Atif Aslam

Atif Aslam is a Pakistani musician. He was born in Wazirabad, Gujranwala and educated in Lahore and Rawalpindi.



Aslam started his High School in PAF College Lahore, where he played cricket and became interested in music. He paired with a guitarist named Gohar Mumtaz, and the two performed for their college and at restaurants, later calling themselves JAL which means water.



Working together, the pair recorded the song AAADAT. It became popular on different musical websites in Pakistan. The song was also played on such Pakistani radio stations as FM100 and FM105. The music video for AADAT was shot one day in a warehouse in Karachi. Due to personal problems in the band, Atif Aslam left Jal and became solo.



Atif Aslam, after splitting from the band Jal, released a new solo album, Jal Pari which became a mega hit. The Songs Woh Lamhey, Dil Haarey and few others were a smash hit that were played on Pakistani Radios all around. Atif Aslams soulful voice crossed the Pakistani border and reached India when Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt called Atif Aslam to seek his consent to put Woh Lamhey as a song in the soundrack of his new motion picture, Zeher. After that, Atif Aslams music spread across to people and radio stations that play it all over the subcontinent now.



There was initially some controversy as some of the songs in Atif Aslams solo album were from the time when Atif did not leave the Jal band. This has brought up two saparate groups of people: One is who believes Atif Aslam stole the songs while the other group thinks that Atif did not steal any song and he had equal rights to sing the songs which were made with his involvement. One fact which is not much published is that Atif and Gohar (when they were together) openly said in an interview on a music web site that Aadat was made by the involvement of both Atif and Gohar, in terms of composition as well as lyrics. The group also said in that interview that they brought up the name Jal together.



Now that the band has split up, both the parties claim that the compositions along with the lyrics were owned by each of them, Gohar being more vocal in this claim.



But despite that, it was Atif Aslams magical voice that became the reason for fame of Jal. Atif has continued to grow as he has recently been successful in getting further deals from Bollywood. He recently sung a song for the movie Kalyug. The title of the song is Juda Hokey Bhi which is a slight variation of the ever famous Aadat song. Along with that, he has also got a deal from Hollywood movie titled Man Push Cart in which 3 of his songs are present.



Atif has won several awards for his performace both in India and Pakistan. Atif Aslam has already reached at a great place at this young age and he surely looks like he is going to provide more quality stuff to his listeners.



Atif is currently working on a new album entitled Hangami Halaat with his new band mates, Mahmood Rehman on guitars and Sameer Shami on bass. the long awaited second album is due for release in the summer of 2006, and is hoped to finally put an end to the jal-atif controversey.



The single Jal Pari was released on 20 July, 2004 all over the nation by Sound Master and IC records.