Composer A-Zal Talks ‘Ms. Marvel’ Music and Finally Telling His Own Story

When New York-based, Mumbai-bred composer Atif Afzal linked up with Marvel after years of slogging it out in the music soundtrack space in the U.S., he was tasked with providing a lot of option tracks and working from temp scores, and at the end of it all, he still didn’t know which series (or movie) would feature his music.

He says over a call from New York, “They [Marvel’s team] depend a lot on you once they hire you. I had to work a lot and give a lot of options. They work in code words.” The first time around, the artist was asked to compose a track influenced by Moroccan music. “Adhaan Maghribi” eventually ended up in an episode of Loki last year. As it turns out, he was also tapped for another Marvel project, supplied with similar character outlines and then asked to send in options for background music.

It led to two songs, “Aye Khuda” and “Dheemi Dheemi,” appearing in Ms. Marvel, which concluded its first season last month. A-Zal says once the tracks were picked up, he had to revisit them and get them mixed and mastered again to suit the series. He says about the tracks he composed, “The protagonist [Kamala Khan, portrayed by actor Iman Vellani] is like a young girl. It’s establishing an innocent chemistry between Kamala and Kamran Bhat. They wanted a more profound track, which is more Sufi.”

It led to the artist enlisting his father and lyricist Aslam Afzal, who wrote Sufi-inspired words for the song, performed by a star-studded lineup of South Asian music. Sure, Ms. Marvel had its trailer and opening title to the first episode punctuated by the unshakable “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, but it went on to offer so much more. Everyone from Abida Parveen to Swet Shop Boys, Jai Wolf, Ritviz, Khanvict and Ali Sethi were among the musicians featured, making it a special moment for desi artists.

A-Zal was part of that, entirely on his own terms. While the sync deals for Ms. Marvel probably involved negotiations between Marvel and the likes of Coke Studio Pakistan and major labels, A-Zal was repping his own label, Atif Afzal Music. He says that a lot of labels wanted to represent him when he began producing music for the screen, but he didn’t play into their hands, retaining most of his catalog (A-Zal is represented by BMG in the U.S. and globally for some of his material) under Atif Afzal Music. That’s why the songs from the series still aren’t on streaming yet, since A-Zal is deciding where and how to put them out.

As someone who’s navigated composing for the screen since 2009, A-Zal has seen enough of the music industry’s oft-exploitative mechanisms to know he will always keep his ear to the ground and be an artist on his own terms. Whether that involves setting up his own label or even performing in New York subway stations, he knows what he wants. To that end, up next on the horizon is his own pop career.

He’s been working with acting coaches, trainers and more to take on a pop persona as A-Zal, recently releasing his own version of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect.” He says, “It’s the song that really lived with me like no other. It’s encouraged me to get out there for something which I had initially set out for.”

Scoring music for films and T.V. will continue, but this year is all about A-Zal wanting to tell his stories through his own songs. His debut full-length album 17 & 11 Nights is influenced by British and American pop across eras. The 10-track album will be released later this year. A-Zal says about the album, “It’s a blend of some high octane tracks and also some singer-songwriter tracks like Ed Sheeran’s.”

From acting lessons by veteran Hollywood journalist and actor Noel De Souza to dance and singing lessons, A-Zal says he’s pushing himself hard to “get out of that zone” of being typecast as a film music composer. “It’s this whole grind process again, which is so much fun. I’m absolutely thrilled to get this out,” he adds about his album.