Unless you’ve been living under a rock or worse, been off social networks these past couple of days, you’ve heard and seen the “An-jell” (Angel) the song that started to trend within hours of being released. This is the second offering from Taher Shah, described tongue-in-cheek as Pakistan’s most spectacular internet celebrity. The song features zero melodic merit, is actually off-key in parts and has spectacularly pedestrian lyrics but has caught the imagination of netizens everywhere. Here’s everything you wanted to know about An-jell and Taher Shah.
This is what Taher Shah looks like
Described by one commentator as a full grown version of the Oompa Loompa, Taher Shah has unleashed this new look featuring a tiara, a purple gown and significant chest hair upon the unsuspecting world… a slight departure from his earlier Eye to Eye look which was also very hirsuit but in a different way.
He sings like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkz0wv9Byrk
Statutory Warning – The above song may want to make you poke your eyes out, shove objects into your auditory canal, thus doing permanent injury to yourself; or it could render you incapable of trusting another human being again. Also keep in mind that you cannot un-watch what you have watched.
The average comment below the YouTube video is something like this: The feeling you get after pausing this video is something similar to the feeling you get after defusing a bomb and many felt the need for therapy after viewing the song too.
He writes lyrics like this
The disjointed drivel from Taher Shah gives hope to numerous struggling poets and lyricists that they too can achieve success with random, meaningless words strung together in no particular style and having no particular metre; passing them off as lyrics. And the average Twitterer feels this about him:
Twitter regular Twinkle Khanna was deeply moved
She clearly felt that Taher Shah’s video was impactful and very powerful:
Clearly Taher Shah is Pakistan’s response to the Love Charger
There is a strong perception that Taher Shah’s new video is response to another song by another messiah of love and peace; the rock star with a massive following in India.
Some in Pakistan were not amused and some felt a sense of doom
Taher Shah’s song was described as the most hated viral song by some in Pakistan; so bad that everyone was talking about it.
But some were beyond being able to make light of Taher Shah and felt a sense of real dread about the future of music in Pakistan.
Author – Reena Daruwalla
