KARACHI: Pakistani teenager Noorima Rehan said this week she feels honored at being chosen to represent her country at the King Charles coronation concert, scheduled to take place today, Saturday.
All eyes will be on London’s Westminster Abbey when a 360-year-old St. Edward’s Crown is placed atop King Charles’ head as he sits on a 14th-century throne and becomes the oldest British monarch in history.
The palace has promised powerful performances from “global music icons” and “contemporary stars” for the occasion. International pop sensation Katy Perry and Britain’s pop group Take That will be among the star-studded guests who are scheduled to perform at the ceremony.
Pakistan’s Rehan, 17, will also represent her country on the grand stage, though not physically.
Rehan hails from Hunza Valley in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan area, a neglected region of the country that has faced decades of disenfranchisement.
Currently a first-year student of Humanities at the Government Girls Model High Secondary School Gulmit in Hunza, Rehan shot to fame after a video of her crooning famed Indian singer Asha Bhosle’s iconic song ‘In Aankhon Ki Masti’ became a hit on the Internet.
Posted by her teacher on social media, the video went viral, helping Rehan get featured in local and international media. Since then, she has been making videos of songs and posting them on her social media accounts, which are managed by her cousins.
In March 2023, the King Charles’ Coronation Concert team reached out to Rehan via email after watching a documentary that featured her on BBC Hindi. She was invited to take part in the Commonwealth Virtual Choir for the king’s coronation concert.
“It’s an honor for me to be representing Pakistan at such a prestigious platform and I’ve tried my best to represent my country in a beautiful way,” Rehan told Arab News.
Rehan will be featured in a presentation that will bring together artists from Commonwealth nations, who will be singing a modern version of ‘Higher Love’ by Steve Winwood.
The virtual choir— a choir whose members do not physically meet but work together from separate places— will be joined by a world-class orchestra.
Rehan said she filmed her part of the song in Ghulkin Gojal area of Hunza Valley and sent both the audio and video to the coronation concert team. The singer was also asked to record her views on the song and the occasion, which would also be featured in a short film that will run before the performance.
“Their theme was to promote culture so they emphasized [I should] wear my cultural attire and make the video from the area I represent,” Rehan shared.
It was a bit tough for Rehan to record the song as it was in the English language but she practiced for it. The singer said it was also tough to memorize the song’s composition but her teachers helped her.
Rehan’s mother, meanwhile, helped her with the attire.
“I had my cultural dress of Gilgit Baltistan,” she said. “There is a jewelry piece on the cap called sirsila that took time to arrange but I managed,” Rehan added.
The singer said she had to shoot the video with the area’s picturesque mountains in the background, which was a bit difficult due to the weather that day.
“There are mountains everywhere [in Hunza] but the day I was recording, it rained so we could hardly see any,” she added.
While the choir will feature artists from many different countries, Rehan said organizers told her she is the first Pakistani to be featured in a virtual choir for the coronation.
Rehan says her family has always supported her in her endeavors, adding that she hopes to pursue singing as a profession in the future. She has been contacted by Coke Studio, arguably Pakistan’s most popular music project, and will audition for them soon in Lahore.
“We have always encouraged her to follow her dreams but this was too early. It was unexpected that she got national and international exposure at this age,” Rehan Shah, her father, told Arab News.
“Our first priority is her academics. Once she is mature and finishes her studies, we’ll let her pursue music if she wishes.”
Based on her own experience, Rehan has some advice for the younger generation when it comes to using social media.
“I come from a middle-class family. [To be here,] It took me a phone, Instagram, and a bit of hard work,” she said.
“Youngsters use social media. I’d advise them to use it to their benefit instead of wasting time and going for shortcuts.”
