Pakistan’s music history has plenty of artists who can sing and create music in any language, including English. Names like Abdullah Siddiqui, co-VEN and Poor Rich Boy (English and Urdu) come to mind immediately, but let us also not forget the flagbearers of good English music which entered mainstream consciousness with their debut album, Sajid (Ghafoor) & Zeeshan – who have two subliminal synthpop albums as well as a bunch of comeback singles.

Then come other equally enjoyable music names like Takatak, Ali Suhail (English/Urdu), Mole (We’re Always Home). Within rap music, you can also find a smorgasbord of languages including English with Adil Omar as the master of complexity as a lyricist.

When it comes to the English language, it may be a minority circle but when it does dispense music, it can reach a dedicated audience as well as newer fans who might find a little bit of magic. English music, therefore, does have a market. Similarly, good cover songs, too, have a market. From Arooj Aftab’s cover of the late Amir Zaki’s ‘Mera Pyar’ to Kashmir’s cover of the same song during Pepsi Battle of the Bands (now defunct) to Mauj’s cover of Nazia and Zoheb Hassan’s ‘Pyar Ka Jadoo’ and ‘Dasht-e-Tanhai’ by Meesha Shafi, presented by various illustrious artists in the past, examples at home and abroad of good cover songs and their longevity has been established.

Just recently, Hamza Jafri of co-VEN, Braadri Broadcast and Mad School did a cover of Temple of the Dog’s ‘All Night Thing’. It’s a very ambitious effort, especially since Chris Cornell passed away in 2017 and fans are still mourning his untimely death.

Cornell was a master of covering songs. His last album (No One Sings Like You Anymore) is a full-length cover album where he has played every instrument and yet you end up feeling that he may have outdone some of the original creators of the songs - John Lennon to name just one.

Temple of the Dog – which featured Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder on certain songs – was the result of the untimely death of Andrew Wood and was a supergroup.

But beyond the project, Eddie helmed Pearl Jam and Chris Cornell helmed Soundgarden followed by Audioslave and went on to forge one of the strongest solo careers seen in music, exploring not just acoustic, rock and blues but even electronic back when it was not in vogue for everyone to do so.

So, covering Temple of the Dog was and will always be a daunting task.

But Hamza Jafri, up for taking on challenging tasks, has done it anyway in a beautiful upside-down manner.

In an exclusive conversation with Instep, he explained why he chose ‘All Night Thing’ over the more recognizable ‘Hunger Strike’ from Temple of the Dog. In his soft-spoken trademark manner, the co-VEN singer-songwriter and guitarist explained: “Recently, I’ve been reconnecting with the music I used to listen to including stuff that inspired me as a musician.”

During that period, the grunge scene was developing and coming out of Seattle from bands like Soundgarden to Nirvana. As Hamza recounted, co-VEN was developing when the grunge scene was at its peak. “I grew up listening to Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana.

“These bands had a great impact on me. Soundgarden was among my favorite bands, and they had a project called Temple of the Dog. The whole basis for that [one and only studio] album [from TOTD] is full of depth because the whole album is based on the death of Andrew Wood. He was a friend of Chris Cornell’s and members of Pearl Jam and he had passed away. He was a really talented artist and had a bright future ahead of him.”

“Every song was about him and his struggles on that album and I remember being into that album at the time.”

Fast forward to the present and a friend sent Hamza a video of Pearl Jam and Cornell doing some of the Temple of the Dog songs. While trying to go to sleep, one night ‘All Night Thing’ started playing ,“so loud in [Hamza’s] head”, that he decided to do a cover. He googled the chords and recorded it. There were different efforts that led to the final version now available on SoundCloud.

Instead of a clear imitation of the original, this version is somewhat mellow; a late-night acoustic version if you will. In doing so, Hamza Jafri has made this song ubiquitous, because grunge may or may not be your scene musically, but this powerful tribute and its presentation is one that deserves at least a listen and when you do, you will be hooked with or without any history with Temple of the Dog. Chris Cornell, somewhere in the heavens, with Andrew Wood, will be proud.