Jimmy Khan, Jamal Rehman rework ‘Baarish’

LAHORE: Collaborations are unexpected points of growth for artists, challenging the way their music is received by audiences. One such interesting collaboration to come out of Pakistan’s music scene is that between Jamal Rahman of True Brew Records, his band ‘Tonight, Us’ and Coke Studio sensation, Jimmy Khan.

At a brand launch earlier this year, ‘Tonight, Us’ and Khan came together to play a newer, more house-meets-lounge version of Khan’s standout number Baarish that was released in 2015. The track managed to rivet attention for its feel-good melody. Khan shared his excitement at Rahman’s reworking of the entire sonic experience.  “I was really excited because I didn’t make the arrangement. They had done it for me and it sounded great!” he told The Express Tribune. The duo had considered releasing the new version even before the event but the crowds’ response made them feel confident about hitting the studio immediately after.

The video for the song is an experiment on the band’s part. “The idea was to photograph movements of the band performing and show them in stop motion,” explained Khan. “I think the stop motion will add that edge and make all the difference in terms of performance videos.” Rahman added that he had already visualised the concept and set up the studio accordingly, but director Saad Khan suggested that it should be an amalgamation of 400 different stills strung into a choppy sequence and everyone decided to go ahead with it.



The final outcome is slightly different from the live version. “It has gone up in terms of production value and since we had more options to play with in a studio, we decided to add some new elements to it,” shared Rahman. The band is interested in experimenting with new things and taking up different challenges along the lines of a hybrid of acoustic and electronic music, which includes drums and bass guitar combined with synthesisers to make contemporary music.

At the event, Rahman also reworked other popular songs such as Sara Haider’s Dekha De Rang Apna Apna, Zoe Viccaji’s Janay Do and of course, Jimmy Khan’s Baarish. “We definitely want to collaborate with more singer-songwriters and make new music,” he explained.



Rahman and his band (featuring Sameer Ahmed of Co-Ven on bass, Ibrahim Akram of Red Blood Cat on drums and Rufus Shehzad on the keyboard) have been playing together on and off for two years but only recently named themselves ‘Tonight, Us.’ “Consolidating the band is our effort to get back into performing,” shared Rahman. Khan on the other hand, will be touring the US from March 26 to May 10 visiting San Francisco, LA, Houston, Chicago, New York and Washington DC. He is also working on an album slated to release early next year and Mehreen Jabbar’s upcoming romantic drama, Dobara Phir Se.