Atif Aslam

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Atif Aslam
Born March 12, 1983 (1983-03-12) (age 25)
Origin Wazirabad, Pakistan
Genre(s) Pop, rock
Occupation(s) Musician, Singer
Instrument(s) Guitar
Label(s) Fire Records , Tips
Website www.aadeez.com
Members
Sarmad Ghafuur
Mobeen Shah
Sameer Shammi Rasheed

Atif Aslam (Urdu: عاطف اسلم, born March 12, 1983) is a Pakistani pop singer. He was born in Wazirabad and educated in Lahore and Rawalpindi. He is well-known in the Subcontinent for his hits Hum Kis Galli , Aadat, Woh Lamhe, Doorie ,Tere Bin, Pehli Nazar Mein and Ehsaas. He was formerly the lead singer of Jal.

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[edit] Early life

At the age of 9, he moved to Islamabad where he studied at Saint Paul's School. Atif came back to Lahore in 1995 where he continued his studies in Divisional Public School (DPS), Model Town, Lahore. He was selected in his school cricket team as a bowler. During this period he was putting his best efforts into becoming a professional cricketer. He practiced at the nets at Shapes club in Lahore where Imran Khan would give him tips on bowling.[citation needed]He passed out of DPS after completing his school ending matriculation exams.

Atif started his HSc in PAF College, Lahore, and it was around this time that he became interested in music. His eldest brother had a collection of 8,000 songs comprising of various genres, and this helped Aslam appreciate various kinds of music. He was a quick learner and soon mastered controlling his voice.

[edit] Music career

One day he was singing with his friends at the college canteen. His friends urged him to participate in the singing competition on Independence Day celebrations at PAF College Lahore and Sargodha in 1998. He performed there and won the competition. After HSc, Atif joined Punjab Institute of Computer Science Gulberg Campus. He was not able to give time to cricket due to his busy study schedule here.

His hobby of singing continued with him entering the singing competition of his college. There were a total of 8 participants. The media team entered Atif's name in the competition at the eleventh hour. He won the competition by singing the hit number Duur of Strings. He kept on winning these competitions every semester until he announced that he will no longer participate in them so that someone else can also win the competition.

He met Gohar, a guitarist and his future Jal bandmate, at his college. Together they practiced and started doing mini concerts for their friends. Atif used to perform Junoon and Strings songs at these concerts. They started performing in their college, McDonalds and other restaurants.

Atif recorded the song Aadat at Mekal Hassan's Studio. Atif and Goher formed the band Jal, which means water. The song became popular on different musical websites in Pakistan. The song was also being on aired on major Radio channels of Pakistan like City FM 89, FM 100, Mast FM 103, FM 105 etc. The video for this song was released on Ary The Music and then it was played on almost all the channels.

Atif released his first album Jal Pari on 18th July 2004 by Sound Master and IC records. It was declared to be the best selling album of the year within just 5 months of the release.[citation needed] In the meantime Atif also cleared his Bachelors in Computer Science (hons) from University of Central Punjab. On 14th April 2007 Atif Aslam performed in Royal Albert Hall.

On 17th July 2008 Atif Aslam will be the second singer to perform in Colosseum in Rome, Italy after the peace concert held on 12 May 2002.

[edit] Controversy

After the release of the song Aadat by Jal, there were disputes within the band about Atif's brother being the band's manager. At this point Atif broke off from the band to do his own solo album.His solo album was ureleased a few weeks before the release of the new Jal's(Goher Mumtaz,Farhan Saeed,Shazi) Aadat. As both the Jal, "Aadat", and Atif’s album, Jalpari, shared certain tracks (such as "Aadat", "Wo Lamhey", "Dil Harey") an unofficial war over rights began which resulted in both sides claiming to possess hard proof to support their respective claims (that, they alone owned the concerned songs).Goher Mumtaz had sued Atif Aslam for using the name Jal in his album title cunningly(Jal pari,meaning mermaid).As the copyright law in Pakistan is quite ambigious(people can change the name of the content and use the content labeling it as their own property),Jal could not sue Atif for the disputed songs on their albums,Atif Aslam faced a two year ban on singing in Pakistan as a result of the lawsuit.The hype this feud gave to both Atif and the new Jal was extraordinary and split the music fans with the fans of each side backing their respective favourite. On the other hand, a few years back a video on youtube was released with Atif Aslam giving a message to Goher Mumtaz to leave the differences behind and move on with his career and stop blaming each other for stealing songs.

[edit] Popular songs

  • Woh Lamhe - also used in the movie Zeher. This song did a business of more than $1,000,000 in India.[citation needed] This song opened the doors of bollywood for Atif and he is now one of the few singers of the nation who are doing play back singing in bollywood.
  • Aadat- Jalpari
  • Pehli Nazar Mein [Movie : RACE, Year 2008]
  • Tere Bin [Movie : Bas Ek Pal, year 2006]
  • Hum Kis Gali Ja rahe hain
  • Aadat
  • Mahi ve
  • Doorie
  • Kuch Is Tarah
  • Meri Kahani
  • Chor Gaye
  • Joug
  • Ehsaas
  • Rabba Sachea
  • Mahiya ve soniya
  • Yakeen
  • Tehzeeb

His songs Aadat and Ehsaas were included in a Hollywood art movie Man Push Cart. The film had its world premiere at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. The film entered the "official selection" of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and won the Fipresci Critic's Award at the London Film Festival. Atif Aslam is all set for his latest Bollywood venture when he is going to lend his Vocals for another Bollywood movie "Kismat Connection" which is planned to be released later this year.

[edit] Awards

  • Best song, Best Composition, Best Lyrics "Aadat"- 2nd Jazz Indus Music Awards (Pakistan).
  • Best playback singer, Best debut singer - Sahara Sangeet Awards (India).
  • Best Song, Best Lyricist, Best Composition - ARY Music Awards (Pakistan).
  • Most Wanted Male - The Musik Awards (Pakistan).
  • Best pop star of the year - Filmazia awards (Pakistan).
  • Best album of the year "Doorie" - 2007 LUX style awards (Pakistan).
  • Best stylish musician of 2007 - MTV Pakistan style awards.
  • Most stylish MUSICIAN - MTV STYLE LYCRA AWARDS INDIA
  • Received the highest Pakistani Civilian Award , "Tamgha-e-Imtiaz" (Star-of-Excellence), on Pakistan Day (23 March 2008)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album Cover Album Information
Jal Pari
  • Released: July 2004
  • Label: Sound Master and IC Records
  • Singles: Aadat , Bheeghi Yaadain , Jalpari, Gal sun ja, Mahi ve , Zindagi
Doorie
  • Released: December 2006
  • Label: Tips
  • Singles: Kuch is tarha , Doorie , Mahiya ve soniya ,Maula
Meri Kahani
  • Released: January 2008
  • Label: Tips , Fire Records
  • Singles: Meri Kahani , Humrahi , Hungami Halaat , Rabba Sacheya,joug

[edit] External links

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