back from Pakistan (1000!)
piedpiper
1,279 Posts
chill out tune as background music 
I still have to check most of the stuff and a bunch of records is not yet here, but anyway. I did not find a single record store or even a whatever store selling records anywhere. There is simply no demand. Especially in the music shops people do not even understand what records actually are. Islamabad, for example, has at least 50 2nd hand book stores, but none of them has any 2nd hand music for sale.However, sometimes I simply found records or someone who knew about records by coincidence. In Peshawar it was a really strange dude, who was walking around in a costume and with a plastic sword all the time, telling me that he is actually a prince. He offered pretty much anything you can think of (drugs, women, arms) and when I asked for records, he had them. I also ended upat a collectro's house the same night. Dude collected had 78's and like 20 different grammophones. Shit was crazy. Unfortunately he did not want to sell anything, but I got a couple of records for free there.Another great event was looking for records in Lahore (centre of the Urdu film/music industry = Lollywood). Absolutely no luck anywhere, but when I asked at a weird 2nd hand hifi store, they just told me to sit and wait. I finally ended up in a shabby garage a couple of hours later and a five year old kid brought records down from the third floor all the time. This collection was almost pure (85% style!), including Bollywood from the late 60s onwards.I expected to find Bollywood as well, but I was still surprised, because it's (still) officially banned.Another good way to find records was to contact the former recoding shops, where they bought one original copy and then produced tapes. They use Cds nowadays, but many of them still have their LP collections somewhere. I met two dudes, who unfortunately wanted to sell their entire 5000+ collections only.little record porn excerpt
I bought another shalimar, because I found it in Lahore, the city of the Shalimar gardens (They have nothing to do with the film though.) It's the only regular India pressing. All the others are Pakistan pressings. Kismat (not a great record, but a hot cover) is a strange bootleg pressing. Hare Krishna and G9 are regular EMI Pakistan pressings, that I had never seen or heard of before ( as Pakistan pressings). The 7" is also Pakistan pressing with four tracks from Hare Krishna.The Dadageer is a typical Pakistan only Punjabi LP and the Jangli is a very nice Urdu record.teaser for the forthcoming mixUrdu dancefloor dynamite!Summer was quite hot, but I really enjoyed Lahore, Peshawar, Pindi and Islamabad. I was quite successful with the things I had to and wanted to do regarding my research. It was mango season as well and these Pakistani Mangoes are really good.However, the really real shitt is the North: unmatched in scenic beauty and trekking opportunities if you like mountains and friendly people. There are so many 7000m+ mountains, it's unbelievable.
more to come and thanks Soulstrut for the entertainment during all the termpaper/ thesis writing computer sessions.
I still have to check most of the stuff and a bunch of records is not yet here, but anyway. I did not find a single record store or even a whatever store selling records anywhere. There is simply no demand. Especially in the music shops people do not even understand what records actually are. Islamabad, for example, has at least 50 2nd hand book stores, but none of them has any 2nd hand music for sale.However, sometimes I simply found records or someone who knew about records by coincidence. In Peshawar it was a really strange dude, who was walking around in a costume and with a plastic sword all the time, telling me that he is actually a prince. He offered pretty much anything you can think of (drugs, women, arms) and when I asked for records, he had them. I also ended upat a collectro's house the same night. Dude collected had 78's and like 20 different grammophones. Shit was crazy. Unfortunately he did not want to sell anything, but I got a couple of records for free there.Another great event was looking for records in Lahore (centre of the Urdu film/music industry = Lollywood). Absolutely no luck anywhere, but when I asked at a weird 2nd hand hifi store, they just told me to sit and wait. I finally ended up in a shabby garage a couple of hours later and a five year old kid brought records down from the third floor all the time. This collection was almost pure (85% style!), including Bollywood from the late 60s onwards.I expected to find Bollywood as well, but I was still surprised, because it's (still) officially banned.Another good way to find records was to contact the former recoding shops, where they bought one original copy and then produced tapes. They use Cds nowadays, but many of them still have their LP collections somewhere. I met two dudes, who unfortunately wanted to sell their entire 5000+ collections only.little record porn excerpt I bought another shalimar, because I found it in Lahore, the city of the Shalimar gardens (They have nothing to do with the film though.) It's the only regular India pressing. All the others are Pakistan pressings. Kismat (not a great record, but a hot cover) is a strange bootleg pressing. Hare Krishna and G9 are regular EMI Pakistan pressings, that I had never seen or heard of before ( as Pakistan pressings). The 7" is also Pakistan pressing with four tracks from Hare Krishna.The Dadageer is a typical Pakistan only Punjabi LP and the Jangli is a very nice Urdu record.teaser for the forthcoming mixUrdu dancefloor dynamite!Summer was quite hot, but I really enjoyed Lahore, Peshawar, Pindi and Islamabad. I was quite successful with the things I had to and wanted to do regarding my research. It was mango season as well and these Pakistani Mangoes are really good.However, the really real shitt is the North: unmatched in scenic beauty and trekking opportunities if you like mountains and friendly people. There are so many 7000m+ mountains, it's unbelievable. more to come and thanks Soulstrut for the entertainment during all the termpaper/ thesis writing computer sessions.
Comments
Personally I'm staying far away from a place called islam-a-bad....
I don't understand why most Americans are scared to travel, it just makes no sense to me, there is a whole wide world out there folks go and tuck in!
Is this why you went? What was the thesis on?
yes. The Pakistan trip was a research stay as part of my Master's thesis for literature/library research and expert interviews.
I am doing international relations with a regional focus on South Asia (since I studied in India for six months two years ago). My current thesis is about the development of the India-Pakistan relationship since the end of the Cold War with a main focus on Pakistan. It basically deals with the many variables that changed the relationship (insurgency in Kashmir, Islamism, USA, China, economics, military...)
hook me up with that ish!
let me know in advance. we still have to hit up the
I am still waiting for the rest of the records to arrive and I hope they arrive safely. I`ll most likely have a few doubles for trades, if you are interested.
because the rest of the world hates us?
- yeah i have no problem with americans, it's their government that i ha*SMACK*
What's the chill out tune? I like that.
Gulnar, Kishwar Sultan & Others - Chhe De Khore Karam (Music: Rafiq Shinwari)
7" from the Aur Bal soundtrack on EMI/Columbia Pakistan 1973
It sounds so strange, because it's in Pushto, one of the main languages in Afghanistan and the NWFP and FATA provinces in Pakistan (basically the Western border to Afghanistan, where Bin Laden and the terrorists stay).