Actually I’ve been procrastinating…. rather, I’ve avoided writing this entry…
Ever since the release of Do Dil….I’ve felt fairly relieved…life prior to 11th November, felt like a bit of a black hole…I only realized it then..
Hamza’s friends used to call me ‘Tariq Bin Ziyad’ as I have always had the tendency to burn my boats. But I realized that more than that, I love to start afresh……..I guess I burn my boats only to start all over again.
(My favorite hobby to date, has been formatting computers and reinstalling software in them!!!)
I did this a lot with the music I make, and I guess it worked out well, to the extent that it helped me take out stuff that I was satisfied with, and also alleviated the fear of feeling embarrassed after releasing a half baked job…..as Gumby used to say that you’ll have to live with your album for the rest of your life. Read more…
November 20th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 37 Comments
very very very tired…..been sleeping every day at 6:00 am….this video edit is going to suck the life out of me….
But its finally done….
November 8th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 19 Comments
Daadi is not real my daadi…my daadi died when I was barely one…she is not related to me…in fact she is not even a muslim…she is Sushila Sahai or as she calls her self “Sushila Rani”
When I was leaving for India in 2007 my “real” grandfather; Raza told me about her and his words were “If you want to witness a true Hindu Nari (woman) of the original Indian tradition and that too in the purest of its form you must meet Daadi…it would be a learning experience”. And so on that trip I met her very briefly just for a few minutes thinking as if I was fulfilling a duty for I had to give something at their House.
Read more…
October 30th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 14 Comments
Daadi and I
Woooh man what a celebration…so many people turned up…Daadi is at her peak at a 100…so intact ….so mentally alert and so prim and proper…indeed a learning experience for me…I really am feeling a bit bad that I have still not managed to give a real account of what and who all Daadi is…I guess I can do that once I get back…but today I felt like one of the luckiest people to witness and be a part of such an event… it is time to get wise and learn…
But where the hell is mandana…I miss her dammit!!!!
October 23rd, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 8 Comments
Man it was a very very exhilarating experience to witness the joy of a hundred year old….this painting has safely made it to the ”gift of the hundredth year” category…they are going put it on an easel and unveil it on the birthday… in front of 200 guests from all over the country…
In all this I am missing Mandana like crazy!!!!
October 22nd, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 2 Comments
okay am in delhi after a long 6 hour train ride…which is btw my most favorite journey ever…because of the food and the landscape…but on the way a little kid and then his mother actually jumped of the running train!!!!!
It was really really f&*!d up…i was totally traumatized and still the train did not stop and no one knew what the hell happened…freaky isn’t it?
I am really excited about this trip and want to give as much account that i can…very few people get to see someone turn a 100…tom I’m gonna present the painting to her and lets see what she has to say..
October 21st, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 5 Comments
Leaving for Delhi in an hour …first trip without Mandana ever since we got married…trying my best to feel unaffected….but i guess it will hit once the journey begins…
…why am I going you may be wondering…well apart from a secret music work …I am actually attending Dadi’s 100th Birthday as I’m her favorite Pakistani….I think I’ll have a lot to tell about it…in fact it just might be a learning for a lot…
I am taking a painting of her youth that Mandana’s father Mr. Shahnawaz Zaidi has made and man if you guys knew the photo that we gave him to make from and how he changed that BW photo to this living piece of ART, you’d appreciate what a genius he is..I tried to take a photo from my cell and their is a lot of reflection from the glass frame..but you’ll get the idea.. Read more…
October 20th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 7 Comments
After an exhausting videos editing session…was just unwinding with a cup of tea and skimming through Sunday’s Dawn Magazine section that I cam across this article Poparazzi: The secret blog of a self-assured pop star. Now it took me a second to realize that the pic is mine from a gig I recently did…(me being the only owner of a Martin 00CXAE left-handed acoustic and putting a capo on the headstock)
…well there is nothing wrong with the article (though it is a bit less funny) but it just set me thinking…why my picture esp when I just recently launched this blog??????
comments everyone….?
October 19th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 14 Comments
Well Hamza is always the wiser of us. It is unbelievable how big our archive of videos and photos is…..and his idea of the memory box is brilliant. It really is a treat even for me…..esp when he pops out one interesting photo or video or documents from his archive Hard disk that I’ve completely forgotten……I sometimes feel that I am rather embarrassed to look at my self from the past and always tend to shut my mind every time I come across memories….
When I looked at the Scared Heart concert the first thing I remember is the sleepless nights sequencing the covers….MAN I HATE COVERS!!!! (covers are btw other people’s songs that a band sings esp when they don’t have many of their own)….and then I remember the kids screaming “hum ne app ke ganay nahin sunnay” and then the depression of realizing that what a disaster it is so sing a song on the wrong tempo. Every song that you hear from me is now a product of the lesson I learnt on that day…..and that is always find the “magic tempo”…In a live concert it always better to be fast then to be slow …in fact most of the drummers who have played with me could tell you of their annoyance when I would, in the middle of a song keep on raising my hand up and up esp when we’ve started the song slow.
And then I remember my vow to never do a concert again!!!
I think the next entry in the memory box should be from me… telling everyone how I broke my vow……
Click to view video
October 19th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 2 Comments
So what’s the big deal about Abbottabad…..
Around November 2003….after doing 112 Moblink Jazz concerts in 42 days….all in Karachi, by sometimes doing as many as 4 concerts in a day….it was natural to feel jaded just 8 months after releasing SKMHJ…2 boys living their entire lives in their parents arms in Lahore, felt really cold and lonely, living all by themselves in their expensive apartment in Karachi… sick and tired of the fame and fortune all they wanted was a weekend with their parents….
Read more…
October 15th, 2008
Categories: The Diary . Author: Ali Noor . Comments: 7 Comments
