Meesha Shafi in a still from her song, Sar-e-Aam.
Awais Gohar
Unveiling her debut album last week at a cinema in Lahore, Pakistan, well-known artiste, Meesha Shafi, reveals that she wrote the songs in a bid to “survive” a very dark and traumatic period in her life.
Always one to challenge the status quo in Pakistani music, Shafi’s album, Khilnay Ko, is an intense deep dive within. While the songs are laid-bare and vulnerable, they carry an emotional depth which embodies both the light and the dark, tenderness and quiet strength.
Khilnay Ko, Meesha Shafi’s debut album, released last week, after almost six years in production.
Aabroo Hashmi
“[My] album is purely in Urdu and the poetry expresses grief, isolation, loss of identity, heartbreak albeit socio-political, and a heavy emptiness too. I’ve used traditional couplets a lot as refrains in the lyrics, both defining traits of a ghazal. Some of the tracks, like Khilnay Ko, which the album is named after, are deeply philosophical, others speak of bleak depression and being betrayed by friends,” Shafi shares candidly.
“Traditionally ghazals speak of romantic heartbreak or longing. Here, I was writing with a longing to return to my former self.”
With skilled and sensitive producers such as boy wonder musician, Abdullah Siddiqui, Rohail Hyatt, Mahmood Rahman and Shafi herself, the album blends future sound with an eastern classical base. Featuring 11 tracks, Khilnay Ko takes the listener on a dreamscape journey of Shafi’s psyche which is all parts haunting, wistful, edgy and melancholic.
“At a time when I was feeling like my creative identity was under threat of being consumed by toxic noise, I started writing these songs as a reminder to self of who I am. To cling to my light. To clear my head. And also, to keep remembering to exhale. I would routinely wake up to a lot of ugliness in the news about myself. I’d go offline to hide but I started asking myself, if I hide, that’s the death of what I was born to do – music. Eventually, it stopped mattering what would become of the work. I kept writing regardless. And it has been immensely healing. It was the only way I could continue being honest and not get punished for it. This album saved me from fading away. Every song is me crawling out of a hole.”
“I started writing these songs as a reminder to self of who I am.” – Meesha Shafi
Aabroo Hashmi
Described as ‘nouveau ghazal,’ a term the artiste coined during the production of the album, Khilnay Ko stands as a tool for healing – for not just Shafi herself, but for those navigating their own dark night of the soul.
In an album that is both unconventional and authentic – almost six years in the making – the artiste leans into soul self-examination with her friend and co-producer, Abdullah Siddiqui.
The artiste at her debut album’s launch last week in Lahore, Pakistan. Left to Right: Sarmad Khoosat, Meesha Shafi, Awais Gohar and Abdullah Siddiqui.
Muhammad Usman and Junaid Shahid Malik
“Every windchime, bell and note is intentional,” she states. “We would dissect the feeling space in the songs as well as the headspace and the mood. How to make someone understand how I feel. A lot of nuances were explored in the process of its creation with patience and restraint. We made this record very slowly, very meticulously and with an unreasonable amount of quality control. I’m extremely blessed to have made this with [Siddiqui]. This [album] couldn’t have been understood without very high emotional intelligence, empathy and the skill needed for world-building through music.”