First glance at the re-recorded National Anthem

KARACHI: With Pakistan’s 75th anniversary coming up on Sunday, celebrations are taking place all around. Part of those celebrations includes a new version of the Pakistani National Anthem. The new version of the anthem plans to be more inclusive of gender and culture in the country while preserving the beauty of the original anthem.

The Steering Committee for the revamped National Anthem released a statement which explained the idea behind the re-recording, “In planning to produce new vocal and instrumental versions of the unchanged original words and composition, the steering committee applied an all-inclusive, gender-balanced approach and enlisted vocalists from diverse regional, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, from all religious faiths and musical genres. 48 musicians from the army, air force and navy bands skillfully played the musical instruments.”

The teaser for the new Pakistani National Anthem was released on social media with a caption that explained how this is the “First time the National Anthem has been re-recorded since the original release in 1954.” The video begins with the original version merging into the newer recording. We see young people and we see older people. We see Muslims and Christians. We see farmers, fishermen, miners, mountaineers and women in traditional desert attire and women in sportswear.

And we also see singers from different genres. The first recording of the Pakistani National Anthem featured eleven singers including three women. The new version includes 12 women. The singers are from different genres ranging from folk, rap, rock, orchestra, classical and they even hail from different regions such as Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, and Sindh. You can spot the likes of Abid Brohi, Arif Lohar, Fariha Pervaiz, Zeb Bangash, Ali Hamza and Umair Jaswal in the video as well.

It will be exciting to see what the new Pakistani National Anthem is going to sound like!