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Biograhy |
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 Abrar-ul-Haq
(Urdu/Punjabi: ابرار الحق) (Abrar is also spelled as
Ibrar) is a Pakistani pop, bhangra and folk singer.
On his first album "Billo De Ghar" his name appears
as simply "Abrar". His best-known work is the song "Billo
De Ghar". Before becoming a singer, he was a teacher
at Lahore's Aitchison College.
Life
He was born on July 21 in Faisalabad. Like many
other young Pakistani artists, Abrar had kept his
year of birth secret from public in order to hide
his age, but in a recent interview he said he was
born in 1968. He used to give clues in TV programs
saying he was quite young and not that old, and said
he was born in the 1960's.
He got his initial education from Gujrat and
Rawalpindi. Took his Bachelor's degree from Sir Syed
College (Rawalpindi) and acquired Master's degree in
social sciences from Quaid-i-Azam University
(Islamabad).
He joined Aitchison College’s permanent faculty in
1996. He had to quit teaching to pursue his career
in pop music; although he considers the day he
joined Aitchison College the proudest day of his
life.
He primarily sings in Punjabi which is the main
language of bhangra genre, language of most
populated province of Pakistan and Abrar's native
language. He sings in Urdu too. His popular single "Sanu
Tere Nal" is in English and Punjabi.
Abrar's first single "Billo De Ghar" was an instant
hit along with his album. According to his web site
more than 16 million copies of his debut album have
been sold.
Music and style
Abrar's music is sometimes considered of bhangra
genre, however, three genres, pop, rock and
bhangra overlap in his musical work. His most
popular songs are in Punjabi language, although, he
has sung almost equal number of Urdu songs which
are parts of all of his albums.
His Urdu language songs have not gained that kind of
popularity which has been earned by his Punjabi
work. It is partly because of the vast difference of
his style in these two languages. His most Punjabi
songs are upbeat, and lyrics are very down to earth
representing Pakistani culture with a humorous
touch and clever sarcasm. On the other hand his
Urdu music is mostly sad, romantic and patriotic. In
some of his Urdu songs, he has copied some Urdu
classics of Pakistani music.
He is often compared to Indian bhangra singers
because of his popularity in India. Most Indian
Punjabi songs tend to celebrate the province of
Punjab and its culture but Abrar's music lacks this
style. The reasons behind this are of political
nature. In Indian Punjab the political and cultural
circumstances are quite different from those of
Pakistani Punjab. In Pakistan, Punjab is a dominant
province, therefore, music focusing on Punjab can
be seen as politically provocative in other
provinces.
Although, beat is an essential part of Abrar's music
but he choses his melodies very carefully and always
tries to keep them consistent with the beat. He
writes most of his songs, however, he often borrows
poetry from Sufi poets of Punjab which he cleverly
mixes up in his humours songs.
Pioneer
Abrar-ul-Haq is arguably the pioneer of bhangra
music in Pakistan and one of most influential
musical figures of his country. He is considered The
King of Pakistani Pop by some fans.
He emerged in the era of heavy metal guitar and with
predominantly Urdu language pop music. His debut
single was a Punjabi song Billo De Ghar (Billo's
home) which was an instant hit.
Abrar once told in a TV interview that he took six
months to create this song. Following his second
album Majajni, which was also a big hit, Pakistani
pop music saw an explosion of Punjabi music which
still continues.
Controversies
Like many other famous singers Abrars's musical work
also has caused public debates.
Billo De Ghar
His debut single, Billo De Ghar, erupted great
controversy and gathered much debate. Billo is a
fairly common female nickname among predominantly
Muslim Punjabis of Pakistan. First line of the song,
Assan Tay Jaana Billo De Ghar, Kinnay Kinnay Jaana
Billo De Ghar (Punjabi: We will go to Billo's home,
who else will go to Billo's home), was used as tease
by street bullies for Billo named young-adult
females. This caused a fierce reaction from the
families of female victims, often resulting in
physical fights. In order to avoid any more of such
situations in his another single, Preeto, Abrar
used a non-Muslim female nickname Preeto. This name
is almost extinct in Pakistan.
 Nach
Punjaban Nach
Nach Punjaban Nach (Punjabi: Dance Punjabi (woman)
Dance; Punjaban is female for Punjabi), second line
of Abrar's single Punjabi Touch also caused a
public outrage as it was taken as an address to all
Punjabi women of Pakistan (more than 97% of
Pakistani Punjabis are Muslims). Abrar was sued in
Lahore High Court. He personally went to the court
and told the judge that he would change the word
Punjaban to Majajan. He re-recorded the song and
new batch of copies of his album, Assan Jana Mall-o
Mall, has the modified version of the song,
however, copies of the album with older version are
still available and were never pulled from the
market. During a TV interview, he was asked about
the meaning of Majajan. He said, "Majajan is not a
word. Real word is Majajni. I changed it to Majajan
to rhyme it with Punjaban."
SAHARA for Life Trust
He is the founder and chairman of SAHARA for Life
Trust (tax exempted charity organization), a
charitable organisation promoting health and
education in remote areas. The term SAHARA stands
for: "Services Aimed at Health and Awakening in
Remote Areas".
The abbreviation SAHARA has been chosen very
cleverly as it is Roman script or transliteration
for a word of Urdu (سہارا) which means aid or
assistance.
Musical collaborations
Recently, Abrar has teamed up with Gurdas Mann and
Sukshinder Shinda in a Punjabi single called
Collaborations. The song was an immediate success.
(2006)
Abrar's next album will feature Gurdas Mann and
Sukshinder Shinda again where a duet between Abrar
and Gurdas which will be produced by Sukshinder
Shinda. Abrar's album, Preeto, was released in 2006.
Discography
Regular studio albums
Billo De Ghar (1995)
Majajni (1997)
Bay Ja Cycle Tay (1999)
Assan Jana Mall-o Mall (February 5, 2002)
Nachan Main Audhay Naal (June 1, 2004)
Naara Sada Ishq Aey (March, 2007)
Hits compilations / Studio albums
Mein Gaddi Aap Chalawan Ga (2000)
Trivia
He has developed quite different personal image
considering his field of music. He has never
appeared in any elaborately fashioned dresses which
are normally associated with pop music. He almost
always appears in business casual dress except for
rare occasions where he wore salwar kameez, the
national dress of Pakistan.
In 2000, PTV World gave him award for best folk
singer and following year he won award for best pop
singer from the same institute.
It is alleged that he belongs to Tarar family and is
related to Muhammad Rafiq Tarar but there is no
proof to accept or reject this claim.
He owns a Mercedes and is seen frequently in
Rawalpindi. |
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