Atif Aslam

Atif Aslam (Urdu: عاطف اسلم) is a Pakistani musician. He was born in Wazirabad, Gujranwala and educated in Lahore and Rawalpindi.



Life & Career
Atif attended High School at PAF College Lahore, where he played cricket and became interested in music. He attended PICS (Punjab Institute of Computer Science) to do his Bachelors in Computer Science (BCs). It was at PICS Lahore that he met guitarist and talented, young composer (like himself), Gohar Mumtaz. The two became friends and started jamming together. This lead to performances at their college and at various restaurants eventually pushing the pair into finding a name for their subtly formed band, which they duly named "Jal" - which means Water - (the issue of which musician was truly responsible for the name “Jal” is still disputed).

Working together, the pair recorded the song Aadat (with the help of Salman Albert, amongst other established and accomplished Pakistani musicians). It became popular on a host of promotional Pakistani music websites. The song was also played on such Pakistani radio stations as FM100 and FM105. The music video for Aadat was shot one day in a warehouse in Karachi. On the base of this one song, “Jal” began their tour of Pakistan—such was the strength of “Aadat”. However, whilst on tour, personal problems led to a verbal bust-up resulting in an unannounced and indefinite hiatus, during which Atif launched his solo career.

Atif Aslam, after leaving Jal, released a new solo album, Jal Pari (ironically meaning "Mermaid") which was a big hit. The Songs Woh Lamhey, Dil Haarey and few others were smash hits on both Pakistani radio stations and Music Channels. As both the Jal, “Aadat”, and Atif’s album, Jalpari, shared certain tracks (such as “Aadat”, “Bheegi Yaadein/Wo Lamhey”, “Ankhon se”) an unofficial war over rights began which resulted in both sides claiming to possess hard proof to support their respective claims (that, they alone owned the concerned songs). The hype this feud gave to both Atif and the new Jal was extraordinary and split the musical nation with the fans of each side backing their respective favourite.

Whilst the drama of lyrics & composition ownership was rolling on in Pakistan, Atif Aslam's soulful voice crossed the border over into India when Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt called Atif Aslam to seek his consent to include "Woh Lamhey" in the soundtrack of his new motion picture, Zeher (2005). The song (especially the remix version) became a huge hit & dominated airplay on almost all major FM stations throughout India for a period of 6-8 months. This pattern of a slow playback song by Atif in the movie, supplemented by a remix version released for radio airplay was to become standard procedure with Atif’s songs on the Indian market.

Atif has continued to grow and is becoming a bollywood playback singer in great demand at such a young age, with very few OSTs to his name. He recorded a song for the movie Kalyug, entitled 'Juda Hokey Bhi' - a slight variation of the ever famous Aadat song. Like with “Wo Lamhey / Bheegi Yaadein”, a slow version became the theme for the movie and part of the official soundtrack, whilst a remixed version was released to hit the radio stations and desi clubs worldwide.

After recording for Kalyug, a Pakistani director in Hollywood contacted Atif and within very little time, Atif recorded three songs for that same director’s Hollywood movie, 'Man Push Cart' and was rewarded with a small cameo role in the movie itself!

All of a sudden, after a relatively quiet summer, Atif re-emerged in the subcontinent with a new track, “Tere Bin” (translation: [Without You]) for the Bollywood Movie, {Bas Ek Pal}. Yet again, the song was remixed and as expected it became popular in a very short amount of time. Once again, Atif’s voice is electrifying the airwaves on radio stations throughout the subcontinent.

In between the copyright war and media war with Gohar ( Jal ) and recording Bollywood songs, Atif had been touring the world and working on his new album.

Atif visited various countries in Asia, Europe & The Americas which include Pakistan, India, UAE, UK, Canada & America—taking his sound to the “pardesi” (expatriats of the subcontinent) worldwide. Atif’s new album has been entitled 'Hangami Halaat' and is due to be released in the summer of 2007.