Discostan - Mujra Special

"Mujra Hi Mujra", a playlist of modern mujra music curated by Pashtun-Punjabi filmmaker Saad Khan. Mujra emerged as an erotic dance performed for an audience in pre-colonial India. The women who perform mujra have constantly negotiated their space within institutionalized patriarchies  – be it that of the Mughals, the British, the state, or the middle and upper classes. Over the last two decades, a new form of commercial mujra has come out of the shadows and taken centre stage in Punjab, Pakistan. It has evolved into a hyper-sexualized form of dance to suit the demands of its new clientele – working class males. The lyrics of this new mujra music are laden with sexual innuendoes, and the women dancing on stage dominate the supposed sexual encounter being sung about. This is the music thumping in the dance halls of Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad.