Their music career began almost by accident while studying in America, but Zeb and Haniya's modern fusion of classical, folk, Arab and western styles has struck a chord with Pakistani youth, making them the country's biggest pop duo. Abid Shah reports.
There is, in the telling and retelling of their tale, a certain magic, an air of innocence, and some charm. The two cousins, Zeb Bangash and Haniya Aslam, had nothing to do. Term was over in their American college town, and the Pakistani girls were stuck in the dorms, bored stiff. Outside, a snowy white Christmas, frost, long dripping icicles and slippery pavements.
So, adventure. The cousins started snooping around the basements of Mount Holyoke College. Behind a stack of washing machines, dryers and coin dispensers, they found an unlocked door, a dark passage, and Narnia.
Not exactly, but it was an abandoned bookstore-cum-cafe, with college mugs and scarves displayed on cobwebbed counters overrun by spiders, almost putting the girls to flight. But Zeb and Haniya settled in here with guitar, cookies and coffee, and, half-jokingly, composed their first song.
They told me the place was haunted; it showed. The song, Chup (Hush!), was a bit naughty, a bit spooky and slightly breathless, as if a spider was about to land on your neck. Friends liked it, the cousins uploaded it to the internet, and the world paid attention. And so, Pakistan's biggest pop duo, Zeb and Haniya, was formed, in 2002.
Today, Zeb and Haniya dominate Pakistan's music charts. Their album, also called Chup, after that first song, leads the charts. The videos are viral. More than that, Zeb, who sings, and Haniya, who plays the guitar, have become symbols of opportunity for a new generation of middle-class Pakistani girls who, until now, avoided the male-dominated Pakistani music scene.
Fifteen years earlier, as a teenager growing up in Islamabad, Haniya had dreamed of playing the guitar, but lessons were not an option. The instructors were young men, and it would have been a scandal for a girl to be alone with a man. The guitar was considered to be a sign of rebellion. It represented the West, and a young Pakistani girl had no place in that world. Classical music, taught by an elderly teacher, was more acceptable, and Haniya learned to play the small classical Indian drums called tablas.
Zeb received classical training, too, taking a class with Mubarik Ali Khan, the famous vocalist. He was sceptical at their first class, but after her first lesson - a run that took her through the basic scales - the teacher changed his mind.
"You are my daughter," Mubarik told her. "If you work hard, you can be a classical musician."
The duo have betrayed those classical roots, but after meeting them, I understood why. In their suburban Lahore house, with its soft sofas and wooden furniture, we talked about indie rock and the great qawwali singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Haniya, her spectacles glinting, brought her computer, set up the speakers, scrolled through her playlist, and soon we were listening to Suzanne Vega.
I am waiting at the counter
for the man to pour the coffee
And he fills it only halfway...
They grin, strumming their fingers to the lyrics of Tom's Diner, as I eat crisp samosas with ketchup. America, I thought, had marked them, and they had infused their classical training, the vocal tilt and strumming rhythms, to the singer-songwriter tradition so popular with undergraduates at American universites. This made sense, as they started playing together in college, influenced by Vega and Tracy Chapman.
And while Zeb and Haniya avoid politics, they are revolutionary in the singer-songwriter sense, simply because they exist. They live in Lahore, Pakistan's tree-lined cultural capital, and come from a modernising urban middle-class background that had few role models in music or the workplace. Fifteen years ago women from their class were housewives, teachers or professors. Any musical training was in the Jane Austen-style "accomplishments" column that women would tick off to snag suitable husbands. Singing as a profession was for harlots.
Zeb and Haniya, both aged 31, have broken this mould. They are ethnic Pathan singers in a context where Pathan culture is in a conservative freefall. Six years ago, the then ultra-religious government of Pakistan's majority Pathan North West Frontier province banned music in public places, imprisoned musicians, and tacitly condoned bomb attacks on music and video shops - the shop in their ancestral town, Kohat, was blown up while they were visiting their grandmother's house.
"We heard a loud bang and the windows rattled," says Haniya, "A cook ran in and said, 'Don't worry, it's probably just another CD shop.'"
It was. "I didn't know whether to be more upset about the blast or the reaction to the blast," says Haniya.
Last year, the Pakistani army defeated the largely Pathan Taliban militia that had conquered Swat valley, the country's most popular tourist area. Today, war rages in Waziristan, in the tribal areas that straddle the Pakistan and Afghanistan border.
Their album is influenced by classical, Pathan, western and Arab music, and they pay particular debt to Fairuz, the Lebanese singer. One of the band's biggest hits, Paimana Bitte (Bring The Flask) adapts Fairuz's jazzy style to Pushtu and Darri folk. Zeb's voice, pitched and accented with the nuance and inflections of her classical Indian training, is accompanied by Haniya's heavier voice and her guitar. A changing group of musicians accompanies them, playing everything from the sarod (a deep-toned stringed instrument) to drums and trumpets.
Paimana Bitte was their flirtation with folk music. It has received enormous feedback from Pathans, who have asked them to sing other Pathan folk songs to keep tradition alive, but their impact extends across Pakistan, beyond the Pathan community.
All the other songs in their album are in Urdu, Pakistan's national language, and their lyrics appeal to city youth.
All this listening,
my patience, is exhausted
Enough
We have talked a lot,
now it is time for love
You should know what is in my heart
This longing, this sweet longing, what is it?
This refrain resonates with young, urban Pakistanis who find it difficult to date or even meet in public. However, the increasing use of mobile phones means that customs are changing. Many young people resort to the phone to get to know each other, relationships start with missed calls and late-night gossip, and sometimes these chats evolve into marriages after overcoming objections by the parents of either or both the bride and groom. These marriages are still disdainfully called "love marriages", but fewer people care. The tide favours the young.
And the children of the rapidly expanding middle class are looking for heroes and role models. The Taliban and conservative Pathan allies may repress musicians, but Pakistan's mainstream is hungry for music.
But let us return to our theme, to the momentous challenge of blazing a trail, to tell the story of ambition, drive and talent. How did a song composed on the spur of the moment in a moment of boredom lead to a music career in a conservative society? How do you become a musician in Pakistan?
"We made the song almost as a joke, and we expected our friends to laugh when we sang it to them," says Haniya. "But people loved it. I think it was a defining moment when we realised that we could actually come up with an original song that people would like."
Though the cousins continued practising and collaborating on songs after that winter, they put most of their energy into their studies. Zeb had studied economics and joined a business with her brother, who imported massage chairs from Singapore. Haniya graduated with a degree in computer science and relocated to London, earning a master's degree in anthropology in 2006.
She later returned to Pakistan where she accepted a job at the National College of Arts in Lahore, helping to develop new courses. To the delight of her parents, she obtained a visiting teaching position in May in the cultural studies department at the college. It was, for a society obsessed with the role of women, a perfect position - respectable, academic, and not too adventurous. She soon left.
Music remained a hobby. When not working, the cousins wrote music and practised their songs at a house owned by a guitarist for the Pakistani boy band, Coven. It was perfect, mainly because the house had a back-up generator that would kick in whenever the electricity was disrupted, a regular occurrence in Lahore. Five years ago, the duo re-recorded Chup, their original song. They distributed it over the internet just for friends, but before they knew it, the song was all over Pakistani radio, playing an endless loop. In light of the song's popularity, Mekaal Hasan, one of Pakistan's top producers, approached them.
"I thought that their material had great potential and after listening to their songs, I suggested they record them," says Mekaal, a long-haired guitarist who became a friend. "Otherwise they might have sat around making songs at home... why not make a record when people like your work?"
Getting their music out had its challenges. Recording an album in Pakistan can cost more than US$10,000 (Dh37,000), which is serious money in a country where the average annual income is under $1,000 (Dh3,700). "I know a lot of people - friends of ours - who can't break into the industry because they don't have money or contacts," Haniya says.
Luckily, she and Zeb had both. They borrowed money from Zeb's brother, and Mekaal owned a brand new recording studio. This reduced the bulk of their expenses. Most of the musicians who play on the album were friends who agreed to work for credit, working for free and then being paid after the duo signed a record deal.
After the launch in July 2008 came the realities of a life in pop. The cousins toured Pakistan for three months, playing as many concerts as possible. In a country with no copyright laws, concerts are revenue. Today, because of bomb threats, few outdoor concerts are organised, and musicians make money by touring abroad, visiting expatriate communities in the Middle East, Canada, the UK and the US, as well as playing at cultural centres in the US and university campuses across North America.
In Lahore, two years ago, a small bomb exploded at the Rafi Peer Puppet Festival, the largest puppet festival of its kind in the world, scaring away foreign artists. Last year terrorists struck at the Sri Lankan cricket team, killing police and injuring players.
Consequently, no concerts are held, except in heavily guarded private clubs for the elite, and the masses follow music on television, where a lot of money comes from corporate sponsorship.
In this environment there are many challenges: the violence, the openness, the television, the audience, the lack of female role models. Support for women in the industry is inadequate, and Zeb and Haniya are the role models. This, surprisingly, leads to independence.
One example is how they dress. Other stars in their position, including several women stars - most of whom were born of expatriate families - wear jeans and tops. Zeb and Haniya perform in traditional Pakistani attire, wearing loose-fitting shalwars and kurtas.
"The way they came on stage spoke volumes about their confidence," a reviewer for Instep magazine wrote of a concert. "Dressed simply in pants and plain kurtas? they looked dramatic on stage. Zeb and Haniya are not pop tarts, and they do not need designer wear to boost their profile. Theirs is a music that speaks for itself."
I read this and remembered a line:
All this listening,
my patience, is exhausted
Enough
A change is brewing. Ten years from now, I expect no female singer will be even obliquely referred to as a tart. And she will have a haunted basement, snow, and two creative souls to thank.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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%3Cp%3EAverage%20amount%20of%20biofuel%20produced%20at%20DIC%20factory%20every%20month%3A%20%3Cstrong%3EApproximately%20106%2C000%20litres%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAmount%20of%20biofuel%20produced%20from%201%20litre%20of%20used%20cooking%20oil%3A%20%3Cstrong%3E920ml%20(92%25)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETime%20required%20for%20one%20full%20cycle%20of%20production%20from%20used%20cooking%20oil%20to%20biofuel%3A%20%3Cstrong%3EOne%20day%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EEnergy%20requirements%20for%20one%20cycle%20of%20production%20from%201%2C000%20litres%20of%20used%20cooking%20oil%3A%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%96%AA%20Electricity%20-%201.1904%20units%3Cbr%3E%E2%96%AA%20Water-%2031%20litres%3Cbr%3E%E2%96%AA%20Diesel%20%E2%80%93%2026.275%20litres%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
'Of Love & War'
Lynsey Addario, Penguin Press
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Champion%20v%20Champion%20(PFL%20v%20Bellator)
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Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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ASSASSIN'S%20CREED%20MIRAGE
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
More from Mohammed Alardhi
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
More coverage from the Future Forum
Previous men's records
- 2:01:39: Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) on 16/9/19 in Berlin
- 2:02:57: Dennis Kimetto (KEN) on 28/09/2014 in Berlin
- 2:03:23: Wilson Kipsang (KEN) on 29/09/2013 in Berlin
- 2:03:38: Patrick Makau (KEN) on 25/09/2011 in Berlin
- 2:03:59: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 28/09/2008 in Berlin
- 2:04:26: Haile Gebreselassie (ETH) on 30/09/2007 in Berlin
- 2:04:55: Paul Tergat (KEN) on 28/09/2003 in Berlin
- 2:05:38: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 14/04/2002 in London
- 2:05:42: Khalid Khannouchi (USA) 24/10/1999 in Chicago
- 2:06:05: Ronaldo da Costa (BRA) 20/09/1998 in Berlin
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
The five pillars of Islam
THREE
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
