At Salt Soiree 27, presented by Salt Arts, the quartet from Peshawar and Islamabad play songs – both known and unknown – in a passionate performance that earn them a standing ovation.
Merely hours before the show, ‘Salt Soiree 27’ – an intimate night of music – was to begin, Khumariyaan’s lead guitarist/dhol player Sparlay Rawail and rhythm guitarist Aamir Shafiq were having food at Cotie Rotie at Alliance Francaise, the venue where they were playing.
Shiraz Khan, the percussionist, was sent to bring the band’s gear while Farhan Bogra was busy doing sound check with his rubab and Peshawari sehtar. When Shiraz arrived, the band went into another mode and started their full and final sound-check before stepping out from the space so it could be cleaned.
With two Coke Studio performances behind them this season, Khumariyaan should have some airs. But they don’t because they’ve been together for ten years, playing a unique blend of hyper folk-contemporary instrumental music that is fueled by fire onstage as their own personalities come into play.
“I love these small, intimate, messy shows,” said a member of Salt Arts as the show began somewhere post-dinner after 9 pm. In fact, as the show began, some people were still eating but as Khumariyaan started playing with authority, skill and beauty, that attention gravitated to them.
The band, featuring Sparlay Rawail, Farhan Bogra, Shiraz Khan and Aamir Shafiq, have no vocalist and they make it a point to stand onstage in a way that all of them can be seen and no one gets more attention than the other. But here things were different and yet the same. With no elevated platform, the band was close enough for one to see and felt almost reachable. Professionals by now, they know how to read the audience. And, as they played their blend of music, danced and interacted with the audience, it became apparent once again, at least to me, that 10 years later, Khumariyaan is not an emerging/underground/indie band but one that emerged a long time ago and is – at present - one of the country’s finest bands. At Salt Soiree 27, it was a learning to see that Khumariyaan can command attention from a listener – no matter what background they come from. Karachi can be generous or brutal, but here the generosity was all there was.
From playing known songs like ‘Zwangeer’, ‘Bela’, ‘Ya Qurban’ and ‘Rasha Mama’ to the unknowns, the energetic Khumariyaan had the audience and slowly people left their inhibitions aside. Some started dancing, others stood atop the couch and the band responded in kind, tweaking their songs as they went along in an effort to make sure it didn’t sound like a plastic set.
The aesthetic of Salt Arts came into play as well given the backdrop that had a screen of sorts which had electricity waves (?) going on and little design elements such as aluminum lights, draped in red, hanging as opposed to big, fat, ugly logos. It is the details and the specificity that matters at shows like these.
Sparlay asked the audience if anyone was Pushtun and elicited a huge laugh as a bunch of people pointed to a friend; Farhan did a Pakhtun dance before asking the audience did they know what it would look like if it was from Lahore and in jest broke into a pelvic thrust and had people laughing further.
During ‘Ya Qurban’, they invited Wajiha and Mehr – both of whom featured in Coke Studio this year as backing vocalists – who were both present and immediately told people that they would fall behind their voices. ‘Ya Qurban’ motivated a few more people to dance. They also made people clap, creating a rhythmic elation while giving Pushto beats – that is one of the cores of their musical identity – a chance to shine for people who may or may not have experience clapping to Pushto beats.
When it was the band’s turn to present ‘Rasha Mama’, they didn’t sing too well but it was far more endearing to see them hang on to their identity than rope in a vocalist and change the very heart of their music.
As the night went on, this intimate gig only had people more interested and it ultimately culminated in a standing ovation that went on for a long while. This Khumariyaan gig had sold out already so we knew that Karachi wanted to hear them but at this gig, Khumariyaan proved that no matter the audience, between their compositions, personalities and decade long experience, they can appeal to any kind of listener.
Salt Arts, who have moved past their 50th show and have more shows lined up for this year, deserve applause just the same for pulling this off. And as Khumariyaan and Salt Arts admitted, shows like these are not about massive profits but collaboration. It wasn’t a perfect gig, but one that had an appeal because of the intimacy it provided. The sound of progressive KPK came to life this Wednesday night and given everything happening in this country, it was more, much more than a gig; it was a beautiful merger of culture, of art, regional unity and the Southasian identity that we carry.
-Photo courtesy: Salt Arts
