The season opener, ‘Wohi Khuda Hai’ by Atif Aslam, will inevitably be compared to ‘Tajdar-e-Haram’ from season 8 (produced by Strings; a tribute to The Sabri Brothers).
After episode one featuring Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Zoe Viccaji-Shahab Hussain and Barkat Jamal Fakir Troupe, the second one is set to roll out this week.
The behind-the-scenes footage has been released with the songs coming tomorrow.
Among them is Abrar-ul-Haq performing his mammoth nineties hit, ‘Billo’ that jumpstarted his career. In a press statement, Abrar noted, “Music is spiritual. It comes from within a person. Sound can create such a strong impact; this is something you feel in music. You’ll hear something and get goosebumps. If you’re sad, a song can uplift your mood. In a way, it’s a cure. It has the power to induce nostalgic feelings and has a spiritual side to it that brings you closer to God ... There’s something extraordinary about music.”
Apart from Abrar-ul-Haq, the second episode will also feature Shuja Haider collaborating with Rachel Viccaji on a track called ‘Saaiyaan’ (paying an ode to old-school Lollywood) and Zeb Bangash performing a song called ‘Roshe’.
While Shuja Haider and Rachel Viccaji’s collaboration is a Punjabi ballad that is a tribute to the golden era of Lollywood, ‘Roshe’ by Zeb Bangash is described as a Kashmiri ode to loss. The song has an interesting history.
Noted the press statement: “The song first caught Zeb’s attention when she came across a video of Ali Saifuddin’s version of it on YouTube. For Zeb, this was the fortunate outcome of an exploration into Kashmiri music that had been sparked when she met a group of Kashmiri students in Delhi, who requested that she perform a song in their native tongue. So began the process, nearly four years ago, of working on the song with house band member Zain Ali, who presented it to Coke Studio this season. For Zeb, this has been an experience of trusting the destiny of a song – that it was meant to happen when the time was right, and when the world was ready for it. The song speaks of love and loss; its poetry was written by the Kashmiri poet Mahjoor, who lived in the early 1900s.”
Speaking about the song, Zeb noted, “I decided to pursue music professionally when I saw how it enables you to connect with people. It’s a beautiful feeling. You can move people; you can talk to them. You sing a song and someone connects to it and you don’t even know about it. That’s really lovely for me. That someone is having their own relationship with a song sung in my voice.” said Zeb Bangash.
Coke Studio’s version of ‘Roshe’ will be sung in a language new to Zeb, which will be very interesting to watch – given her past accomplishments on the music series, embarking on songs in various languages.
– Photography by Kohi Marri
