Hello from the east side

Lahore-based band performs live for first time

LAHORE:

At a recent concert in Karachi, guitarist-music producer Mekaal Hasan lamented the dying culture of live gigs and said, “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.” In retrospect, Mekaal’s words do hold weight but it seems things are beginning to change for the better, albeit at a slow pace.

Thursday night in Lahore saw folk blues band, East Side Story, play their first ever live show at a local restaurant. The show that was put together by music streaming platform Patari saw a large number of people turn up to cheer for the act.



The duo of guitarist and band front man Casim Mahmood and vocalist Tariq Yousaf Gujjar, or TG King as he is called, kicked off the show with some of their popular originals such as Darlin’ Blues, Daru di Botal, Mela, Qatil Akh and Widow Spider before playing cover versions of Don Williams’ Come Early Morning and Son House’s Walking Blues. The band was joined on stage by two session players, bassist Farhan Ali and drummer Bilawal Lahooti.



The band has a distinctly earthy sound which they call ‘Punjabi folk blues’; it’s not every day that one hears bluesy music mixed with English lyrics sung in a thick Punjabi accent. According to Mahmood, despite being around for a while they did not perform live because they never received a decent offer in the past. “Our songs have gone viral in India but locally we never really got a chance to play,” he said.

Their first and most popular song, Daru Di Botal, came out three years ago. The track was also added to the soundtrack of Yasir Jaswal’s Jalaibee. On the band’s fondness for hiatuses, Mahmood said, “We didn’t want to make something that was similar to that of others and we weren’t really desperate to get out there.” The band front man said they wanted to perfect their work first. He maintained East Side Story is not willing to compromise on quality and is determined towards maintaining its identity.



Perhaps this is the reason why they refrained from getting on the stage in the past. “A company approached us for a gig but they were expecting us to change our sound and make it louder hence we refused,” he said. However, things were different when Patari came along.

Also speaking on the occasion, platform co-founder Khalid Bajwa said, “People who hear them for the first time develop an instant liking and we wanted to start [the series of concerts] with something different.” He said the band’s uniqueness lies with the duo’s originality.

Stressing the need for more live shows, Bajwa said, “We’ve spoken to various artists ... the likes of Noori and Mekaal Hassan Band to bring live performances back.” Bajwa remains eager on taking the shows to Karachi, Islamabad and other cities too. Disclosing the line-up for their next gig, he hinted towards names like SomeWhatSuper, Shamoon Ismail, Ali Sethi, Abbas Ali Khan, Mai Dhai Band and Khumariyaan.

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Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th,  2016.

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