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Pakistani Fishmonger's Youtube Video Goes Viral

RiazHaq

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Street vendors in Pakistan have used their signature songs to entice customers from as far back as I can remember. Recently, a Pakistani fishmonger has brought this old street singing tradition to East London's Queens Market in Upton Park, and his "One Pound Fish" song has become a YouTube sensation with nearly 5 million hits.

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The singer is Muhammad Shahid Nazir who left his village Pattoki in Pakistan to study business in London. He took a part-time job selling fish to support himself. Bored with the usual prose to sell fish, he resorted to poetry, made up a song and started singing "Come on ladies, come on ladies, one pound fish. Very, very good one pound fish, very very cheap one pound fish."

Shoppers liked the song and it was recorded and uploaded by someone on YouTube. The song soon went viral and Warner Music offered Nazir a record deal. Now the record is vying for the top of charts this Christmas season.

International media have begun to focus their attention on "One Pound Fish" in the same way as they have on "Gangnam Style" dance video by a Korean man. Here are some excerpts of the media coverage "One Pound Fish" is getting:

Washington Post Style Blog:

It’s true that there are some common threads between the oddball pop songs. Both have brought forth unlikely stars: Psy, a portly rapper older than your typical Korean pop star, and now Nazir, a fishmonger in London’s Queens Market. They’ve quickly garnered millions of YouTube views —1.5 million since Monday for “One Pound Fish,” and more than 900 million for “Gangnam Style.” They’ve brought international music genres — K-pop and Bollywood-tinged Hindi-pop — to American listeners. And they both have a catchy and similar refrain: Psy’s “Heeeeey Sexy Ladies!” and Nazir’s “Come on ladies, come on ladies! One pound fish!” (it’s slightly reminiscent of another novelty hit, a snippet of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”).

Agence France Press (AFP):


A slicker version with Nazir shimmying and strutting Bollywood-style in a natty suit went up on December 10, launching the race to top the Christmas charts in Britain. The original video has had a staggering 4.6 million hits, while the professionally produced one already has more than two million. Nazir has also gained nearly 28,000 followers on Twitter. Back at the family home in Pattoki, a small town 146 miles (234 kilometres) south of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, his delighted 67-year-old mother Kalsoom says she is praying and fasting for Nazir's success.

Global BC TV:


“Come on ladies, come on—one pound fish!”

That’s just a taste of the lyrics sung by a London market trader who first gained local fame with his song “One Pound Fish.” Since then, he’s filmed a major-label music video, reaffirming the power of the Internet to catapult regular citizens to stardom.

Muhammad Shahid Nazir, who moved to London from Pakistan with his wife and four children, used the song to hook customers in his job at a market stall.

Nazir first appeared on YouTube, singing and gesturing, in spring 2012, in a video that went on to earn more than 4 million views. He embraced the attention, and soon after auditioned for the UK music competition show, The X-Factor.

His song was covered by music producer Timbaland as well as English star Alesha Dixon, and the UK’s Evening Standard called him a rival to South Korean rapper Psy (of “Gangnam Style” fame).

Summary:

A range of videos from the extremely hateful to highly entertaining are a confirmation of the immense new power of the burgeoning social media-- the kind of power that can be used to bring people together or to pull them apart. With such power in the hands of individuals comes a great deal of responsibility to exercise it with extreme care.

Haq's Musings: Pakistan's "One Pound Fish" Man Gets Record Deal

Here's a video clip of "One Pound Fish" song:

 
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TO GO WITH Entertainment-Pakistan-Britain-music,FOCUS by Waqar Hussain This picture taken on December 14, 2012 shows Kalsoom Akhtar (2nd L), 67, and the Pakistani mother of singer Muhammad Shahid Nazir, and Kashifa (L) his wife, watching the vidio of Nazir at their residence in Pattoki, 234 kilometres south of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The mother of Internet sensation One Pound Fish Man is praying to Allah that her prodigal son makes Christmas No.1 so that his wife and children can join him for a new life in Britain. When Muhammad Shahid Nazir left his four children behind in Pakistan to study in London, he could never have imagined he would one day be cavorting in a Warner video with scantily-clad Western beauties, singing about fish.
 
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2_201212150345367445.jpg


TO GO WITH Entertainment-Pakistan-Britain-music,FOCUS by Waqar Hussain This picture taken on December 14, 2012 shows Kalsoom Akhtar (2nd L), 67, and the Pakistani mother of singer Muhammad Shahid Nazir, and Kashifa (L) his wife, watching the vidio of Nazir at their residence in Pattoki, 234 kilometres south of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The mother of Internet sensation One Pound Fish Man is praying to Allah that her prodigal son makes Christmas No.1 so that his wife and children can join him for a new life in Britain. When Muhammad Shahid Nazir left his four children behind in Pakistan to study in London, he could never have imagined he would one day be cavorting in a Warner video with scantily-clad Western beauties, singing about fish.
His wife is not looking happy :rofl:
 
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yeah i've seen this all over youtube and facebook it's pretty famous in the UK haha i had no idea he was from pakistan though thats cool :)
 
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One pound fish but one lac pound song..!! splendid man!!
 
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i didnt like song but happy for fame he is getting.
 
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It's so absurd that the entire Youtube site which carries a lot of online educational videos like the Khan Academy tutorials is being blocked for just one offending video. PTA is doing a great disservice to the people of Pakistan by its stupidity.

The revolutionary Khan Academy is a brainchild of Bangladeshi-American Salman Khan. Before the ban, it WAS growing in popularity among Pakistanis wishing to take advantage of "Free World Class Education" offered online via short 10-15 minute videos. The subjects range from math, physics, chemistry and biology to astronomy, history, economics, finance, engineering and medicine. Khan counts Microsoft founder Bill Gates among his fans and students. Gates has described Sal Khan as his favorite teacher, and Gates Foundation has provided funding to enable Khan Academy to grow.

Haq's Musings: Khan Academy Draws Pakistani Visitors
 
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