In November 2017, I played session ukulele and bass guitar for Mehdi Maloof at two concerts at LUMS and Alhamra, Gaddafi Stadium. The audience knew every lyric and sang along without hesitation, carrying songs that had never belonged to the mainstream. It was hard not to admire that intimacy between artist and audience. But another thought stayed with me long after the final chord. Why has “indie” music in Pakistan historically found its most devoted audiences in elite universities, cafés and cultural spaces? The question is not meant to diminish those audiences. It is an invitation to examine the social world in which “indie” music, once synonymous with independent music, has come to flourish.

The confusion begins with language. We often use “indie” and “independent” as though they mean the same thing. They no longer do. Mehdi once told me at a jam session that “indie music is music that is authentic”. There is something compelling about that definition, but it belongs to an earlier moment. Today, “indie” has acquired a life of its own: a recognisable aesthetic as much as a way of making music. Bedroom pop, lo-fi production, catchy intro hooks in the first nine seconds, and curated visual identities have become signifiers of........

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