"It felt like it was everywhere."
Zain Zohaib and Hamza Malik released a collaboration with DJ and producer Alan Walker and singer-songwriter James Arthur.
The release is a remix of their super hit song ‘Alfaaz’, infused with Walker’s signature EDM and Arthur’s vocals.
The original ‘Alfaaz’ has been a chart-topping sensation across the region.
It reached the top spots on Spotify’s daily music charts in Pakistan and India and even made the weekly top 50 chart.
The remake is titled ‘Alfaaz (Alan Walker Relight).’
Walker spoke about the song, his experience working in Pakistan and his first impressions of the country.
The DJ admitted that fusing Eastern sounds with EDM was not an easy undertaking.
“It was a difficult one because it’s a very different type of style of music versus what I usually do.”
He believed he had managed to mix the distinctly Eastern style of the song with his own.
Walker explained that the collaboration began with mutual interest from both sides and an idea.
“We heard the song a bit, here and there. It felt like it was everywhere.
“We were already travelling around Asia, and then we had the idea to remake or remix the song.
“And then suddenly my team just contacted me and were like, ‘Hey, do you want to travel to Pakistan?’, and I was like, ‘Sure, yeah, why not?’”
Walker said it took just a few weeks for the song to come together from the day he was approached to the final release.
“I think the last time I made a song this quick, and it’s come out as fast as we’re doing now, was when I was, like, 16 and making music for fun.”
Within less than a week, the first demo was ready for the team.
In a week and a half, James Arthur was locked in to provide vocals for the song.
Walker said: “When we were there, we were working very much in the closing stages.”=
That aligned with the deadline the team had to submit the song to Spotify.
“There have been so many little puzzle pieces that needed to come into place, but it’s been moving incredibly rapidly.”
Muhammad Ibrahim is co-founder of Giraffe Pakistan, along with Zulfiqar J Khan, known as Xulfi.
The studio created ‘Alfaaz’, and Ibrahim said both teams worked well because they were “on the same page about what they exactly wanted out of it”.
He said they had approached Walker’s team to ask if they were interested in the collaboration.
However, the initiative to have Walker in Pakistan came from his own team.
Walker said he had all of 24 hours for his trip to Lahore.
He was taken from the plane to the hotel and then straight to Old Lahore.
His first shoot took place at the historic Lahore Fort.
Walker said: “It was a blast, I loved working with all of the people, and everyone was super nice, welcoming me and also my crew with open arms.”
As is customary for Pakistanis, the hosts took him out to a big group lunch.
The Norwegian was treated to halwa poori, which he said he enjoyed.
Alan Walker seemed hopeful at the end of the project and spoke about the future of Pakistani music.
The DJ said he would not rule out working with Pakistani musicians again.
