Rahim Shah (Urdu, Pashto: رحیم شاہ; born December 12, 1975 in Karachi) is a leading Pakistani pop singer. He started from Peshawar, NWFP, and is currently based in Karachi, Pakistan. He sings in Pashto, Urdu and Punjabi.[1] He is an ethnic Pathan'
Early years and personal life
Rahim Shah was born in Karachi where he was cultured and educated yet his ancestry origin is from Swat which has been the reason for the dearth of apparent Pashto vision in his life. Rahim Shah is multi-lingual in fluent Pashto, Urdu and Punjabi.[2] Swat is his ancestral home, he speaks his ethnic language Pashto fluently.
Rahim Shah's solo career began in the late 1990s with lots of hits to his credit from the onset, to mention the song 'GHUM' which broke popularity records. 'GHUM' isn't Rahim Shah's personal composition; it is an English folk song or tappa, sung by an anonymous singer. Haroon Bacha a well-known Pashtun singer also sang 'GHUM', but it was Rahim Shah who made the song a hit because he translated the ‘tappa’ into Urdu and gave the song his own arrangement. In short span of time Rahim Shah has shown his singing talent beyond belief. He sang 'GHUM' under the supervision of 'Salman Alvin' and recorded his album working extremely hard on making it different to others. The song turned out to be a huge hit and was highly appreciated by the people.Rahim don't have any problems in his life may be in feacture. Rahim Shah has been dancing over the recent plagiarism of his song by the Indian singer Altaf Raja who copied Rahim Shah's version of the song 'GHUM' and through that Altaf Raja gained popularity on satellite channels.
Music
His Pashto album 'PEERA' became an instant hit after its release. Another album called 'SABARO' had success with the tracks 'TAP TAP' and ‘PAYAL', in the same year he released another Pashto album titled 'MEDDA MEDDA'. After taking a short time of reflection he returned back to work bringing another hit with the song 'CHANNA'. He also worked on three videos that were ‘PRIYA’ and ‘RANG LAI MEHNDI’ directed by Sarwar whereas Suhail Javed directed his third video ‘TERE ISHQ NE’. Rahim Shah’s ultimate favourite song has to be ‘JHOOLA’ which he wrote and sang to his mother whom he dearly loves.
Rahim Shah once said the only difference he saw between his debut album and his current album is the ‘Music Arrangement’. Rahim Shah now feels he is ready to fulfil his initial desire of becoming a playback singer; it will place him on track according to his proven successes. Rahim Shah has stressed that there are very few people who produce professional music and look to making commercial music hoping for and instant hit with a song making this a very common practise. He believes that it is the listeners/s who dictate whether a melody is polpular or disliked. Even if a commercial song becomes a hit it is very short lived, it’s only the good melodies that survive time and continue to be liked for generations. In Urdu (main song sunata tha or main interested ho gaya or main gana gata tha or shoke hogaya songs ka)
His new ‘12 track’ album has taken a year to produce and will be released by the help of FIRE RECORDS (GEO TV). Rahim Shah has placed a real touch to his arrangements and used authentic music in the songs. The album contains music from three genres: film based music, folk music and pop music. Currently he has also been working on a video with professional focus on high budget videos with visual and marketing aids, which are an essential requirement within today’s music industry. Rahim Shah is known to have said, "There is no doubt that we (Pakistani’s) have got very good music but they (Indians) have a very good market.
Audience in India
Rahim Shah attracted the attention of an Indian audience with his song "Pehli Tu Kabhi Kabhi Gham tha", a tune which was sung in Pashto by renowned Pashto singer Haroon Bacha. This was later re-copied by Indian singer Altaf Raja. Rahim Shah still has somewhat of a fan base in India.
Interests
Rahim Shah's favourite singers are Salman Alvi, Nayyara Noor, Sonu Niigam and Asha. He has interest in welfare work but doesn't like to ask for donations. If GOD wills then Rahim Shah would carry out the welfare project with money from his own pocket. He said about his short hair, “it’s better a singer is remembered for his cheerful sweet sounding vocals than his long hair".
Discography
Albums
His albums are as follows:
- Ghum - debut (1999)
- Saba Ru (2001)
- Laila
- Peera
- Channa (2003)
- Pyar Nahin Milta (2004)
- Yarana (2005)
- Chercha (2007)
- Maa'ma Dey (September 2009)
Singles
- Bewafa
- Danga Datha
- Ghum
- Chhum Chhum
- Channa
- Jhula
- Payal
- Ghanam rangi
- Mama Dey (2009)