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We can finally say that the winds of change have finally reached Pakistan as gone are the days of just Pakistani male rockstars dominating our TV screens. From the likes of Hadiqa Kiyani and Komal Rizvi to contemporary performers like Natasha Baig, there’s a whole new league of female pop-stars. And rejoining the squad of wondrous women is none other than Zoe Viccaji with her latest music video ‘Ishq Kinara’.

Originally a Turkish folk song, the Urdu rendition was first heard in 2013 when Coke Studio under Rohail Hyatt paired Viccaji with Turkish performer, Sumru Ağıryürüyen to create the rendition. However, that certain season came and passed without any pomp and ceremony and the song remained obscure to the public.

Now, with Viccaji’s official music video released for ‘Ishq Kinara’, it is making waves for all the right reasons.

Narrating the life of Viccaji as a stage performer, her ‘fanboy’ (also herself) and from the looks of it a middle-aged woman, (also Viccaji, but we’re confused here) the video is a unique approach to the song rather than going over-the-top with a theme engrossed in kitschy love. However for that, one has to give all the points to Meher Jaffri of Seedlings fame who made the video stand out.

With music from Ahsan Bari and Karim Barolia, the song manages to become the perfect mix between splashes of colour, an interesting narrative, and a very stylish Zoe Viccaji. Are we fans of Ishq Kinara? We’d have to say: forever!

Shahjehan Saleem

The author is Contributing Editor at Something Haute as well as a professor in the Media Sciences department at SZABIST, Karachi. Socio-cultural theories and geography fill up the rest of his time.