Asar by Muslim Shaggan

Asar is a collection of raw recordings made in three different acoustic environments: a room, a courtyard, and a park. Muslim sings solely to the accompaniment of his harmonium and tanpura, and the sounds of Karachi’s evening breeze and birds. Muslim’s debut album explores the intricacies that a thoroughly trained classical singer brings to other forms. The seven songs on this release span a variety of South Asian musical genres: geet, ghazal, thumri, and kafi. Asar intends to take you to the moment it was recorded — as if you were sitting across him, and Muslim was singing only for you.

Artist Bio:

Muslim Shaggan is a vocalist from Lahore, Pakistan. His vocal delivery is technically sophisticated, yet tender. Muslim’s versatile musicality is rooted in a melodious convergence of histories. He descends from Bhai Mardana (1459-1534), the muslim musician companion of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. This lineage of Rababi musicians eventually adopted the Gwalior style of Hindustani vocal music. Muslim was trained by one of its finest exponents, his grandfather, Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shaggan, who carefully prepared him to carry on this centuries old legacy from the young age of 7.

Today, Muslim is one of the most accomplished classical vocalists of his generation in Pakistan. He regularly performs at all major classical music festivals and venues in the country, as well as radio and television. Beyond Muslim's prowess in the Khayal genre, he is equally adept at a variety of other South Asian musical forms, including contemporary and folk styles. His musical experiments are rooted in traditional knowledge, yet unconstrained by its rigorous methodologies.

Labours of Love by Servants of Sound / Independent Record Label Rooted in Pakistan

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