Singer Qurat-ul-ain Balouch touched hearts with the title track of the Pakistani show Humsafar. Her first single Bewafaiyaan is a reflection of female emotions in relationships
Qurat-ul-ain Balouch is a popular singer in Pakistan but became a household Indian name when she struck a chord with the title track of the Pakistani show Humsafar (popular soap starring Fawad Khan). She shot to fame in her home country with her unique rendition of Reshma’s most popular song Ankhiyaan Nu Ren De.
The 27-year-old singer, who goes by the name QB also has a Coke Studio track called Panchi along with the band Jal. For all the praise she has been getting, she tells us that she was completely oblivious towards her musical inclination. “There were days I used to sing in the bathroom and manipulate melodies of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Reshmaji,” she says. She recalls the time when YouTube wasn’t banned in Pakistan and reveals that it provided her the much needed exposure. “I recorded a cover of Ankhian Nu Ren De without participating in the process for a positive outcome. I was more excited about hearing myself in a proper studio set up for the very first time”, she adds.
Talking about the Indian diaspora and the response she has been receiving from it for the title track of Humsafar, she shares that the she has been bombarded with love and appreciation from her neighbours which is purely beautiful. She also adds, “I’m fairly new to the music industry and submitting my work to an audience who has a vast collection of their own and being received with open arms, defines me as an artist.”
Coming from a rule abiding family and the eldest among eight siblings, music was limited to this virtuoso’s ears. She has grown up listening to some very old artists from Pakistan’s musical history. She explains, “My father has a vast cassette collection of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pathanay Khan, a saraiki folk singer from Punjab, Juman Khan, a Sindhi musician and others. I understood very little of what they meant, their vocals were so enriched with character, that subconsciously it caught my attention at the age of 12.” Not being supported by her family to take up music as a full time career, it took her years to settle on music as her profession. “Devoid of any support, initially, I kept questioning myself if I made the right choice”, she vocalises.
QB’s follows a simple mantra in life — if you don’t love and enjoy what you do, what’s the point of being in such a misery for the rest of your lifeIJ living her life on these words, she has recently released her first ever single Bewafaiyaan. “The exceptional note about the single is that it was the first studio recording I did after a calamity in 2013. There was a doubt of disbelief when I was told I might not be able to sing but Bewafaiyaan has proved that theory wrong”, she discloses. This track is a reflection of female emotions in relationships. It is a classic sad love song which talks about devotion and renouncement at the same time. QB further reveals, “Women in our society are taught to compromise and as being a woman. I know it for a fact that women are fragile in extreme emotional courses. We cope for the sake of our passion but more so because of the obligations toward the society, that a wife has, for instance. That is what we have tried to capture in Bewafaiyaan and this thought forms the essence of the song.”
Satiating her Indian fans’ needs, the singer tells us that she plans to visit the country later this year for live performances after the release of her album with Universal India. On her plans for the future, she believes in going with the flow. “One of the many plans is to produce an album of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Reshma’s influential tracks. They are my gurus. A tribute is due, I believe,” she signs off.