From ‘Salaam Bombay’ to ‘Chakalaka Baby’ to the alluring tune of ‘Chaiyya, Chaiyya’ Chaiyya’, Bombay Dreams – Andrew Lloyd Webber and R.R. Rehman’s musical – manages to keep the audience engrossed in a melodrama based on fabled Indian movie themes of the fight between the good and the evil.

We are not talking about that Cola advertisement which you have been watching since more than a month now.

Our news is about this brand new album released by Abrar-ul-Haq. Nachan Main Udday Naal is Abrar’s fifth album. All of his albums have done good business so far. We expect the same for the new album too. So all you bhangra lovers out there, get ready for new dance numbers that will add flavors to your parties for sure.

NINE years ago, Huddersfield singer Naveed Yasin began a study of music that has taken him all over the world.

Now, his hard work has paid off and he’s landed a record deal with Manchester-based bhangra label Supreme Dream Records.

Naveed, 20, goes under the moniker NAV which stands for Nu Asian Vibe.

He’s at present recording his debut album, still untitled.

The whole record has been composed by Naveed, of Thornton Lodge.

He also plays some of the instruments.

Naveed said: “We expect the album to be out early next year. It’s taken a while because I wanted to ensure everything’s of the best quality. All the right people are lined up and once they’re in place, we can start moving .”

Fuzon is riding the high wave. They have just bagged the Indus Music ‘Best Composer’ and ‘Best Ballad Song’ awards. The band takes time out to share their views with world Music Chief Editor ARSHAD MAHMUD and his team in this wide-ranging interview.

Arshad Mahmud: One remembers watching each one of your working independently. What brought you together as a band?
Shallum: I and Imran had been working together for about eight years. We live in the same vicinity in PECHS - and we knew each other very well. Immu also used to meet Shafqat off and on. Then Shafqat Bahi’s album was also running in those days. Immu and I had been talking for a long time about doing something different. One day Shafqat met Immu and then they called me over, saying let’s sit together and start working on something as a unit and not as individuals. That was the day when things started moving.

Cultural camaraderie between India and Pakistan hits a new high on Friday with virtuoso singers from both countries set to enthrall a packed audience at the MTV Immies in Mumbai.

Versatile singer Hariharan teams up with the Karachi-based rock group Strings to keep the crowd tapping while Shaan joins up with the Pakistan band Fuzon. Sukhbir and the music duo Josh will also participate.

Hariharan’s teaming up with Strings and Shaan’s with Fuzon will be the highlights of the Tata Indicom MTV Immies 2004.

For a quiet man, Asim Reza has a lot to say. His work speaks for him, whether in the mythical setting of an advertisement or in the documentation of a dancer’s synchronized footwork. The quest for artistic greatness influences his life and though he doesn’t blow the trumpet on his own work, it shouts for itself. But when credits are mismatched and his achievements ignored, Asim becomes verbose. He turns away from his creative pursuit very briefly, and lodges his displeasure in minimum words, careful not to contaminate his creativity in the process.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest man of all?” Ali Haider of course! A name that needs no introduction… One of the biggest singers in the Pakistani music industry, he is what the youth of today grew up listening to. Tracks like ‘Purani Jeans’ - that every school and college-going person could identify with - made him a household name. Here we ask Ali about his Purani Jeans, his new album and make him clear out a few controversies. Here he is uncensored.

Finally TJ Kool’s video of song “Aaja Goriyee” has been released in Pakistan by Indus Music. It is a nice bhangra track with good video. We congratulate TJ Kool and look forward to see more of his videos in Pakistan.

While conducting a poll on the top ten Pakistani bands/soloists, I realized how ignorant of the pakistani music scene our expatriates are. For instance, the only bands they would know of were Junoon, Strings or EP…beyond that, most of them still thought that Awaz was making waves…ok, I’m exaggerating, come to think of it, our music scene has finally started making its presence felt…a far cry from just a year or two back when we were all still hooked on to the ‘I love junoon’ phase. Now, at least we have a number of bands to choose from…when you ask non-Pakistanis about which Pakistani band they like, at least some of them add strings or Ali Zafar to the necessary bout of Junoon mania. It’ll take time to get our selves established, but heck! We’ve started haven’t we? Ample proof of that is Strings contribution to the spider man movie!

It’s a union for a noble quest. The ARY Digital network and Stardreamz entertainment USA, today announced the Music Mela 2004 - The India / Pakistan Peace Tour.

With Indian bhangra sensation Sukhbir and Pakistan’s pop idol Shehzad Roy roped in as the star performers, this nine cities the United State tour concert will begin on 7 May in New Jersey and will conclude on 30 May. The concerts to be held in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Connecticut and New York, will be televised for ARY Digital.