As she belongs to a musical family, music comes naturally to one of the country's most well known female vocalists, Alif Alauddin. She recently released a video of her new solo, 'Jantrik Bastobota', which was received with much fanfare. In a conversation with The Daily Star, the artiste opens up about her songs, the state of the music industry and more. 

When did you decide to make a music video of your solo, 'Jantrik Bastobota'?

The song was first released on the 'Gaan' app for streaming exclusively. Coincidently, my friend Lusha Mirza from Dhooli had mentioned that she was looking for a new song. That's when I agreed to give it to her for the video. The video was directed by Yamin Elan, who is a brilliant maker. We shot in Pubail for two days, and it was an interesting experience. Elan's work is organised and he created a beautiful video, even in such a tight schedule. 

Tell us what inspired you to sing this song.

The lyric and tune of the song is different, and I never sang anything like this before. Mark Don, who tuned and composed the song approached me with it as he thought my voice would suit the composition. The song has been written by Tasmina Pinky. Although I have not met pinky yet, I thought the lyric was very interesting and time-appropriate. The symbolic approach to life's challenges is overt in the song. I enjoy working with new musicians; they always create music with fresh ideas.

Do you remember your first experience of recording a song?

(Laughs) It was around 1997, I think I was in class nine. Abbu (legendary singer Alauddin Ali) told me that he had a song for me. Honestly, I did not feel anything as I probably lacked sincerity in music at that time. It was quite whimsical for me.

What do you feel about the new vocalists in the music scene now?

The industry is quite segmented now. What we had was for the masses, but now musicians can cater to a niche audience. They are doing extremely well, but I feel that they lack the patience. They are going more after the name and fame than preparing themselves as good musicians. If you put yourself to practice, eventually name and fame will follow. Now that live concerts are slowly coming back, it will give them opportunities to perform better.

Any thoughts on the music distribution sector? 

We have many platforms at the moment, but unfortunately, the promotion and distribution is not up to the mark. Only a couple of names are promoted by the production companies. However, there are many talented musicians and brilliant songs that go unseen.  Songs are not reaching out to its audience. Artistes themselves are taking the responsibility as a solution.