Two thumbs up to the Coke people and Rohail Hayat for proving once again that we too have a history to up-keep... of Arts and Culture and all that wows the senses in ways unimaginable before... through the mist of bad politics and a failing economy, there's little that is left for us to scrape our pride off the rusted archives with... and what better way to show off what was once rich and pure about us than to bring it to our younger selves along with faces they know and relate to...
I know it gets tough to slice out each element through the explosion of stimuli that are orchestrated in each performance, and the best way is to probably sit back and let it all in... wait for the re-runs to experience a different texture or a flavor... But what I'm personally looking forward to is the new addition to the house band: Asad Ahmed. Now, Omran Shafique, though young, has not proved to be any less qualified (with his mild touches of swing and blues to the original compositions in the last season)... but it will be fun to see another twist on the respective performances from a Pure Rock guitarist's perspective.
Mannu and Gumby form this juggernaut of the rhythm section that shows how seasoned musicians could make every note matter with their own mastery of accents and off-notes. And since they are confident that the men up-front are capable of holding up to the storm, they get to be themselves for a change (Yeah!).
Also, can't wait to see Javed Bashir's renditions to this project, since he's probably the only ustaad who can stands on both sides of the line. With years of training in traditional music and an extensive portfolio of collaborations with mainstream, Indian and western folk artists; he may be most comfortable with fusion music, and that's where an artist truly thrives, where being great comes naturally... musicianship is not in question anymore... and artistry gets to explore newer dimensions.
Picture courtesy: Madiha Syed, Coke Studio, Gumby's official website
No comments:
Post a Comment