Sounds of Kolachi, Mekaal Hasan Band, Faraz Anwar play memorable gig in Karachi

KARACHI:

The skies of the city reverberated with the combined weight of electric guitars, sitar, sarangi and power vocals on Friday night as Sounds of Kolachi (SoK) teamed up with Mekaal Hasan Band (MHB) to bring back fusion music.

The live concert kicked off the Tabeer tour, jointly organised by the two bands to promote SoK’s debut album Elham. Held at the Karachi Arts Council’s open air amphitheatre, it turned out to be a historic moment in the history of Pakistani music as the effervescent Hasan and the mercurial Faraz Anwar played together on stage for the very first time.

Audiences started trickling in at around 8pm but by the time the concert kicked off, a substantial crowd had gathered. Sounds of Kolachi, whose debut album is being produced by Hasan, started off with the ballad Allah Hi Dayga. Band front man Ahsan Bari said that the song was born out of a personal experience. It showcased a range of sounds with sitar player Waqas Hussain and sarangi player Gul Mohammad on one end and the likes of Anwar and Bari on the other. The band’s backing vocalists Natasha Beyg, Quaid Ahmed, Ghazanfar Abbas, Nimra Rafiq and Hassan Ali Effendi also had their own moments. Songs such as Taranah and Lakh Jatan only went on to substantiate the point that SoK has truly turned out to be a world class act.



Unlike the other band members who have been playing together for a while, Agha Ibrahim ‘Iba’ Akram of the Islamabad-based band Red Blood Cat, had flown in to take charge of the drums and his playing turned out to be a highlight of the show. Iba seemed to be natural extension of the groups as he managed to keep up with the different playing styles of both SoK and MHB.

After SoK, MHB took to the stage. Their lead vocalist, Sharmistha Chatterjee had flown in from Mumbai for the tour and she was accompanied by band veterans Hasan and flute player Ahsan Papu and bassist Amir Azhar. Opening with the old favourite, Sanwal, off their first album Sampooran, MHB set the tone of their set list. Chatterjee offered a fresh and rather welcome dimension to the song. Hasan had invited Hussain and Mohammad to join them in the playing and that really enhanced the sound for the better. Hasan called this collaboration as part of a “musicarium” where multiple musicians from different backgrounds come together to create a sound spectacle.

They then played Ghoongat off their third album Andholan, followed by the unreleased Para Para and Chu Kulum. The show was closed with a rendition of the MHB classic, Ya Ali, that saw the entire SoK group and MHB join hands on stage. The song featured elaborated solos played by both Anwar and Hasan.  “It was great,” remarked Anwar after the concert, as he noted that the two have inexplicably never had a chance to perform together before.



“Despite the rosy picture presented on television, the music industry is in a pretty bad shape,” Mekaal said. He implored the audience to support the local music industry by purchasing albums and buying concert tickets. “This culture of free music which has been promoted by some drinks companies, needs to stop.”

He also took a dig at the much-hyped film industry, saying, “We are willing to purchase a Rs1,000 IMAX theatre ticket for a movie that has a bland plot but don’t do the same for music.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2016.

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