Jibran Raheel is the latest artist to hit the Pakistani music scene. Relatively new in the industry; the singer and songwriter has slowly and steadily built his fan base given his command of vocals and definitely knows how to sing a tune! I had the pleasure of hearing him at the previous Levi’s Live session in Lahore and his soulful voice did complete justice to the covers and originals that he sang that night. It was no surprise to hear that he has been dabbling in music since the age of ten and has been honing his talent ever since. Jibran Raheel has been participating and performing in music competitions across Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) giving him the opportunity to perform onstage and learn from his peers and competition. In 2012, he won the best singer award in UAE from the music maestro AR Rahman out of more than 400 singers and performed with him live at a concert. When asked about his performing with such a name, Raheel said, “There are very few lucky people in life that get a chance to perform on stage with their idol and I have been extremely lucky in this regard, I was fortunate enough to have performed live on stage with the maestro AR Rahman. He was on a ‘Rockstar’ movie tour in Dubai for a series of concerts. My friend registered me for that competition and I won that competition and performed live on stage with my idol Rahman. I still relive those moments on stage with him on stage.” Raheel’s has also had the opportunity of performing with world famous musical trio Shankar Ehsan Loy. He also received a trophy from Rajesh Roshan for the Andaz-e-Rafi competition. His latest music video will be hitting the airwaves in April titled “Mushkil”. His debut song “Jhoota Pyar” was released last year and this will be his second song. His love for music coupled with his ability to sing all types of genres is where his strength lies. His command over his voice speaks volumes of his talents which have been recognised on an international stage by the doyennes of music. Published in Daily Times, March 17th 2019.