Meesha Shafi: Unapologetic, Unbowed, Uncut.
I suppose it’s only right to start off by asking you how you’re doing and how this crazy year has treated you. How have you survived 2020, the global pandemic and lockdowns?
I decided to just become really comfortable with the way things were and accept them. It helps that I meditate and do a lot of yoga. I feel that arms one to stay calm in the still, calm, deeper waters, as opposed to being tossed around by the storms and waves.
I noticed a change in my children’s energy as well. Something about escaping the daily grind, where we conform to the system and to the clock.
I think it’s been a time of great reflection. Highlighting the priorities or at least, what should be the priorities. As the economy came to a halt, I felt like we were all chasing less material goals. I started painting, writing, singing a lot more. Just creating art for the sake of art. Slowing down. Becoming more and more mindful. In many ways, it’s been quite similar to my normal lifestyle. Contrary to what people assume, I’m quite a homebody and I cherish my time alone, where I have space to contemplate, write and just be.
This has been a very strange year and people have been coping in any manner of ways. What has 2020 taught you about yourself? Are you good in times of a crisis?
I am very good in times of crisis to be honest. In my early childhood years, I had developed this habit of withdrawing emotionally and disengaging whenever there was turmoil around me. And it still kicks in when there are traumatizing things happening around me. It’s not the healthiest way to deal with turmoil and uncertainty, but it has served me well during some very dark times.
As far as keeping myself occupied, I have recently become a plant mama. So a lot of gardening has kept me at peace and nurturing and connecting with the nature around me has its therapeutic value. I highly recommend it.
Now that we’ve gotten 2020 out of the way, let’s talk about Meesha Shafi the artist; you were a featured artist on the song ‘Magenta Cyan’ by Abdullah Siddiqui recently and you’re credited as a director for the video as well. Tell us a little about that project, what is the song about and how did being in lockdown impact your creative process?
I am pleased to say that being in lockdown has been creatively very fruitful. It allowed for very honest work to be created and I think that will shine through when all of it comes out.
‘Magenta Cyan’ is a beautiful song, very full of pain and longing. I really dig that. I love music that supports the listener in painful times. I myself have been writing those sorts of compositions and lyrics over recent years. A little glimpse into that was ‘Mein’ and then ‘Leela’. I like searching for beauty in dark, lonely places. One finds the most stunningly raw emotions in that state.
When Abdullah shared this song with me, I really didn’t want to elbow my way into the song by force. I could’ve written a verse or two but decided instead to just bring in something that illustrated the pain of broken, toxic relationships without saying too much. After all, words can fail us when there’s a flood of emotion. Hence the dark, nocturnal alaap in the bridge of the song.
The video is testament to what I was saying earlier, I guess I do thrive under pressure. That’s when my out of the box ideas really flow. The fact that the world was in lockdown, and Abdullah and I had no mobility or budget was to me, an exciting challenge. I wanted to make something really special for the video. I wanted to show that a lot of fuss and gimmickry is not needed for great art to hold its own. We conceived and produced this video remotely, with our iPhones and two friends behind the camera. That’s it. And I love that it resonated so beautifully with the audience. It showed that honest, beautiful art always finds a way. No excuses needed.
In many ways, this video proves what this year has tried to teach us. That simple and sustainable is the future.
You’ve had a long and interesting career path, you’ve modelled, acted, made music but it seems that for the last few years you’ve been focusing more on music. Why is that?
This is true. To be honest, I am not inspired by too many of the scripts being written in Pakistan. 95% of the content revolves around regressive saas/bahu story lines, which I find very problematic. Things are changing, there have been a few good movies and now, with ‘Churails’ even TV seems to have been challenged to rethink its themes. I do work with a Hollywood agent and have auditioned for some exciting big productions. So keep your eyes peeled, that’s set to happen one day.
With music, it’s like second nature. It’s my absolute first love. It’s my medicine. And I find it to be my true calling and purpose. There’s so much room to play. I hop across genres a lot, and I love how versatile and exciting that exploration is. I can never tire of it.
It’s difficult to put you into a box or a category as an artist. You’ve done a wide variety of musical work ranging from the more traditional songs on Coke Studio to experimental work with Overload. How do you categorise yourself as a musician?
Haha... I’m a chameleon! A lot of people say this to me, and I guess they’re on to something. I like switching avatars and changing skin. Everything from the tone of my voice, to the language, genre and even the art direction, performance and wardrobe. It’s like being lots of different characters in one lifetime. A role playing of sorts.
I know the public perception around me is warped. It might have to do with this sort of frequent shapeshifting. The reason I feel the need to do this is because I’m very private and quiet as a person, but can’t don’t want to stifle or deny the performer in me. So this way of doing things has been almost like a tool to survive being in the public eye.
If you had complete creative and financial freedom to start on a project right now, what would it be? Would you make an album, a film or something else?
All of the above! I love this question, because I’m actually working on something really big. A big creative dream of mine. And I do have complete creative freedom, but it is a very collaborative undertaking. For the intention of this vision to be clear, it is very important that nobody interferes creatively in exchange for investment and/sponsorship.
There’s been a great deal happening in your life that is, in one sense unrelated to your work and in another sense entirely connected to it as well. How has that impacted you as an artist? Do these other things distract you from your art or do they fuel it? Have you used these other issues you’ve been facing as inspiration or do they drain you creatively?
My struggles over the last two and a half years have changed me forever. I will never be the same again. But that’s a good thing, even though it’s been a very painful and confusing time. Because of these experiences and ugly reality checks, I’ve become a lot more comfortable being vulnerable. More than I ever was before. And since I want to honour and acknowledge my vulnerabilities in order to heal, the work I’m writing and producing is greatly about all that I’ve been through. So you could say even though these trials and tribulations have broken me and left me quite lonely, they have also made way for a lot of raw material. I have started looking at all my broken pieces as ingredients. I now fully understand what the great minds of days gone by meant when they would say, turn your pain into art.
Not that that was any hope of mine. But I guess one must look for silver linings in dark times. And I do like doing that.
People change throughout their lives depending on their circumstances and experiences, do you feel you are fundamentally the same person as you were when you started working as an artist or have you evolved?
I am completely changed and probably ever changing. That’s a good thing I’m sure. I was very young when I started my professional life. 17 to be exact. And now when I think about it, that’s practically a child. I was feisty, reactive and more impulsive, and way more naive, that’s for sure!
I have since grown a lot. Gained a lot of experience, learned how to navigate contracts, meetings, presentations, how to read people and connect with them. I’ve become more patient, more grateful and contemplative. The more famous and successful I became, the more humility I felt.
Having become a mother to two beautiful children and becoming a parent in itself is a big teacher of life lessons. It has made me a lot more resilient and strong. It has softened me as well. I’m a real softie with the kids. They usually get their way with me. Something my husband points out frequently. Hehe. But I love that they have brought out my sensitive side even more.
The other thing that completely transformed me is my journey into yoga. Since becoming a yogi, my life has changed. I went deep into the philosophy of the ancient teachings and learnt that yoga is not about working out at all. It’s a lifestyle. And I like to live my life by the teachings of this philosophy as much as possible. It has brought great peace and contentment into my being.
I want to talk a little bit about your home and living space. Tell us a little bit about what makes a space home for you? Do you have a particular aesthetic or architectural style that appeals to you?
Home to me is a celebration of the people who live in it. Who makes memories in it. Every home has its own micro culture within its walls. I’m very passionate about both interior design and architecture and was very serious about pursuing both academically before I changed course and went for fine arts at the NCA.
I am obsessed with doing up my space. Totally obsessed. I love moving things around, adding things, collecting unique pieces from around the world. I am particularly interested in heritage crafts, artisanal furniture and lots of vintage pieces, I hunt for these all the time. Sometimes I sketch out my own designs and get certain things custom made. But that’s a lot easier in Lahore than it is in Toronto. Over here, I’m really enjoying the thriving vintage scene. Because of how multicultural this city is, migrants bring all sorts of things from all over the world and then later end up letting them go. There’s a lot of Asian textile, carpets, art and literature in our home. When we got married, my husband and I, both from families immersed in literature, the arts and the performing arts, inherited a lot of cultural treasures. And it’s been a joy to curate them and nest as our family settles into our new home.
I love restoring and collecting novel pieces. A lot of what you see around the house is very very old. And most things have lovely stories and a lot of history attached to them.
My style of decor is quite bohemian and indulgently colourful. I like the eclectic philosophy of putting all kinds of unpredictable things together to see how far it can go. And in my experience, the crazier it gets, the more gorgeous it looks.
Because this is a home with young children, I do prioritize that everything be functional and comfortable. So there’s hardly any space which is off limits for my kids.
I also really wanted the kids to be surrounded by nature. They are very outdoorsy and it’s so healthy for us as adults as well to be surrounded by greenery. The beautiful garden is one of the reasons we fell in love with this house. It’s nestled in a conservation area, surrounded by forests and rivers. And to our delight, attracts wildlife as well. It’s very therapeutic and has helped me a lot during this difficult time in my life.
On the flip side, is there anything in particular that you absolutely cannot stand to have in your home?
Bright lights! Hehe. The house has incredibly large cathedral windows and sunlight floods in through them which I love. But once the sun sets, I’m 100% a mood lighting kind of person.
On the subject of home, where is home for you? You divide your time between Lahore and Toronto, where do you truly feel at home?
Home for me is definitely Toronto. Home is where your children are rooted and that would be here in Canada. Lahore will always be close to my heart because it’s been my home city all my life. But I have to be honest, I do find it to socially toxic and often very superficial. I’ve grown rather fond of Karachi over the years and now when I am back in Pakistan, I prefer spending time in Karachi. It’s where my mother has lived for almost two decades and it’s also where all the work usually is. So I’ve made a lot of good friends and I do find the city to be more tolerant and progressive as well. Which is important to me.
And finally, what is next for Meesha Shafi? What do you hope to achieve in the next five years and do you see yourself still singing, performing for a long time to come?
Oh yes! I will be singing and performing tight up until I am physically able to do so. In fact, it might sound crazy, but I feel like I’m just getting started. I have a lot more to create and do. The next five years are focused on many more original bodies of work. I’ll continue to do covers because my fans ask for that a lot. But after the overwhelming response I got for my original songwriting, I am very excited to follow that direction and carry on reinventing and reinterpreting the Sufi philosophy in a modern day musical context. All that while embracing my multidisciplinary toolkit. So lots of theatrical elements, fine arts, poetry, song, costume, film and dance. Wish me luck!
- Tags: Meesha Shafi, musician