Beyond Disco

As a kid, Nabeel Pervaiz had no patience for his father’s favourite family activity: “mushairas,” or poetry symposiums. Nabeel’s father, Munir, would fill the family’s living room with people, food, music and poets performing Urdu poetry, while little Nabeel rolled his eyes. Nabeel, meanwhile, loved music: the louder and more obscure, the better. Then last year, a mystery began to unfold in the form of a long-forgotten ‘80s synth-pop album, Disco Se Aagay. This new wave-infused, disco-pop record was sung in Urdu! This is the story of a nearly forgotten album getting its overdue recognition, and a father and son finding common ground in its grooves. PLUS: Tej Swatch has always admired his father. His intelligence, his kindness, his work ethic... and his beard. When you're a Sikh man, your beard is seen as a sign of your faith. But while Tej's dad would leave for work every day with a beautifully coiffed beard, Tej just could not get his own beard to evolve beyond its "steel wool puffball" state. A story of coming to terms with the struggle of your beard, and the expectations that grow with it.