Abida Parveen, Ali Zafar and Jason Derulo to take HBL PSL 2018 to new heights tonight!

The HBL PSL 2018 Artist Press Conference, held last evening at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, generated a frenzy of excitement about everything and everyone coming together for the third edition of the tournament, which kick-starts with the match between defending champions, Peshawar Zalmis, and sixth new team, the Multan Sultans tonight.

As always, the opening ceremony promises to be a star-studded event. Here’s what we’re looking forward to most…

 

Abida Parveen in the stadium

 

This year’s PSL theme is Colours of Sufism and who could represent that better than Abida Parveen, who was so humble and approachable and yet so spiritually elevated to another level at the Artists Press Conference yesterday evening.

“PSL is making people happy in Pakistan and I believe that making people happy is also a part of spirituality,” she said, before giving the audience a preview of what they would witness at the opening.

 

Watch it here:

Now imagine Abida jee’s voice reverberating in the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, to a house-full (apparently it’s sold out) as well as to the millions of viewers worldwide, who will be watching the ceremony on television. A proud moment for Pakistan, no doubt.

 

Ali Zafar’s ‘flight’ of fancy

 

“Ali will fly in the air and his music will fly in the stadium and across the stadium into the world,” Chairman PCB Najam Sethi said, without giving too much away. We know that Ali Zafar will be performing but we just found out that his performance will be bigger and beyond anything that we could have imagined. He will fly around the stadium in some gravity-defying stunts.

We also know he’ll be releasing the official teaser for his film, Teefa in Trouble, tonight. This should be super-fun!

Sachal Studio’s National Anthem

 

 

This promises to be another goose-bump moment, if there ever was one, because the Sachal Orchestra will not only perform for an hour, but they will begin with an instrumental jazz rendition of the National Anthem.

Izzat Majeed, representing the orchestra at the press conference, said that colours of jazz exist in the colours of Pakistani music, as we would see tonight.

 

Jason Derulo in the house!

PSL now has a three-year tradition of introducing one international artist to the lineup at the opening ceremony and after Sean Paul (2016) and Shaggy (2017) this year that artist is Jason Derulo, who’s definitely a worldwide sensation. We don’t know what he’ll be performing since he hadn’t arrived by the time of the press con, but we do know that he will perform his hit songs and they’ll be enough to make everyone go wild.

 

Shahzad Roy, Bilal Ashraf, Hareem Farooq and the bevy of celebrities that are flying in today!

 

 

Shahzad Roy is one voice that has consistently been attached to PSL and the title sponsor, HBL and his is a voice that brings value and nationalism to the table.

“It is important for any society to have soul and cricket is part of our soul,” he said, adding that “we still see music as a taboo. We listen to it but don’t give the average musician the kind of respect he or she deserves. But people like Abida Parveen and Sachal Studio lend it the kind of respect and soul.”

Shahzad Roy, of course, will be performing at the ceremony tonight. And the event will be emceed by Hareem Farooq and Bilal Ashraf, who were excited to be part of the process/progress.

Here’s what Bilal had to say:

And beyond these names, stars and entertainers have started flying into Dubai. Ahsan Khan was recently spotted at Dubai airport and we’re expecting more celebs like Mahira Khan, Javed Sheikh, Faysal Qureshi, and Maya Ali, amongst others to come out to attend the ceremony.

Keep watching this space for more information!