Music is my diary of thoughts: Bakhtawar

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Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, the elder daughter of slain former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari, is quietly documenting her pain in the world of music.
Even as her fiery cousin Fatima Bhutto is hogging the limelight for her arguably moving memoir on the Bhutto dynasty, Ms Bakhtawar has released nine songs, mostly in her mother’s memory, and one on the many dead members of the Bhutto family.
The musical talents of Ms Bakhtawar, 20, first got noticed when she released a song — I’ll take the pain away — on the Internet on her mother’s first death anniversary.
A student at Edinburgh University, Ms Bakhtawar wrote on her webpage: “It (music) is my diary and medium of releasing my thoughts. Something completely personal, if you like it — that’s good, if you can relate — that’s better.”
“It’s real words, through real roots and real emotion, I’m not getting paid and being forced to write subjects I don’t relate to, it’s my promise to you all listening. Music to me is not to impress anyone with latest trends or styles,” she wrote.
The fourth generation of Bhuttos is not on good terms because Ms Fatima blames Benazir and Mr Zardari for her father Murtaza Bhutto’s murder 14 years ago in Karachi.
However, both Ms Fatima and Ms Bakhtawar seem to be documenting their pain — one for her dead father by writing and the other for her mother by singing.
Ms Bakhtawar, who claims to be a self-taught singer and musician, is conscious of not exploiting her famous surname, just like her cousin Ms Fatima. She has had offers to release her tracks but has no intentions of signing a record contract with a major label.
“Nope. That was never my intention for producing tracks. I have been offered a few times — whether this was to do with talent or my surname — I’m not sure, but I have always declined because this music to me is like a conversation with a friend, informing, sharing — it’s not something I want to be selling — if that was my purpose then my music would take on a completely different path which is not where I want it to go!” Ms Bakhtawar wrote.
While Ms Fatima’s biggest inspiration was her father, Ms Bakhtwar was completely influenced by her mother. “My mom — she was the catalyst behind every track, even if it had no relation to her. I feel parents have the ability to drive every emotion out of their kids and during the period where music meant a lot to me, the inspiration came from my mum,” wrote Ms Bakhtawar, who is known as Itty in the family.
Ms Bakhtawar Bhutto, who has been living and breathing music since she was 11, says she does not conform to any music genre.