Gattuss: inspiration

I've been waiting since 2 decades for the day when I come across a larger than life voice like Bono or Freddie Mercury, somewhere in Pakistan.

For now, I just see tons of undiscovered talent wasting away singing in the shower or at a friends mehndi or going hoarse on late weekends thumping the table for an audience of three cousins and a neighbour.

I keep coming across so many people complaining about a lack of opportunity, sponsorships, abusive clueless record labels and the shoddy infrastructure of the music industry. No money to record in a "proper studio" or go for a masochistic pilgrimage to Meekal Hassan, because they only want the best sound for their band blah blah blah...

Yes, the cash and ecosystem is extremely critical but waiting for that pie in the sky will only make you hug your cubicle even harder.

I think what we desperately need are shaky blurry underlit videos made on cheap cell phones.
What we need is someone who sings their gutts out for just two people, not wannabe rock stars growing their hair and constipated pop "icons", staying up all night practising the puckered poses they'll make during their lipsync concert at Kinnaird.

You dont need to write your own songs to get noticed. You dont need to be John Lennon from the get-go. Don't wait for it to be handed to you in a silver plate. It never is and most probably you're not that talented anyways. Ask Lennon if you don't believe me.

Another thing you need to ask yourself while posing in the mirror with the hairspray microphone is whether you dream of being a "star"/"icon"/"celebrity" in a shampoo ad or a cell phone billboard or do you really, truly want to be an outstanding performance artist.

If you can mimic Hendrix or Rafi, let us hear you. If you have a voice, just put it out there. No guitar, no studio. Just sing!

You may suck big time, or you may be the next Bono from Bannu that we've all been looking for!

While I wait for that video to go up, can anyone seriously say that this is not 10 times better than Ali Noors mane hurling head rotations!

Natasha Noorani - Saari Raat Jaga (Noori Cover)

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Only if you have a few more minutes to waste...

Greyson Chance, a 13 year old boy from Oklahoma, went from this drop jawed discovery in April 2010....

Greyson Chance sings Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

..to performing on the Ellen Show and being the first artist to be signed by her new record label (which was inspired by their meeting), to this debut single within six months.

Waiting Outside The Lines

Last example: Justin Bieber.

I'm sorry if some of you are gagging (I'm not a fan) but this is one of the online home videos that got noticed by his future manager, who hooked him up with Usher within a few months.
We now have a seventeen year old double platinum artist with 9.7 million followers on Twitter, second highest on Planet Earth, just below Lady Gaga ofcourse.

Related Posts:

- The straw that broke the procrastinators back...

I knew I'd start writing again sooner rather than later but this video just pushed me over the fence, reminding me of the tons of projects I've abandoned out of fear of churning out mediocrity.

Abridged transcript:

Your taste is why your own work disappoints you

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit."