Classical folk singer Mai Dhai recently enchanted the audience with a gig in the city of Lahore. Held at the Olo Junction in Muslim Town, the show ran for over two hours, with Mai performing her hit numbers and other traditional pieces.
“We are engaged in arranging a multitude of cultural events and the concert was an attempt to raise awareness about traditional music,” said Kanwal Khoosat, director of Olomopolo Media, the event’s lavorer. According to a press release, this was Mai’s first full-fledged live concert in a city that is yet to fully recover from the spell of her textured voice.
Such has been the case with most new music aficionados ever since Mai’s video of performing Sarak Sarak went viral on social media. She came to the fore with Saif Samejo’s Lahooti Live Sessions, a venture dedicated to promoting Sufi and folk genres.
With Coke Studio Season 8, Mai was given the opportunity by producers Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia to reach out to audiences on an even bigger scale. She collaborated with singer Karam Abbas for Aankharli Pharookai and pop icon Atif Aslam for Kadi Ao Ni that have so far garnered a combined 2 million views on Facebook alone.
Mai recently featured in a song titled Moriya alongside Saif Samejo, who is also the frontman of The Sketches. In an earlier interview with The Express Tribune, Saif had shared how Mai’s latest musical offering is different from her work on Coke Studio. “We have tried to incorporate our style of music into hers, so that it retains its original Rajasthani lavor while also sounding like a dialogue between us,” he had said.