Hadiqa Kiani

Hadiqa Kiani (born 11 August 1972) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, guitarist, actress, and social worker. Along with Urdu and Punjabi, she has also sung songs in various local and international languages. She has won several national and international awards.

Hadiqa has also performed at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in the UK and The Kennedy Center in the USA.

Early life and career Kiani was born on 11 August 1972 to a Gakhar family in Rawalpindi as the youngest of three siblings. She has an older brother (Irfan Kiani) and a sister (Sasha). Her father died when she was three years old. Her mother, poet Khawar Kiani, was the principal of a government girls' school. Seeing her musical ability, Khawar enlisted Kiani in the Pakistan National Council of the Arts. She received early education in music from her teacher, Nargis Naheed.

While studying at Viqar-un-Nisa Noon Girls High School, Kiani represented Pakistan at international children festivals in Turkey, Jordan, Bulgaria, and Greece, winning various medals. Kiani was also a part of Sohail Rana's children's program Rang Barangi Dunya, a weekly musical on PTV.

As an eighth grader, Kiani moved from her birthplace Rawalpindi to Lahore, where she continued her classical training by Ustad Faiz Ahmed Khan and Wajid Ali Nashad. Kiani went on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Kinnaird College for Women University and a Masters in Psychology from the Government College University in Lahore.

In the early 1990s, Kiani hosted a children's TV music program called Angan Angan Taray. In the -year-long run, she had sung over one thousand songs for children while hosting the show alongside the music composer Amjad Bobby and then with music composer Khalil Ahmed. Owing to the number of songs Kiani sang during this program, she was presented with the title of "A+ artist" on behalf of PTV, joining the likes of Noor Jehan, Naheed Akhtar, and Mehnaz. Kiani also appeared as a VJ for a music charts program called Video Junction on NTM.

Albums 1995: Raaz The following year, Kiani released her debut album Raaz (Secret) in 1996. The album spawned a string of radio-friendly hits and received positive reviews. Some argue that the reason the album did well was because it was not common for female singers (from educated/non-musical backgrounds) to release albums in Pakistan. Also, she was the first female singer to release a pop album after the former pop singer Nazia Hassan gave up her musical career. Kiani's ability to sing in other dialects was also presented to the country through the hit folk song "Maane Di Mauj" featuring Kashmiri tunes.

Her increasing popularity was further highlighted in January 1997, when Kiani became the first Asian singer to perform at the British National Lottery Live on BBC One (a program with an estimated viewership 16.6 million at that time). Afterwards she worked on two more shows with Bally Sagoo for BBC and ITV before going on her first U.S. tour in 1997. Her U.S. tour covered 15 states and a few cities in Canada. The same year Kiani performed many other international events in the United Kingdom, Australia, and China. By the summer of 1997, Kiani was representing Pakistan as the only Pakistani singer to perform at "Celebration Hong Kong 97" at Happy Valley Race Course, an event to celebrate Hong Kong's freedom from the United Kingdom. Kiani performed alongside other International singers like Lisa Stansfield, Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock, All 4 One and The Brand New Heavies.

1998: Roshni In 1998, Kiani recorded the official theme song for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. The Pepsi-sponsored song was titled "Intehai Shauq", written by Kiani's mother, Khawar Kiani, and composed and produced by the famed Nizar Lalani. The song was filmed by Jami and Imran Baber.

Whilst recording "Intehai Shauq", Kiani released her second album, titled Roshni. The third single from the album was "Dupatta". The video was inspired by the sci-fi film The Matrix. Nadeem F. Paracha listed the song as number 15 in his article "The Twenty Best Pop Songs Ever". Paracha attributed the success of the song to its quasi-bhangra rhythm with "fat, funky techno beats" and Kiani's "dreamy-meets-husky vocals" which made the results "stunning".

Capitalizing on the success of "Dupatta", Kiani went on to release two other hits, "Roshni" and "Woh Kaun Hai". Her sixth single of the album, "Boohey Barian", became an even bigger hit for her than "Dupatta". To date, "Boohey Barian" is widely accepted as Kiani's best single, and it is noted as being a prominent Pakistani song. It was filmed in 1998 at the Haveli Barood Khana in Lahore. copies in Pakistan alone, certifying it as platinum. The album is listed in "The 20 Best Local Pop Albums Ever" for the country, positioned at No. 15. Kiani is just one of two female singers in the entire list.

Kiani's success led to her being signed by Unilever for celebrity endorsement of Lipton in 2001. In 2002, she was signed again by Unilever for Sunsilk Shampoo after the results of Unilever's national survey to find the "Most Popular Woman of Pakistan".

2002: Rung Kiani released her third album Rung in September 2002. She returned to promote the album in June 2003, almost 10 months after she'd released "Yaad Sajan" with a new single "Ranjhan" and several stage performances and tours around the country. She then released other singles off the album throughout 2003 and 2004. These included "Jogi Bun Kay Aa", "Mahi", and "Dholan". In "Jogi Bun Kay Aa", Kiani plays various women's roles, including a traditional Japanese, an Arab, and a tribal woman. The video showed that it is harmful to judge people of different faiths and castes and also bad to stereotype. It was the highest budgeted video of the year 2003. During this time, Kiani was in the midst of her first divorce, however Kiani's album sales continued to pick up through 2003 and 2004. In 2004, she received the Best Female Pop Singer Award by Indus Music, the first 24-hour music channel of Pakistan. Asim Raza won an award for best video for directing her critically acclaimed video Mahi.

Shortly after the release of Rung, Kiani was mentioned in "Pakistani Pop's 10 most Influential Acts Ever", in which she was ranked ninth. She is also one of just two female singers in the list, the other being Nazia Hassan. A UK-based Magazine declared Kiani the 22nd greatest music maker of South Asia out of a total of fifty artists, also mentioning how she raised the standard of music videos in the country.

Several years after the release of Rung, leading Indian Sufi singer "Harshdeep Kaur" covered Kiani's self composed "Jogi Bun Kay Aa" on a leading Indian television show.

2007: Rough Cut In 2007, Kiani released her fourth studio album, Rough Cut, a collaboration with Aamir Zaki. With the release of Rough Cut, Kiani became the first mainstream Pakistani artist to release an album completely in English.

Prior to the release of the album, Kiani and Zaki teamed up for an Urdu song, written by Zaki, titled "Iss Baar Milo." received a great response.

In April 2007, Kiani released the first official single for the album, titled "Living This Lie". The same week, Kiani was named "Hotstepper of the week" for The News by Jang Group. The article also stated that ultimately, "as long as Hadiqa is around, there is still hope for women in the patriarchal music world of Pakistan."

The album itself stayed Number One on the Vibes Charts of INSTEP Magazine for the entire year. By the end of 2009, Aasmaan was named the Best Album of 2009 according to sales volume, popularity and internet downloads.

Every single released from Aasmaan reached number one. "Sohnya" was number one AAG10 Charts for over a month and was titled the best Pop Song of 2009 according to The Nation. "Tuk Tuk" was number one on Prime TV Charts. "Az Chashme Saqi" went number one on PlayTv Charts and by the end of 2009, it was declared the third best music video of 2009. Kiani's rendering in the Pashto language was critically acclaimed. Some Pakhtoons even started to call her "Hadiqa Pathani", Kiani is credited with bringing back a trend in Pakistan of embracing Pashto culture, girls started to wear Pashto style dresses imitating Kiani's looks on the red carpet and more mainstream singers began singing in the local language. The song's widespread popularity was credited to the fact that it broke barriers in Pakistani music. Kiani being a Punjabi, singing a Pashto song and appealing to not only Pakistani Pashto audiences, but to audiences worldwide. Kiani's "Janan" has been covered by many international singers, most noticeably by the Chinese singer Hou Wei at the grand South Asia Expo in 2014. The Chinese cover was done as a tribute to Pakistani culture which elevated the Pashto community in Pakistan while, what many say, cementing the song as a national treasure

Kiani's distinct wardrobe during this album's era were noted by the press and led her to win "Most Stylish Singer" at the Hum Style Awards 2018. Her style led her to be the muse for high street brands such as Generation and Bonanza and couturiers like Ali Xeeshan.

2022: VASL In 2022, Kiani released her album titled VASL. The album reproduced songs from Kiani's first studio album titled Raaz. The album saw three singles, each receiving critical acclaim. The album received international recognition when global streaming giant Spotify acknowledged the album as a part of their Equal Platform, presenting Kiani with her own appearance on a Times Square billboard in New York City.

Playback singing and musical contributions In 2006, Kiani was featured on UK based producer Khiza's album "Loyal To The Game"'s lead single, "Mehr Ma". The song was an instant success in Pakistan, and was seen as a great return to pop music for Kiani after her ballads in Rung. In the video, Kiani was seen with different hairstyles and outfits. The reviews for the song were favorable, one source said that ""Mehr Ma", which starts off the album, is easily the best track on it. With Kiani showcasing her top-notch vocals and the music, which remains hip-hopish yet very desi, thanks to the usage of sitar, tabla makes it an excellent number." Kiani also performed the song at the 2006 Lux Style Awards.

Over the years, Kiani has provided vocals for a select list of TV Dramas such as the critically acclaimed 2011 Drama Zindagi Gulzar Hai's title track with Ali Zafar and the 2006 "Aas Pass" with Atif Aslam.

In May 2012, Kiani appeared on the 5th season of Rohail Hyatt's Coke Studio. Performing renditions of Bulleh Shah and Amir Khusro to positive reviews.

In 2016, Kiani lent her voice to the character of Meeran, portrayed by Urwa Hocane, on the Hum TV drama "Udaari." The title track of the drama was sung by Kiani, featuring Farhan Saeed and production by Sahir Ali Bagga. The title track topped the music charts while the drama was critically acclaimed and an instant hit for viewers. The drama was a first for Pakistani television, tackling the taboo issues of sexual abuse and women's rights in the conservative country. It was faced with a notice from PEMRA, for the portrayal of "unethical" scenes.

In 2018, Kiani joined the cast of 3 Bahadur: Rise of the Warriors for the title song. The animated film was produced and directed by Pakistan's first Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

In 2023, Kiani released a cover of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's classic qawwali "Jani Door Gaye". The track was widely praised for its emotional depth and Kiani's powerful vocals. Title Role