May, 2010

Photography by Kashif Jamal Noori.

PRESS RELEASE

(Karachi, 14-16 May 2010) Diva Haute Couture by Sana Rashid and Aamyre Tarique showcased their Spring/Summer ’10 collections at the Alliance Francise, Clifton.

Stocking a diverse collection of eastern ensembles ranging from casual and formal wear to bridal couture, Diva Haute Couture combines tradition with fashion. Using exquisite embroidery, various printing and appliqué techniques on different textures like jamavar, pure chamois silk, cotton silk, voile, crochet and chiffons, Sana Rashid manifested sophistication with joie de vivre in her design ethos.

On the other hand, a more edgy and futuristic western collection was presented by Aamyre Tarique. Focusing on a classic color palette of black and white with a hint of fuchsia on embossed silk, the silhouettes were enhanced with metallic embroidery using leather appliqué. Sexy and swanky defines Aamyre Tarique’s debut collection.

ABOUT DIVA HAUTE COUTURE AND AAMYRE TARIQUE

Diva Haute Couture was started in 2008 by Sana Rashid. Heiress to the Al-Murtaza Machinery legacy, Sana was destined to join the fashion bandwagon. A textile design graduate from IVSAA, Sana Rashid did some freelance work for Yousuf Bashir Qureshi and EGO before heading the design department at Junaid Jamshed.

An AIFD graduate, Aamyre Tarique taught fashion illustration at the AIFD, TIP and KU and later worked with big names in the fashion industry like Lawrencepur, Rajby Industries, EGO. Currently, he manages his eponymous brand along with designing for EGO and Dawn News.

Sana Rashid and Aamyre Tarique got together to create the fabulous costumes for the musical Moulin Rouge that ran in theatres from 22^nd April – 9^th May. They plan to open their joint studio at Zamzama this month. After which they plan to take their collections to Mauritius and Dubai.

Rustam Fateh Ali Khan, popular singer from Pakistan is going to be launched very soon in India by Worldwide Records.

“Rustam” is the son and disciple of Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and regarded as one of the finest vocalists amongst the younger generation. He has received National Acclaim for his renditions of Khayal and Thumri and represented Pakistan on Culture delegations to India, South Asia, Middle East, Far East and Europe. Rustam Fateh Ali Khan is the first Classical singer who started teaching an M.A Musicology Degree at Punjab University Lahore Pakistan.

Worldwide Records says “Rustam has a unique voice and a distinct style. His ability to evoke emotions and feelings with his songs will take him to the heights of success. He’s a legend in the making.”

Intro:

Random Inklings of Random Expressions of Random Oratory

By Halima Khan

Oratory is a great skill that most conversations we carry out daily lack. Speechifying is a hobby for most of us; however it lacks rhetoric, vocabulary and depth mostly. All that is all the talk now has is words flying in some random order, catch a word of the bantering and start buzzing your own ranting and raving. In all the rambling nowadays there is ‘pet’ vocabulary for everyone that is used to start off the sentence, in the middle of the sentence and to punctuate it as well of course.

This column is all about the slang that has become the language of today! Everyday language is not based on dictionary words any more. Words as we know them now are fast evolving in their spellings as well as usage. Consequently there are slangs that are more comprehensive now than theoretically the most comprehensive words themselves. Every individual is identified with the slang their verbal communication is sporadically ‘tainted’ with.

Week 1:

YAAR

‘Yaar’ is a word that is no where near exhausted. Our conversation might get exhausted of every possible subject but there will still be a ‘yaar’ escaping our mouth. Yaar lets go get ourselves something to eat yaar! Yaar I am not sure what to do about this or that yaar. Yaar could you not begin and end your sentence with a yaar, yaar. Yaar all I can hear is the continuous repetition of yaar, yaar. So please enough with the yaar already, YAAR! Unconsciously mostly we let yaar creep in our tête-à-tête so frequently that the yaar ends up taking a major load of the tone of the chat. There is the whining ‘yaaaaaaar’ there is the more heavily induced ‘Yawr’ there is the yaar that depicts exasperation. The ‘yaar’ is enough to help anyone read through the attitude and pitch of what the speaker is feeling.

There are times when monosyllables are more than enough to explain and to understand. I remember many such afternoons when I would crash down on benches in my college after a class or test and ‘Yaar.’ is all I had to say and that was enough for my friends to figure out what had just happened with me. Then lazy summer afternoons when my friend and I would be steeped down with the heat yaar was the whole chunk of ensuing conversation. Early mornings when getting out of bed was a nightmare and my alarm clock would persistently ring my mother gets greeted with yaar more often than a cheery morning.

Teachers and parents discourage slang as it is but yaar was one that was taken offence to like any curse word. Literally meaning a lover ‘Yaar’ was never looked upon as ‘respectable’ and was frowned upon. However I notice that reprimand has dwindled with time either they have accepted the term which is unlikely or they have just entirely given up on any possible decent improvement in language. Often it gets so bad that a formal speech or discourse gets plagued with an unconscious rush of ‘yaar’ which indefinitely reflects not too highly on the speaker’s communication skills.

With time this colloquial term has also evolved into something like ‘yaari’ ‘yaaro’, hence whatever mood speaker is in language is adaptable to all. Sometimes such flexibility in language especially when it is so recurring in daily chit chat can be rather annoying. But the truth is it is a word that you easily catch if someone around you is using it. Also even before you know it you might hate to hear it but your dialogue is not entirely clean of it.

Could you please try not marking your talk with so much of ‘yaar’, please yaar!

New York, NY, April 29, 2010 — It wasn’t long ago that Major League Baseball went to India to scout for talent. Well, they must have been impressed because the Philadelphia Phillies are bringing one of the world’s hottest neoDesi acts to their field. On Monday, May 3rd Raghav will headline Citizen Bank Park’s Asian-Pacific Celebration.

Raghav will take the field to perform his worldwide hit “Angel Eyes” as well as his new single, ‘So Much’ which will be released to radio and press on Monday.

The release of ‘So Much’ marks a totally new sound from Raghav, whose debut album, Storyteller, is iconic for the neoDesi audience. The track has been produced by Labrinth, who recently produced Tinie Tempah’s worldwide hit ‘Pass Out’. Fans can look forward to a massive summer banger and a fresh electro-pop vibe from Raghav.

As a die-hard sports fan himself, Raghav says, “It is really exciting to see how sports and music are coming together to celebrate culture. I am proud to represent our people at the Asian-Pacific Celebration and am honored that the committee thought of me to perform.”

This is the seventh year for Citizen Bank Park’s Asian-Pacific Celebration. The event, which is always sold out, is spear headed by Mayank Amin and Bollywood Dreams Entertainment.  Amin says that this year is the most exciting because of Raghav’s participation in the celebration.

In addition to Raghav’s performance, the event will include performances by AATMA Performing Arts and Philly’s very own Broadstreet Baadshaz dance troupes, live music by Akshar Dholis, and baseball themed henna tattoos. Fans will also have the opportunity to learn basic Bollywood dance at the stadium.

In the past, Raghav has played to sold-out crowds at prestigious venues in America, LA, Kenya, Pakistan, India, Australia, Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East. He has sold 1.3 million copies of Storyteller worldwide making it the sixth largest international selling album in India. Raghav has had four top ten records in The UK.