In conversation with .. 8!

That seems to be the case when it
comes to immigrants and refugees in
Western countries. You see all those
articles praising refugees who came
here from Syria for example who
learned German within one second
and are juggling eight different jobs
to prove that they’re “worthy” of
being here. It’s horrible. Tell me a
little bit about the video for “Home”.
It’s a very dark video, too.
Home is an ode, as much as it is a plea
– to accept those less understood, less
accepted, the unlucky to be deemed
otherly. There are countless lives
taken, shaken, or gently pushed under
a veil. The cloth is grief turned shelter
from inflictions and labels – outlander,
suggestive, too less, too much, too
strange, too sexual, too damn different.
I want all of us to look around, to
recognise the burden each carries
in secrecy – the guilt, like shackles,
heavy with each secret. We carry many
homes away from home – homes
within people, places afar, and within
the clouds where we feel safer than
reality.
How would you compare the
Pakistani music industry to the
German?
The local music industry of Pakistan
squeezes more personal resources
out of the musicians. There is art,
there are artists, but also dwindling
infrastructure to support music
production and distribution. The
previously popular record labels
have exited, fundings make a rare
appearance and piracy triumphs.
However, globalisation has bridged
the newer artists with the vision of
musical achievements elsewhere. They
are connected with the image of what
could be and should be their future,
too. This has stimulated a spike in
creating those platforms that lack.
In Berlin, music facilitation
revolutionised as a long-held priority.
In Pakistan, the industry is reinventing
itself, and is adamant to get what it
deserves.
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