festival
Jostling crowds, mile-long lines, the constant struggle to pick out of the scrumptious snacks and amazing music… Food and music festivals are the ultimate winter events in Pakistan. The people swarm to the venue to see their favourite artists perform live while they also binge on some delicious variety of cuisine. Sadly, due to the coronavirus pandemic, gatherings are no longer safe indefinitely.
However, that didn’t stop the festival from happening at all. Recently, Pakistan’s first ever LIVE digital music festival, Coke Fest 2020, presented by Patari and Tapmad, attracted more than 2 million digital viewers with a global audience from over 40 countries experiencing young and new Pakistani music.
With the on-going pandemic, Zarlasht Faisal, CEO of Patari – a popular Pakistani online music streaming platform – and Yassir Pasha of Tapmad - Pakistan’s leading on-demand video streaming platform – brought the idea to Coca-Cola create a unique and disruptive virtual experience. In order to drive this, the teams engaged a first-of-its-kind digital eco-system; from live food deliveries by FoodPanda to live dissemination of merchandise by Bykea all the while bringing the best of the ideas together for a truly unique experience.
The festival was directed live by Amaan Ahmed, from Uncut Studios. Hosted by TV and RJ Dino Ali with a special digital watch-party featuring Anoushey Ashraf, the digital music festival showcased scintillating LIVE performances by Ali Noor, Shamoon Ismail, Natasha Baig, Abdullah Siddiqui, Young Stunners, rock band E-Sharp featuring Alicia Diaz, 9-year-old Pakistani rapper Kaky Thou$and featuring Asif Bali, Punjabi rapper Xploymer Dar featuring Hashim, Britain’s Got Talent’s superstar Sirine Jahangir and EDM outfit SomeWhatSuper.
These performances, set across multiple stages in the festival’s arena, were streamed live on Tapmad for the local and global audience. Moreover, music lovers who want to revisit the excitement or those who missed the live streams, the audio of all three days is exclusively available on Patari.pk and the Patari app. And, the video highlights of the festival are also available on tapmad.com/cokefest or the Tapmad app.
For many years, this festival has brought together Pakistan’s two biggest passions: music and food. However, redefining the real experience and taking it to the virtual space with the same oomph and zest was something which should be appreciated.
– A. Jafri