there’s no willingness to pay to purchase or stream it. And this means there’s no real source of income for Pakistani musicians. And that applies doubly for musicians like me who can’t reproduce their sounds in a live setting, because that also means no income from performances. Because there’s little demand for music, there’s little formalized infrastructure for its supply; no record labels, no charts, few streaming services.
Ultimately, you have no choice but to concede to uncomfortable endorsement deals where you make yourself look pretty and sell phones and soaps (and I’m definitely not pretty enough for that). Or you turn to corporate music, where music is not primarily created in the name of art but rather as a marketing tool. Logic then dictates that corporate music would be risk averse; that’s why we’ve been stuck in a sufi-rock rut for 15 years. Don’t get me wrong: I love that sound as much as the next person, but there just seems to be a stagnancy in terms of innovation. And that’s why I appreciate Xulfi and Nescafé Basement all the more, because to have me on was a risk on their part; they aired a song with a style that was new, a language that was niche, and lyrics that were deeply esoteric. And I’d like to believe it paid off. It is getting better though, and I’m really pleasantly surprised to see a lot of mainstream artists exploring more electronic and experimental sonic textures.
Originally published at https://pk.mashable.com on January 23, 2020.
