Now that the Strings led Coke studio 2 is finally wrapping up, we can take a look at the gems that have been added to our musical history.
Za Sta Pashan Na Yam
This is the first song of the very last episode this season: Za Sta Pashan Na Yam (I am not like you) by Naseer Afridi and Shahab Qamar.
This song by Naseer and Shahab was their second consecutive hit after Za Pakhtoon Yam (I am Pakhtun) — their first video which was an anthem aimed at attacking stereotypes associated with their ethnicity, a theme they continued with their second release. Their music has always been clean, simple and easy to listen to and perhaps, despite being in a regional language, that is what makes it incredibly appealing.
For the first time you have three lead guitarists featured on one song — Faraz Anwar, Imran Akhund and Shahab Qamar.
Sutt Gana
Two songs that are meant to end this season on a ‘lighter’ note (and both in Punjabi) are Sajjad Ali’s Sutt Gana and Abrar-ul-Haq’s Pani ka bulbula.
Sutt Gana starts off very mellow and very slow. This opening is meant to mislead the listener into what to expect from the song. “The beginning of the song is very classical, very sober and that’s what the deceiving element is in this song,”later the song picked up its pace and moved to a ‘lighter’ sound. It ends the same way it started — the song slows down, all of the added elements that added to its ‘faster’ pace disappear and it becomes mellow again. It ends with a rather beautiful flute solo.
Pani ka Bulbula
Pani ka Bulbula is very typically early Abrar-ul-Haq. It showcases the musician’s skill in almost rapping in a very desi Punjabi style and his wit as a lyricist. While singing Abrar-ul-Haq switches to English with the line ‘Life is a bubble (read: babble) of water’
The song begins with an African percussive instrument that literally gives the sound of raindrops on different surfaces.
Another peculiar instrument played in the song was a flute-like vessel which, when blown into, makes a chirping sound.
Huns Dhuni
Ustad Raees Khan’s Huns Dhuni is melodiously beautiful. This maestro of maestros plays his sitar with his soul. There is no barrier, nobody, nothing holding him back — such is the intimacy with which he plays. He speaks through his music. And such is the beauty with which he plays that when the song ends, one simply isn’t ready for it.
Thus concludes the seventh episode of the seventh season of Coke Studio. Hopefully CS 8.0 is not far away now.
