Abdullah Siddiqui

Some Lesser Known Facts About Abdullah Siddiqui

• Abdullah Siddiqui is a Pakistani singer and music composer. He rose to fame after he performed his song ‘Resistance’ at the Nescafé Basement season 5 (2019).

• He learnt to play the guitar when he was nine years old. According to him, he loved playing a variety of musical instruments, but the guitar was his favourite.
  

  I’ve always enjoyed singing and began to play the guitar when I was nine years old. I began producing music electronically when I was 11 years old, and I’ve been working on establishing my sound as an artist ever since.”

• Abdullah Siddiqui began his musical career when he was 11 years old. He began by making electronic music in the English language. His first song was quite ambitious and had some profound inspiring phrases. All of this began at his parents’ place, when he sat in front of a very ancient and huge computer, downloading some very basic music software. He continued to hit random buttons in an attempt to make it seem like music.

• Abdullah chose to release his music in 2014 after practising and making music for several years. He set up Facebook, SoundCloud, and YouTube accounts to do so.

• He described his time working with Zulfi as “a dream come true.” In a business where many individuals have gotten jaded, he found it really refreshing to observe his enthusiasm for music. The process itself was exhausting for everyone involved, but it was well worth it, and I’ll be eternally thankful for the opportunity.

• Abdullah Siddiqui was included on Forbes’ Asia 30 Under 30 list in 2021. The list of 30 Under 30 recognises and celebrates the next generation of brilliance. Siddiqui’s success falls in the categories of entertainment and sports. The 20-year-old Pakistani singer informed his followers of the news in an Instagram photo that he titled,
  

  It took me days to believe it had actually happened. I think award shows are incredibly important because they incentivise the creation of new and exciting work.”

• Abdullah Siddiqui has a number of awards won and he has earned several nomination with his talent. In 2018, he was nominated in the Best Emerging Talent (Music) category at the 17th Lux Style Awards but could not win it. Later during a media interaction, he talked disappointingly about the Lux Style Awards and he said,
  

  I enjoy and respect the LSAs, and I do believe they are mostly on the right track, but they need some restructuring. It doesn’t make sense to have any of the music categories up for public voting because there simply aren’t enough voters who are consuming all kinds of music, so the winners are usually just those with the most recognisable names. I also think it wasn’t a great decision to remove the categories for Album of the Year and Best Music Video Director because albums and music videos are both dying artforms in desperate need of revival.”

• Imogen Heap, James Blake, Sophie, Anrca, and Björk are among his musical influences.

• When asked to characterise his music in a single word, he chooses the terms ‘Dextral’ and ‘cinematic.’

• He does not prefer working with other musicians to create a musical composition. Talking about the fact, he said,
  

  Collaborations, I find, are new territories for me because I’ve been making music for 10 years now and all this time, it’s just been me and my computer. Electronic music is not like other most music because in any other style, you have actual instruments that produce sound – live. What makes electronic music different is in the sense that it is controlled by these very specific and elaborate technical parameters that you can’t really recreate onstage.”

• Apart from music from, he is also interested in photography. Some of his Instagram postings show his enthusiasm for it.

• In an interview, he stated that, while he composed many types of music, he chose to release more electronic work since, in his opinion, it was a market that few people were entering at the time.

• With his song “Resistance,” he made his breakthrough performance on Nescafé Basement Season 5 and followed it up with his album debut with Metannoya in 2019. He also released Heterotopia in 2020, Dead Beat Poets in 2021, and Dead Beats Poets: Side B in 2022. (2021).

• As a music producer, he has gone through periods where he didn’t have a single musical idea, but then he is suddenly struck with a full chorus. He writes in a stream of consciousness manner, in which he gets an idea and then allows himself to write whatever comes to mind at the time.
  

  Often I can’t rationalise what I’m writing about at the moment, but when I read it back it makes perfect sense in the context of what I’m feeling.”

• He reveals that he learnt to play the guitar when he was nine years old. According to him, he loved playing a variety of musical instruments, but the guitar was his favourite. I’ve always enjoyed singing and began to play the guitar when I was nine years old. I began producing music electronically when I was 11 years old, and I’ve been working on establishing my sound as an artist ever since.

• His anthem ‘Kingdom’ ft. Altamash Sever (Takatak), which he developed for Peshawar Zalmi (2021), a Twenty20 team in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), made a mark as well. The appearances of Esra Bilgic, Mahira Khan, Hania Amir, and Ali Rehman in the music video helped to increase the song’s popularity. The creator of the anthem for the Pakistan Super League, also for 2022, alongside vocalists Atif Aslam and Aima Baig.

• Sharing his experience with Zulfi, he stated that working with Xulfi was a dream come true for him. He found it energising to see his enthusiasm for music in a field where many individuals have gotten cynical. The procedure itself was exhausting for everyone involved, but it was well worth it, and I’ll be eternally thankful for the opportunity.
  

  I will forever be grateful to Xulfi for trusting me with his brainchild and for taking me on the greatest artistic journey of my life so far. And I can’t wait for you all to hear these songs.” The Magenta Cyan hitmaker also shared that he got to sing a song with the coolest collaborator one can ask for. It was and will always be a major highlight for me. It was infinitely rewarding to see people working tirelessly and applying all their talents to help present my work in a capacity that I could never have imagined.”

• The teenage artist used to Instagram to announce his involvement in Coke Studio Pakistani season 14 as an associate producer. He took advantage of the opportunity to talk about his partnership with producer Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Xulfi). Studio-recorded music performances by known and upcoming artists from several international music franchises are included on the Pakistani television show. The concert celebrates Pakistan’s multiculturalism by bringing together musicians from all across the country and speaking a variety of languages to perform traditional classical, folk, Sufi, qawwali, ghazal, hip hop, rock, and pop music.

• The music show’s fourteenth season began streaming on January 9, 2022. Kashmir (‘Pareshaniy), Aaroh (‘Main Nahin Manta), The Jupiters (Dosti), Arif Lohar, and Meesha Shafi’s ‘Alif Allah’ and Naseebo Lal and Talal Qureshi‘s ‘Aag’ were among the local musicians included in the show. Expressing his gratitude, Siddiqui added,
  

  I will forever be grateful to Xulfi for trusting me with his brainchild and for taking me on the greatest artistic journey of my life so far. And I can’t wait for you all to hear these songs.” The Magenta Cyan hitmaker also shared that he got to sing a song with the coolest collaborator one can ask for. It was and will always be a major highlight for me. It was infinitely rewarding to see people working tirelessly and applying all their talents to help present my work in a capacity that I could never have imagined.”

• Abdullah Siddiqui is one of Coke Studio 14 (2022) associate song producers, among other things. However, it was Nescafe Basement’s ‘Resistance’ that provided the brilliant artist with his breakthrough. He also broke down the barrier between the mainstream and underground music scenes by partnering with Meesha Shafi on the yet underappreciated ‘Magenta Cyan’ for his second solo album. She co-directed the song, and Abdullah had Meesha in mind since the beginning. Between then and today, the two have collaborated on a number of times. Abdullah Siddiqui stated that he has learned a lot from this interaction with Meesha Shafi. He owes a lot to her for just teaching her a lot. She was one of the ones who introduced him to singing in Urdu, which was crucial to his Coke Studio 14 experience. His first Urdu song was a version of her song ‘Mein,’ which he recorded. Since then, they produced Urdu songs for his future album. He felt confident for beingable to sing in Urdu entirely due to her. Talking about his experience with Meesha, he said
  

  I’ve been working with Meesha (Shafi) quite extensively over the last couple of years, we’ve made a lot of work together. That experience and relationship has had a huge effect on me personally and also on my work and craft,” confessed Abdullah. “In terms of the Coke Studio experience, I really got to be there for the first time on the set – I’d never seen that before. It was really lovely to kind of experience her energy as a performer. Soon after the shoot, we got to perform together at a live concert. I got to channel the kind of energy that I saw her give on the set.”