music
Music helps calm the body and mind by lowering stress hormones and promoting relaxation. Listening to or creating music allows people to manage emotions, express feelings safely and find a sense of peace. Making music together also builds connection and belonging, which protects against loneliness and emotional distress. It offers a safe outlet for expressing grief, trauma or stress when words fall short, making it especially valuable for young people.
This was the thought process behind Unplugged, the world’s only youth-led annual concert series established to raise awareness about youth mental health. It began as a small experiment in 2023, initiated by two 17-year-old students through the platform of Synapse and has now grown into a national platform that brings together academia, civil society and the creative arts in an attempt to reshape how Pakistan talks about mental health.
“Over sixty per cent of our population is under the age of thirty and a quarter of them are suffering from mental health distress,” said Dr Ayesha Mian, Founder and CEO of Synapse Pakistan Neuroscience Institute, an organisation working to improve the mental health landscape in the country.
Dr Mian stated that given the staggering scope and scale of these numbers and the fact that there are fewer than 10 child psychiatrists in the entire country; different approaches beyond standard ideas of treatment must be explored. One such different approach is using music, which can play a powerful role in supporting mental health.
The third edition of Unplugged was hosted recently at AKU’s Brain & Mind Institute (BMI) in collaboration with IBA Karachi and Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. Organised by Synapse and led onstage by musician and music therapist Asif Sinan, over 500 people attended the concert at the Aga Khan University campus.
The event was designed to be inclusive, providing wheelchair access and an expert Pakistan Sign Language interpreter, Mr Muhammad Osama of NOWPDP, onstage throughout the concert to cater to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Social impact organisations including The Citizens Foundation, Kiran Foundation, NOWPDP Parent’s Voice Association – Ujala Centre, Durbeen and Teach for Pakistan had collaborated and were represented on the night as well.
Faculty and students from IVS created a live interactive art installation. On stage the concert’s live band bridged generations through sound - blending soulful classics like Mujhse Pehle Si Mohabbat and Aitebaar with global anthems like Rolling in the Deep and Uptown Funk. Young singers, aged 14 to 26, performed alongside seasoned artists and showed the audience that music is s a universal language; it reaches the heart long before the mind can make sense of it.
Events like the Unplugged concert series provide more than entertainment; they create a sense of belonging and hope. They tell young people they are not alone and that their voice matters. For the students who filled the space with light that evening, Unplugged wasn’t about performance, it was about presence. In a country where silence around mental health still runs deep, their music served as a new kind of anthem: one of openness, hope and community.
- You! desk
