Know her more: The much talented singer Wajiha Naqvi

Who is Wajiha Naqvi?

With an academic background in cultural anthropology, Wajiha has pursued exploring a cultural and historical understanding of music. Deeply involved in music from a young age, Wajiha spent her time at school and college singing at gigs and concerts, as well as studying music through its literature, poetry and history. Being one of the first recipients to secure the Falak Sufi Scholarship at NYU, Wajiha went on to do her Masters where she did her research on the anthropology of sacred music from Muslim countries.

Wajiha Naqvi Work Life

Since her return to Pakistan, Wajiha has worked in the social development sector and has been involved with many cultural projects and programs over the years. She has also been a visiting faculty teaching anthropology of music at Szabist University and the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture. She has also been under formal training in eastern classical music from Rauf Saami – the son of Ustad Naseeruddin Saami– and credits a lot of her deeper understanding of eastern music to her teacher.

She was featured as a backing vocalist on Coke Studio, Season 11 as part of the house band. This season she will not only perform her debut as a lead artist but is also one of the backing vocalists as well as part of the creative strategy team of Coke Studio 2020.

“I find music to be a great tool to explore important and meaningful life-lessons, which may not necessarily be straight-forward but that is exactly what makes life and music so compatible and interesting! At the same time, I hope to further refine my musical ability and understanding of sound, or the ‘sur’ as we call it in our eastern music tradition. ” – Wajiha Naqvi.