Stepsils Stereo recreate Alamgir's 'Khayal Rakhna' and leave us colourblind

Bit too much really!

The onset of the month of Independence always brings with it the anticipated patriotic anthems by novice and seasoned musicians - and corporations, tapping the opportunity to exhibit their love for the country.

The latest corporate endeavour in the sphere of music is Strepsils Stereo, an A Capella featuring Ali Noor, Sara Haider, Zoe Viccaji, Rachel Viccaji and Ahsan Pervez Mehdi.

While the idea of A Capella is unique and new to Pakistan, the composition is a cover of our classic and tuneful patriotic song Khayal Rakhna by the legendary Benjamin Sisters and veteran Alamgir.

With music power houses like Ali Noor and fresh faces that have earned fame in recent years, the emblem of patriotic beats is somewhat decent to both the eyes and the ears.

However, we did feel nostalgic, courtesy to the rich lyrics of the classic song - and not to the ridiculously colourful recreation by Strepsils. 

The vocalists' freestyle moves to the reworked tunes just demonstrated an extremely forced effort - there was nothing natural about it. To add insult to injury, the supplementary spunk and quirk that was instilled into the video failed to create magic.

The only person that stood out was Ali Noor. He was natural, unforced and soulful. Makes us think why he wasn't given more focus! We undoubtedly needed more of him.

All in all, it was just another average listen. Sadly, all that was going on was a bit too much; think a beautiful canvas painting being slathered on with every possible hue available.  Too many cooks do spoil the broth!

Unlike Coke Studio's attempt at the national anthem, this cover managed not to ruin the song but did little to radiate any meaningful emotion.

Watch the video here:

Here is a throwback video of the original song:

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