Punjab is the largest province of Pakistan in terms of population. That is why the Punjabi language and culture dominate the cultural portrait of the country. However, after independence, Pakistan needed things to unite the various ethnic and cultural groups into one nation. Therefore, the state promoted the use of Urdu to represent a shared national culture of Pakistan.
The Punjab people adapted Urdu and with the integration of Urdu and Punjabi, the culture of North Indian immigrants and the culture of the Punjab people, a very beautiful new cultural landscape was born. Apart from this cultural landscape is Pakistani music.
Today, Punjabi songs come in a variety of flavors. There are traditional Punjabi Bhangra songs, but there are also Pakistani Punjabi movie songs, Pakistani Punjabi pop, Pakistani Punjabi rock and Punjabi Sufi songs.
Similar experiments were carried out in India; however, Indian Punjabi songs are limited to Indian Punjabi speaking regions. Until or unless they are a part of some major Hindi film, they usually don’t get that much popularity nationally.
There are some basic characteristics of Punjabi songs that differentiate them from Indian Punjabi music and UK Punjabi rap and rock. Pakistani Punjabi songs are much more based on poetry than music. The poetic influence of the Urdu language can be easily seen and observed in Pakistani Punjabi songs. The traditional pattern of Urdu poetry is used to write the lyrics of the songs, but Punjabi cultural elements are also present and cannot be easily ignored.
Another feature of Pakistani Punjabi songs is that the singer’s voice is more prominent than the sound of musical instruments. Madam Noor Jahan, one of the foremost female singers in South Asia, was the first to introduce this trend where the flute melody and lead vocals dominate the music. Later, modern Pakistani Punjabi songs follow the traditional folk styles of Punjabi music and dhool has regained prominence once again, including in Punjabi Rock and Punjabi Pop songs.
Since the Punjabi culture is shared between India, Pakistan and now it can be said that the UK Punjabi community also shares the same cultural background. There is so much that these cultures share and borrow from each other, the music has no borders and does not understand the rivalry between India and Pakistan. It is shared and appreciated across the border and Punjabi songs are enjoyed all over the world by South Asian Punjabis and non-Punjabis.
