In August, Pakistanis celebrated their 50th anniversary of independence. It was a time of rejoicing for all - the very young, the young, the not-so-young, the young-at-heart and those-once-young. My congratulations to all for being the independent citizens of an independent country.

To commemorate the occasion, pop bands and soloists contributed their patriotic and fervent compositions. Some were applauded, many cheered, still others politely tolerated. VITAL SIGNS, AWAZ, JUNOON and Shehzad Roy were some of the top slot performers who got noticed most.

VITAL SIGNS came up with a brilliant number, "Maula". Well, long time no see, but now we know why we see no for long time. The hard work that went into the making of their number must have been real time consuming.

"Ae Jawan" - a cool, groovy track by the AWAZ boys. It's a duet sung by Haroon and Fakhir. Golly! the composition, the striking phonics, the almost hypnotic lyrics, and the stunning video gets the adrenaline flowing and pair of eyes glued to the TV set.

Next in line is Shehzad Roy with his "Aay Khuda". Blimey! what a single it is, with Roy's timbre voice and the thaaps of the tabla. This qawwali features a renown flutist, Ustad Salamat Hussain.

"Khudi" is the new JUNOON video featuring their song based on Allama Iqbal's famous poem. The song has a sizzling beat to it. No doubt, the trio is amazingly talented and is doing a pretty good job giving a new life to history in their own way.

Ali Haider singing "Pakistan Pakistan", with hardly a tick of the brow to hint any real enthusiasm did not really impress. The tribute the endeavour was supposed to have paid, kind of fizzled out.

Fakhar introduced "Munda Pakistani", a real catchy number with pumped up lyrics. Soon after its release, this track was on the lips of everyone.


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