Image by Zahra Salah Uddin

DAWN.COM • 13th September 2023

From the Makran Coast to Europe, Ustad Noor Bakhsh’s music has a way of bringing people closer

“It’s funny, apart from Karachi, Ustad has not been officially invited to play shows in even Islamabad or Lahore, yet here we are in Europe, set to play 25 shows,” said the manager, Daniyal.

Unbias The News • 7th July 2023

Connecting disability to the climate beat

In March this year, Áine Kelly-Costello offered a training session for Unbias the News on linking the climate beat and disability. Áine is a multiply-disabled storyteller and disability advocate. Their climate justice work has included fossil fuel divestment activism, upskilling organisations on accessible and inclusive campaigning, and reporting and podcasting on disability and climate intersections.

Aurora Magazine • 1st June 2022

And So, We Say an Official Goodbye, to a Pocket-Sized Device That Changed Music Forever

Do you remember the time when being able to store a thousand songs on a handheld device revolutionised the way we listened to music? Yes, the iPod. That darling device that made it possible to carry music in our pockets. If I tell this to my niece and nephew they would probably laugh as they look up from their iPad. Little do they know the iPod walked so that iPads and iPhones could run.

Unbias The News • 15th March 2022

The Sinking Cities Project

The Sinking Cities Project is a global cross-border investigation that examines how sea-level rise is impacting major cities and how their governments are responding to the consequences of climate crisis.

Unbias The News • 5th November 2021

How a divided society comes together with the help of music

Kahlil Gibran is quoted to have once said: “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” Looking at society today, and the world at large, it is difficult not to see some truth in this. Not only has the global pandemic affected our planet in distressing ways, the political situation world over seems to be creating bigger shifts in us, the people.

Unbias The News • 5th November 2021

The Climate disaster trauma within us

How does rain effect your city?

Last year, my father spent his 70th birthday in Karachi at home with my mother, without any electricity for hours. All around their apartment building was knee-deep floodwater in an area of the city considered ‘posh’ for years.

LOLA • 26th July 2021

Folk Music by the Fireside

The first post-lockdown event hosted by the Berlin-based studio and record label, The Famous Gold Watch , was the opening of their new live series, The Fireside Sessions . The debut show of the series took place in the small garden near The Famous Gold Watch’s studio in Weissensee. The line-up included Lotta St Joan , The Nation Mourns , and Michael Brinkworth .

Behenchara Mag • 20th June 2021

The diary of a Pakistani music aficionada By Zahra Salah Uddin – Behenchara

As I sit down to pen my thoughts about my life as a woman music journalist in Pakistan, I am nervous and amused by this task that has been a long time coming. I wish there was a way I could sum up all the multifold nuances in one article of what it’s truly like, navigating this field as a woman in a conservative society. But here goes…

Cutacut • 3rd May 2021

Is Patreon the next step forward for Pakistan music | Cutacut

BERLIN: We’re all at that point in our lives where everything is punctuated by the pandemic. As a music lover living in Berlin, I must admit that the decision to start calling this city home was heavily influenced by the music scene. So, when a deadly virus toured the world and brought everything to a standstill, the music scene everywhere took a huge hit.

Cutacut • 22nd February 2021

Chalo is changing global perception of South Asian music | Cutacut

KARACHI: While music shows and collaborations between artists seems to be picking up in Pakistan, what with Velo Sound Station creating a new fan-base for their attempt at pop music, the new season of Coke Studio and now a recent teaser shows that Bisconni is also jumping on the music TV show bandwagon. Much can be said about the quality of content on these shows, but one thing is true: it’s nice to see musicians working together again

Images • 24th April 2020

These volunteer-run online radios are bringing Urdu to German airwaves

Online Urdu radio channels in Germany help connect Pakistani immigrants to their roots.

One of the most obvious, but less talked about, sentiment about living abroad is being homesick for your native language.

Especially if you’re in a country like Germany, where learning the language is imperative for survival.

Images • 17th September 2019

How Mama Shabz is putting Pakistani cuisine on Berlin's food map

It all started when Shabz had gone to a desi restaurant in Germany where she got a tortilla when she asked for a roti.

There is much to be said about Berlin and the tone it sets for multiculturalism in Germany.

While the country has seen an influx of migrants in recent years, the German capital has been considered the most international city in the country, so much so that some locals joke about Berlin not being a part of Germany at all.