KARACHI:
The wait for the much awaited season 7 of Coke Studio is over and now we finally know what will be happening inside the studio with ‘no strings attached’.
Strings have been too caught up with their jamming and pre-release preparations to share any information regarding their first major venture as producers; however, insiders have given The Express Tribune an insight on what we should be expecting. This time around, the show will not feature any international collaboration unlike last time and it will focus more on the utilisation of local talent and maestros. Apart from a set list of artistes, who will collaborate with the House Band, there will be a number of guest musicians, who will be featured in the season as collaborative musicians. The show will go on air on September 7 as per Coke Studio's Facebook page.
Here is the list of the new House Band members, guest musicians and some featuring artistes to look forward to:
House Band
Imran Akhoond (Guitars)
Known for his swift guitar playing in the music fraternity, Akhoond’s most noticeable onscreen appearance has been as Shehzad Roy’s guitarist in his videos. He has been a session musician for many artistes and has also played guitars in some of String’s music albums. Other than that, he doesn’t have as many accolades as the greats he has replaced.
Khalid Khan (Bass guitars)
Previously associated with Mizraab, founding member of Aaroh and a session player for Fuzon, Khalid Khan is one of the most well-known bass guitarists in Pakistan. He brings in a plethora of experience to this relatively young House Band and has an equally diverse skill set to combine it with.
Ahad Nayani (Drums)
Nayani is Pakistan’s next big thing as far as playing the drums is concerned. Never before has the industry seen a young drummer mature quickly with time since the making of Gumby. Nayani is also the drummer for Strings, so it will be interesting to see their chemistry in a bigger and a more selfless project.
Sara Haider (Backing vocals)
The Viccaji duo (Rachel Viccaji and Zoe Vicajji), which is highly criticised for its flat harmonies, will be broken up this time around, as the multitalented Sara Haider is replacing Zoe on the backing vocals. Sara has previously been featured in Uth records and her vocal talent can be seen in many different forms of live performances that she keeps herself busy with. The Rachel and Sara duo should be a pleasant change.
Jaffar Zaidi (Keyboard), Babar Khanna (Dhol) and Sikander Mufti (Percussions)
With season 7, Babar Ali Khanna becomes the most persistent member of the Coke Studio team, even more persistent than Rohail Hyatt himself. After all, he is the only member of the House Band who has been a part of all the seasons now. Jaffer Zaidi and Sikander Mufti have also retained their place in the studio and their combination may remind us of the signature Coke Studio sound, provided there isn’t a conscious effort made to stay away from it.
Artist line-up
Zoheb Hasan
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Usman Riaz
Abida Parveen
Jawad Ahmed
Asrar
Sajjad Ali
Abbas Ali Khan
Some of the guest musicians
Aamir Zaki
Shalum Xavier
Hamza Jaffri
Faraz Anwar
Mubashir Admani
Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2014.
Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.
COMMENTS (14)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Wonderful performance by new crew, amazing to see the change and impact of mostly unseen talent. well done
I can't wait to see what Strings will bring to the table. They have been true legends and I can only imagine how they will raise the bar even further and produce something phenomenal. Good Luck Strings!
The world's biggest international platform - TED Talks - gave Usman Riaz an international platform to showcase his work - yet in Pakistan he is not good enough to get a song on Coke Studio! It says it all about Rohail Hyatt! It was time for him to finally go!
And I am so happy that they have sacked Asad Ahmed! Did he ever play any chords in CS? He was a complete waste of space!
@Farooq Khan: There is something wrong with Rafay Mehmud, he gives publicity and then takes it away. WTH
It baffles me that they didn't pick Mekaal Hasan, the guy who produces the overwhelming majority of albums in Pakistan, to produce the show. I guess they just wanted to go for star power. What a disappointment. On the plus side, I'm so glad Usman Riaz finally got featured on this show!
Right now, you are giving publicity to Coke Studio 7, but once they release on TV, your liberal newspaper will be the first one to criticize as always
I guess Rohail won't be part of this season. And without him it would be a failure.
What about naseer & shahab. They were the only band in cs7 as far as i heard.
It is amazing that only one femal artist Abida Parveen among the 7 male singers. I hope they will try to balance it out with more female artists.
Good but lets create one or two exceptions and invite Runa Laila and some other artists from Bangladesh...
Looking forwarddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
I was speaking to a friend who works in Coke Studio to tell me the line up and he remained silent due to some confidentiality contract. lol. I am guess that either tribune paid Coke to get this information out or they had damn good 'sources'. Because now my friend has finally spoken up and every word in this article is true. I feel for my friend and coke . So much for all the hiding.lol lol lol
The line-up looks great! But cannot help wonder about season 7 of this project. That never came this year.
Good shakeup. This should've been done a couple of season ago. A lot of new faces in the house band but thats alright. Some big artists in that lineup. Looking forward to this coming season.