{"id":182527,"date":"2025-10-01T12:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/182527\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T12:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:37:07","slug":"pakistans-taurees-habib-is-so-much-more-than-his-grammy-and-cannibal-cathedral-proves-it-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/182527\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan\u2019s Taurees Habib is so much more than his Grammy, and \u2018Cannibal Cathedral\u2019 proves it – Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Taurees Habib found out he\u2019d won a Grammy<\/a> earlier this year, he wasn\u2019t in a tuxedo, standing under the glittering lights of the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. He wasn\u2019t even watching the broadcast. Instead, he was in his kitchen, in his shorts, cooking a meal.<\/p>\n

A friend texted him congratulations. Dune: Part Two had won in the category of Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. That was how the first Pakistani sound engineer to ever win a Grammy, and only the second Pakistani after Arooj Aftab, discovered he\u2019d made history. \u201cI just wish I wasn\u2019t standing in my kitchen, in my shorts,\u201d he laughed, retelling the story. \u201cBut I guess that was my Grammy attire.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Habib, who has spent the last 13 years working alongside legendary composer Hans Zimmer on films such as Interstellar, Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049, The Lion King, No Time To Die, Top Gun: Maverick, and both Dune films, the award was long overdue. After seven prior nominations with Zimmer\u2019s team, the win felt almost surreal.<\/p>\n

What he learnt through the whole process was \u201cthere\u2019s no secret formula. The best musicians I\u2019ve worked with all do the same thing: try something, keep it if it works, throw it out if it doesn\u2019t. The only difference is they do that process relentlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while his Grammy has cemented his legacy as one of Hollywood\u2019s best-kept behind-the-scenes secrets, Habib is now ready to step out front, this time under his own name. His new single \u2018Cannibal Cathedral\u2019 marks the official start of his solo career, a moody, cinematic, upbeat track that feels equal parts metal roots and something distinctly his own. A press release for the song describes it as \u201cTrent Reznor and Alex Turner colliding inside a David Lynch fever dream\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t his first attempt at solo work. Almost a decade ago, he put out an EP under the moniker Bedlam Jackson, even playing shows. \u201cThat was me proving to myself that I could do it all \u2014 write, record, produce, perform,\u201d he said. But without marketing or support, it fizzled out. \u201cI outgrew it quickly. Back then, I thought making music was enough. Now, I\u2019ve got a team to help me actually get it heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Bedlam Jackson was proof of concept, \u2018Cannibal Cathedral\u2019 is a declaration. The song was born, fittingly, from another late-night kitchen moment in 2020, when a melody popped into his head while hunting for a snack. \u201cI sang it into my phone immediately. That line just stuck around in my brain for years until I finally wrote it out,\u201d he recalled. \u201cFor me, the song is about exploring your own darkness \u2014 it\u2019s like going into the basement. Some people never come back from that, some bring something with them, and some never open that door.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fascination with darkness has deep roots. As a teenager in Karachi, Habib cut his teeth in the city\u2019s underground metal scene \u2014 screaming through angst and shredding technical riffs. But he eventually grew restless. \u201cAt some point, I realised I didn\u2019t want to just play fast or loud,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted groove, mood, sexiness, something more expansive.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his most formative moments came in music school, when he found himself in a \u201cmetal ensemble\u201d with four other guitarists. \u201cThere should never be a band with four guitar players. And if it\u2019s a metal band, even worse. It was just static because everyone was distorted and loud. I realised I was so focused on playing these complex parts that I wasn\u2019t even listening anymore. That was the turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n

That expansiveness was shaped, oddly enough, by qawwali. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music, Habib returned to Karachi for eight months, studying intensively with Rauf Saami<\/a> of the legendary Saami Brothers. \u201cI hated the way my voice sounded in recordings. Training in qawwali gave me the technical control I\u2019d been missing. I don\u2019t think you\u2019d hear it directly in my songs now, but it completely changed the way I sing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a hybrid sound that sits somewhere between cinematic rock, industrial atmospherics, and an undercurrent of South Asian sensibility, not overt, but pulsing beneath the surface. It\u2019s music that refuses to fit neatly into categories, much like Habib himself.<\/p>\n

He is also wary of being reduced to the \u201cPakistani Grammy winner\u201d. \u201cI don\u2019t sit down thinking, I need to do this for Pakistan. I just try to be the best version of myself, and let that speak for itself,\u201d he explained. \u201cFor me, that\u2019s how I represent my culture, my community \u2014 by showing up professionally, consistently, and authentically.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hopes the visibility he\u2019s now getting opens doors for others. \u201cI hope it\u2019s not just, \u2018hey, look at Taurees\u2019 shiny new toy.\u2019 I hope it makes people curious about where else this kind of music is happening under our noses. There\u2019s so much incredible, eclectic music being made in Pakistan that people don\u2019t even know about. If someone finds \u2018Cannibal Cathedral\u2019 and then goes looking for Alien Panda Jury or other local acts, that\u2019s a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s next? More singles. He already has a few in the vault, written during a self-imposed isolation retreat in a mountain cabin during the Covid-19 pandemic. \u201cLast time, I thought: I made the art, now people will just find it. This time, I want to make it easy for them to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Habib\u2019s path has been anything but straightforward \u2014 from Karachi\u2019s sweaty underground gigs and Berkeley College of Music to eventual qawwali lessons and Grammy gold. But as \u2018Cannibal Cathedral\u2019 signals, he\u2019s finally stepping into the spotlight on his own terms, in his own kitchen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Taurees Habib found out he\u2019d won a Grammy earlier this year, he wasn\u2019t in a tuxedo, standing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-182527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}