Spinning pop, indie, acoustic to folklore, singer-songwriter discusses his musical evolution with Instep and what lies ahead.
Singer and songwriter Jimmy Khan has gone through quite an artistic evolution since 2012’s ‘Pehla Pyaar’. ‘Nikka Mota Bajra’, the first track from from his EP Tich Button, has just hit released and in essence is a continuation of his recent inclination towards Punjabi folklore. Mainstream audiences first heard ‘Balkaada’ from Coke Studio 11.
The pop, indie, acoustic to folklore, singer-songwriter discusses his musical evolution with Instep and what lies ahead.
“The evolution was quite a natural one,” Jimmy started. Growing up listening to western folk, then writing in Urdu and Punjabi and simultaneously exploring local poetry meant that his influences have been extensive. “I believe the folk scene has to be recreated by every generation and I think this is what I’m going to keep doing as a big chunk of my artistic endeavor. I am going to be exploring folk music from all around the country – not just Punjab.”
When the teaser and first video from Tich Button dropped, it became evident that Jimmy and the band had something unique planned out. While all the videos have been arranged and tracked by the band in Karachi at Saad Hayat’s studio and mixed in Lahore by Zain Ahsan, they’ve been shot at the same auditorium in Karachi in one take, in two days featuring the whole band in white clothes.
“We live in a visual world and audio is not consumed as much as video. The costumes didn’t change but we gave variation to each video by changing the colour palette of the background and shooting style. You’ll see that every song is identified with a colour through which we got the white of the clothes to pop.”
He added that the band is integral to a folk album and through the video, he also wanted to depict the live act, everyone’s energy and how they feed off one another.
“I wanted the band to be showcased because we are obsessed with the idea of the singer but a band is integral to the sound. In the music video you see how it’s entirely teamwork and the voices have not been modified, which can end up sounding robotic at times, to preserve the essence of what music really sounds like.”
In terms of performances and gigs, he feels Karachi is more receptive than Lahore. “The provincial policies are such that the scene is dying out from Lahore and we desperately need to retain it. I perform in both cities so I can see the distinction in opportunities, which we need to work on. We need to get the ticket culture going in Lahore because corporations have ruined that by giving people free entertainment. They think they should get a free pass. In Karachi people are still willing to pay because it’s a larger pool.” He hopes to get ministerial support and subsidies to utilize public spaces in Lahore for performances. “There are so many musical acts coming up and they need a space to come and perform. We’re only thinking about commerce and not about consuming the performing arts.”
The band will be releasing one song every week. “We’re excited to see how people receive us rolling them out like this.”
Jimmy’s also recorded a song for the upcoming film, Parey Hut Love and has a small character in the film as well. “All I can say is that film ki duniya mein mein aik dulha bun gaya,” he laughs. He was also recently in Jordan and played a show with Shahab Hussain where they recorded a documentary and shot a music video directed by Kohi Marri. In other exciting news, Jimmy has also signed up with Paanch – The Mixtape which will have five independent music acts come together to release music on a single album every year. The main players behind this are Wajiha Naqvi, Ahsan Bari, Babar Shaikh. The five acts include, so far, Chand Tara Orchestra, Natasha Baig, Sounds of Kolachi and Jimmy Khan.
2019’s going to be an exciting year for the artist.
–Photos by Kohi Marri
