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Shehzad Roy
 The popstar and the Baloch
Mag4you.com gets to know Wasu Khan, the Baloch all set to make Pakistan sit up and think alongside pop music’s most politically aware star, Shehzad Roy. Their reality show Wasu Aur Mein hits the airwaves tonight.
Pakistan fell in love with the Baloch who went on and on about the history of Pakistan in rap in Shehzad Roy’s song ‘Apnay Ullu (Itnay Terhay Ab Tak Huay Na Seedhay)’. The song begins with Wasu Khan reciting, "Quaid e Azam aya, angrezon ko bhagaya, Pakistan banaya, tera maah chalaya, ziarat ke dauray pe aaya, maut ne usay bulaya, dunya aakhir faani, chhor gaya who jani, Karachi mein dafnaya, poora dunya aaya, phoolon ka chadar charhaya, phir noton mein photo aaya… Quaid e Azam ke baad jo bhi aata hai apna ullu seedha karta hai…" And then Shehzad Roy’s satirical bit starts, the caustic biting humour that are his most heartfelt songs and what he wants to do, even though sponsors are in short supply. ‘Laga Reh’ and ‘Qismat Apnay Haath Mein’ did not find sponsors., and they are mostly also shying away from Wasu Aur Mein – Shehzad Roy doing a reality show with that Baloch from that controversial song – it sets alarm bells ringing. If it were up to corporate sponsorship, we would be left with the most insipid programming and the most schmaltzy videos. Thankfully, there are people who put in the moolah, as media grows and Pakistan expands increasingly across the airwaves, it throws up gems like Wasu, who hails from a village in Balochistan and owes his success to YouTube.
It the classic case of a video going viral. Hashim Baloch, Geo’s correspondent in Dera Allah Yaar, the capital of Jafarabad, lives a stone’s throw (read a bus ride) away from Wasu’s village and had done a story on the local poet/oral historian for his channel. The angle to his story was to put the talent of an uneducated man out there; to send out the signal that the poorest of the poor who lack the basic amenities of life are thinking people, that they understand more than you think, that they know perfectly well what’s going down. Hashim Baloch also put an extended clip of Wasu rapping out Baloch style about Pakistan’s checkered history of the tango between democracy, Martial Law, and dictatorships on to YouTube; Wasu obviously struck a chord as word of mouth and posts on social media networks had resulted in well over 100,000 hits by the time Shehzad Roy saw it, courtesy his mother-in-law. He wanted to know more, got in touch with Geo and was put in touch with Hashim Baloch who guided him to Wasu.
There are many opinions on Shehzad Roy; a lot of people wonder as to what his agenda is. There are his controversial songs. Then there is his education initiative Zindagi Trust that carries on. He helps out in earthquakes, in police thanas, sticks his fingers everywhere. He also had the foresight to pick up on YouTube phenomenon like Wasu, trace him down to a village and decided to make a music video to bring the Baloch to the world (thanks to Ahsan Rahim who has directed pretty much all of Shehzad’s videos, and did not charge for ‘Apnay Ullu’).
One had heard some skepticism about Wasu, whether he was real or manufactured, but upon meeting him it all makes sense. I first met him in Dera Allah Yar in Balochistan where I was on a press meet, through Hashim Baloch. Wasu is a smiling, good natured, witty man blessed with extraordinary people skills. There’s no shyness or self-consciousness to him as is the norm with so many people in rural Pakistan; Wasu is cheerful and forthcoming, bursting into the recitation that made him famous as soon as he arrives, in dusty sandals and shalwar kameez, a traditional topi on his head. He has to walk a while to get to the road to catch a bus from his village of Sangri Pawar near a nadi called Pathweetar– there are no roads there and he walks for miles. He’s used to it, it’s part of his routine.
 Ask him if he is really uneducated and how could he have thought of all that and he says "Baji, hum qalmi nahin, qalbi shair hai (I am not a poet of the written word, I am a poet from the heart)." He goes on to explain that has ancestors have specialized in this kind of recitation and he does it to get extra money. In his full uploaded recitation on YouTube, he ends with:
It’s self explanatory, and an insight into the many loyalties of Wasu Khan, to his country, his performance, his district, his sardars, his job as a lowly worker with the Balochistan police. Wasu serves as a langri (someone who makes rotis) for for the force. He makes extra money with his knack for poetry at events in his village and those surrounding.
Till he met Shehzad Roy, Wasu did not have a mobile. Now he does, and no, he doesn’t save names. He hands the mobile over to you and asks you to make a symbol for yourself. Since he doesn’t know how to read and write, he remembers in pictures. However his complete lack of a formal education doesn’t stop him from putting things together in rhyme. Mention a scenario to him, women’s rights, the extreme provincialism in the country, anything, he just says, "dou (two) minute" hold his head in his hand, looks up, smiles and starts singing, putting a myriad observations and emotions together so succinctly its shocking and so delightful that everyone bursts out laughing including him; like any true blue performer Wasu enjoys getting a reaction out of people, his eyes twinkle brighter as he comes up with a witty barb. His is a masterful performance, on the spot poetry; perhaps it does come easier if you aren’t staring at a blank piece of paper and he has been doing this for years.
How he loved doing Wasu Aur Mein with Shehzad Roy. It was a lifechanging experience for Wasu. At the press meet in Dera Allah Yar he laughingly has a go at all the reporters and cameramen, saying they shoot with only one camera while for his show with Shehzad there were four and they were much bigger! Wasu Aur Mein is a travelogue and he loved going all over Pakistan, meeting all kinds of people, broadening his horizons of the world, adding more inspiration to the boundless resource he already has. A villager from Sangri, which you will not be able to find in a map, that is around 25 kilometers from Sui but has no gas (they use wood for fire), where there is a one room school for primary and secondary students, and even that is locked up, where the electricity goes for five to six hours everyday, where there is no functional hospital, but even so, there is a Wasu Khan.
It is this essence that Shehzad Roy hopes to capture with Wasu Aur Mein, which has been directed by Cyrus Viccaji, singer Zoe Viccaji’s brother. "What we tried to discover by travelling all over the country and meeting all kinds of people was the answer to question ‘Why is Wasu’s village the way it is?’ I went there and stayed with him you know, at his house. He was so hospitable, refused to let us get food and fed us proper Baloch sajji and fed everyone in the village too. Such few people go over there that when you do, they roll out the VIP treatment, " remembers Shehzad.
And what is it they need? According to Wasu, what they need is peace, prosperity, roads, electricity, a hospital, school, college – "Balochistan ke saath achha nahin hua hai (Balochistan hasn’t been dealt a fair hand)," he says. And looking at the situation that becomes increasingly explosive there, one can hardly disagree. And what’s amazing is that despite calls for separatism by angry Baloch leaders and people who have reached the end of their tether, Wasu remains fiercely patriotic. "If Pakistan hadn’t been made, Balochistan would have been eaten up by India," he says. "But now they should pay attention to the province. They should pay attention to the country, solve problems instead of creating them." ‘They’ obviously referring to the powers that be.
Shehzad feels that what the people of Balochistan need most of all is the hope that things can improve. "Hope is essential. Things are so bad over there that they cannot believe that life will get any better. That’s why its such a dangerous situation." The popstar and the Baloch
Mag4you.com gets to know Wasu Khan, the Baloch all set to make Pakistan sit up and think alongside pop music’s most politically aware star, Shehzad Roy. Their reality show Wasu Aur Mein hits the airwaves tonight.
Pakistan fell in love with the Baloch who went on and on about the history of Pakistan in rap in Shehzad Roy’s song ‘Apnay Ullu (Itnay Terhay Ab Tak Huay Na Seedhay)’. The song begins with Wasu Khan reciting, "Quaid e Azam aya, angrezon ko bhagaya, Pakistan banaya, tera maah chalaya, ziarat ke dauray pe aaya, maut ne usay bulaya, dunya aakhir faani, chhor gaya who jani, Karachi mein dafnaya, poora dunya aaya, phoolon ka chadar charhaya, phir noton mein photo aaya… Quaid e Azam ke baad jo bhi aata hai apna ullu seedha karta hai…" And then Shehzad Roy’s satirical bit starts, the caustic biting humour that are his most heartfelt songs and what he wants to do, even though sponsors are in short supply. ‘Laga Reh’ and ‘Qismat Apnay Haath Mein’ did not find sponsors., and they are mostly also shying away from Wasu Aur Mein – Shehzad Roy doing a reality show with that Baloch from that controversial song – it sets alarm bells ringing. If it were up to corporate sponsorship, we would be left with the most insipid programming and the most schmaltzy videos. Thankfully, there are people who put in the moolah, as media grows and Pakistan expands increasingly across the airwaves, it throws up gems like Wasu, who hails from a village in Balochistan and owes his success to YouTube.
 It the classic case of a video going viral. Hashim Baloch, Geo’s correspondent in Dera Allah Yaar, the capital of Jafarabad, lives a stone’s throw (read a bus ride) away from Wasu’s village and had done a story on the local poet/oral historian for his channel. The angle to his story was to put the talent of an uneducated man out there; to send out the signal that the poorest of the poor who lack the basic amenities of life are thinking people, that they understand more than you think, that they know perfectly well what’s going down. Hashim Baloch also put an extended clip of Wasu rapping out Baloch style about Pakistan’s checkered history of the tango between democracy, Martial Law, and dictatorships on to YouTube; Wasu obviously struck a chord as word of mouth and posts on social media networks had resulted in well over 100,000 hits by the time Shehzad Roy saw it, courtesy his mother-in-law. He wanted to know more, got in touch with Geo and was put in touch with Hashim Baloch who guided him to Wasu.
There are many opinions on Shehzad Roy; a lot of people wonder as to what his agenda is. There are his controversial songs. Then there is his education initiative Zindagi Trust that carries on. He helps out in earthquakes, in police thanas, sticks his fingers everywhere. He also had the foresight to pick up on YouTube phenomenon like Wasu, trace him down to a village and decided to make a music video to bring the Baloch to the world (thanks to Ahsan Rahim who has directed pretty much all of Shehzad’s videos, and did not charge for ‘Apnay Ullu’).
One had heard some skepticism about Wasu, whether he was real or manufactured, but upon meeting him it all makes sense. I first met him in Dera Allah Yar in Balochistan where I was on a press meet, through Hashim Baloch. Wasu is a smiling, good natured, witty man blessed with extraordinary people skills. There’s no shyness or self-consciousness to him as is the norm with so many people in rural Pakistan; Wasu is cheerful and forthcoming, bursting into the recitation that made him famous as soon as he arrives, in dusty sandals and shalwar kameez, a traditional topi on his head. He has to walk a while to get to the road to catch a bus from his village of Sangri Pawar near a nadi called Pathweetar– there are no roads there and he walks for miles. He’s used to it, it’s part of his routine.
Ask him if he is really uneducated and how could he have thought of all that and he says "Baji, hum qalmi nahin, qalbi shair hai (I am not a poet of the written word, I am a poet from the heart)." He goes on to explain that has ancestors have specialized in this kind of recitation and he does it to get extra money. In his full uploaded recitation on YouTube, he ends with:
It’s self explanatory, and an insight into the many loyalties of Wasu Khan, to his country, his performance, his district, his sardars, his job as a lowly worker with the Balochistan police. Wasu serves as a langri (someone who makes rotis) for for the force. He makes extra money with his knack for poetry at events in his village and those surrounding.
Till he met Shehzad Roy, Wasu did not have a mobile. Now he does, and no, he doesn’t save names. He hands the mobile over to you and asks you to make a symbol for yourself. Since he doesn’t know how to read and write, he remembers in pictures. However his complete lack of a formal education doesn’t stop him from putting things together in rhyme. Mention a scenario to him, women’s rights, the extreme provincialism in the country, anything, he just says, "dou (two) minute" hold his head in his hand, looks up, smiles and starts singing, putting a myriad observations and emotions together so succinctly its shocking and so delightful that everyone bursts out laughing including him; like any true blue performer Wasu enjoys getting a reaction out of people, his eyes twinkle brighter as he comes up with a witty barb. His is a masterful performance, on the spot poetry; perhaps it does come easier if you aren’t staring at a blank piece of paper and he has been doing this for years.
How he loved doing Wasu Aur Mein with Shehzad Roy. It was a lifechanging experience for Wasu. At the press meet in Dera Allah Yar he laughingly has a go at all the reporters and cameramen, saying they shoot with only one camera while for his show with Shehzad there were four and they were much bigger! Wasu Aur Mein is a travelogue and he loved going all over Pakistan, meeting all kinds of people, broadening his horizons of the world, adding more inspiration to the boundless resource he already has. A villager from Sangri, which you will not be able to find in a map, that is around 25 kilometers from Sui but has no gas (they use wood for fire), where there is a one room school for primary and secondary students, and even that is locked up, where the electricity goes for five to six hours everyday, where there is no functional hospital, but even so, there is a Wasu Khan.
It is this essence that Shehzad Roy hopes to capture with Wasu Aur Mein, which has been directed by Cyrus Viccaji, singer Zoe Viccaji’s brother. "What we tried to discover by travelling all over the country and meeting all kinds of people was the answer to question ‘Why is Wasu’s village the way it is?’ I went there and stayed with him you know, at his house. He was so hospitable, refused to let us get food and fed us proper Baloch sajji and fed everyone in the village too. Such few people go over there that when you do, they roll out the VIP treatment, " remembers Shehzad.
And what is it they need? According to Wasu, what they need is peace, prosperity, roads, electricity, a hospital, school, college – "Balochistan ke saath achha nahin hua hai (Balochistan hasn’t been dealt a fair hand)," he says. And looking at the situation that becomes increasingly explosive there, one can hardly disagree. And what’s amazing is that despite calls for separatism by angry Baloch leaders and people who have reached the end of their tether, Wasu remains fiercely patriotic. "If Pakistan hadn’t been made, Balochistan would have been eaten up by India," he says. "But now they should pay attention to the province. They should pay attention to the country, solve problems instead of creating them." ‘They’ obviously referring to the powers that be.
Shehzad feels that what the people of Balochistan need most of all is the hope that things can improve. "Hope is essential. Things are so bad over there that they cannot believe that life will get any better. That’s why its such a dangerous situation."
In Karachi, where Wasu has come to stay with Shehzad Roy till the release of his program, he is fascinated with video games and is trying to master Call of Duty. Shehzad laughs about him playing and trying to shoot the enemy, failing to do so and exclaiming, "Main kaisa aadmi houn keh Baloch ho kar is banday ko nahin maar sakta! (What sort of Baloch am I that I can’t kill this guy)."
Of course in real life, Wasu Khan is handy with guns and even klashnikovs. "Baloch houn baji, bandook chalana hum sab ko aata hai. (I’m a Baloch, we all know how to fire guns)."
Meanwhile Shehzad Roy is strictly against weapons. Even the guard outside his house doesn’t carry one but he found nothing new about the gun culture in Balochistan. "I’m from Karachi, every other person carries them here. They just make me feel really unsafe."
Wasu on the other hand has guns to feel safe. It’s the Baloch way. This juxtaposition - of two men from two backgrounds, two lifestyles, two provinces, yet one motherland - is what promises to make Wasu Aur Mein the most crackling travelogue yet.
My favourite teaser of the show has Wasu driving with Shehzad Roy on Karsaz and asking him about whose land this is and is told that it belongs to the Navy. They drive further and he asks the same question again. "This land also belongs to the Navy," says Shehzad. "In our province even sardars don’t have this much land… saeen, can you get my son a job with them?" asks Wasu. Shehzad bursts out laughing.
It’s these candid observations about Pakistan’s reality by a Baloch villager that will make the show. At a time when the Bacloch voice has been stifled, Wasu Aur Main could be exactly what the doctor ordered. Then maybe life will be better for Wasu, his two sons and his grandchildren. His wife died a long time ago, and he never married again because he didn’t want his kids to have a stepmother. Now, he wants Shehzad Roy to find him a wife. Shehzad tells him, he will do so easily now because this show will make him a star. And a star it will make of Wasu for sure – his song already has, but he will go back to his village Sangri and live the life he’s living. That’s what he knows, that’s what he loves and that’s where he wants to see a change, so his songs can become happier, along with his people.
In Karachi, where Wasu has come to stay with Shehzad Roy till the release of his program, he is fascinated with video games and is trying to master Call of Duty. Shehzad laughs about him playing and trying to shoot the enemy, failing to do so and exclaiming, "Main kaisa aadmi houn keh Baloch ho kar is banday ko nahin maar sakta! (What sort of Baloch am I that I can’t kill this guy)."
Of course in real life, Wasu Khan is handy with guns and even klashnikovs. "Baloch houn baji, bandook chalana hum sab ko aata hai. (I’m a Baloch, we all know how to fire guns)."
Meanwhile Shehzad Roy is strictly against weapons. Even the guard outside his house doesn’t carry one but he found nothing new about the gun culture in Balochistan. "I’m from Karachi, every other person carries them here. They just make me feel really unsafe."
Wasu on the other hand has guns to feel safe. It’s the Baloch way. This juxtaposition - of two men from two backgrounds, two lifestyles, two provinces, yet one motherland - is what promises to make Wasu Aur Mein the most crackling travelogue yet.
 My favourite teaser of the show has Wasu driving with Shehzad Roy on Karsaz and asking him about whose land this is and is told that it belongs to the Navy. They drive further and he asks the same question again. "This land also belongs to the Navy," says Shehzad. "In our province even sardars don’t have this much land… saeen, can you get my son a job with them?" asks Wasu. Shehzad bursts out laughing.
It’s these candid observations about Pakistan’s reality by a Baloch villager that will make the show. At a time when the Bacloch voice has been stifled, Wasu Aur Main could be exactly what the doctor ordered. Then maybe life will be better for Wasu, his two sons and his grandchildren. His wife died a long time ago, and he never married again because he didn’t want his kids to have a stepmother. Now, he wants Shehzad Roy to find him a wife. Shehzad tells him, he will do so easily now because this show will make him a star. And a star it will make of Wasu for sure – his song already has, but he will go back to his village Sangri and live the life he’s living. That’s what he knows, that’s what he loves and that’s where he wants to see a change, so his songs can become happier, along with his people.
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