Girl power: Sugar, spice and everything nice

All-female troupe to roll out Urdu songs under Xulfi’s mentorship, after making waves with ‘Love Me Again’

KARACHI: While Nescafé Basement has given many new artists to Pakistan’s music industry, one group that has got people talking is the all-female one. After the troupe made waves with their cover of John Newman’s Love Me Again in Nescafé Basement season 4, they are now focusing on coming up with Urdu songs.

“Under Xulfi’s mentorship, we are planning to release some original songs in Urdu because that’s what flourishes in our market, and has a wider audience,” vocalist Kristin Kanaria told The Express Tribune. The band consists of Sania Shahzad on bass, Jannat Sohail on ukulele, Mishal Faheem on drums, Maham Riaz on piano, Maira Fatima on guitars, Arfa Chaudhary on sitar, Amal Nadeem on violin, Sumaira Waris on tabla, and Anna Salman on vocals.

Kanaria revealed the Nescafé Basement producer Xulfi encouraged them to release their first single, Love Me Again. “He told us he was driving alone and this song came on the radio and he did not know what song it was. After he looked it up and we all met, he really wanted us to do this song. He said he got a certain vibe from this song so we went ahead with it.” Kanaria and her band mates did not know what to expect from the song and just rolled with it.



Interestingly, none of the girls were familiar with each other before the show. While Kanaria is from Karachi, seven of the girls are from Lahore and two of them are from Islamabad. For this reason, it is difficult for all of them to come together at one place and time. “This is a major inconvenience because it slows down the process of whatever we are working on. We happen to meet rarely. If there’s a gig in Karachi, it is difficult for all members to join, but we try to get as many on board,” she added. “Most of us were students before we auditioned for the show.”

While it is not just the distance separating the girls, they are all from different age groups as well. When asked whether this affects group dynamics, Kanaria said, “It was awkward in the beginning because we did not know each other but we have bonded pretty well. We have developed quite a friendship and we come off as a unit. The age difference doesn’t affect the dynamics of the group at all.”

Kanaria shares that music is not all that they do. “Apart from music, we all pursue other interests. I have a full-time job at a PR company, Sania is pursuing media in London and Maira is a freelancer. I am interested in film-making too. So it’s like a bunch of people from creative industries coming together to make music.”

It’s been a year since the girls  joined forces to form the all-female band, which does not have a name yet. “Everyone asks us the same thing wherever we go. We want to come up with a name but it’s hard to decide. Everyone just calls us the ‘all-female band’. For now, we are going with it but the moment we come up with something brilliant, we are going to change it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2016.

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