Make way for freestyle percussions
The recent rise of the Lahore-based band Char-payee, who bagged fourth position in the Red Bull Tum Tum Pa World Final, an international freestyle percussionists’ competition amongst universities, is seen as an interesting development in Pakistan’s music scene. The event saw Pakistan beat strong competitors, like India, which has a growing musical industry.
In Pakistan, most mainstream bands have remained hesitant about incorporating this genre of music, with Overload being the first rock band to experiment with it. Despite this, the relative history of percussions can be attributed to the dhol, which plays a unique role in Pakistan’s folk and Sufi music culture.
“It’s a revolution, I believe music should also evolve,” said Char-payee’s Raja Nabeel Banwa. “People are sick of using common instruments.”
“The concept of freestyle percussions is prevalent all over the world but new to Pakistan,” added Banwa, a student at Lahore School of Economics (LSE), who has been part of an underground band Doe Hazaar.
The annual drumming competition, which gives university students a chance to participate in a unique freestyle percussion-based contest, was first held at a local level with trials in major universities across Pakistan. These were followed by regional finals at the end of April, after which the band reached the national competition which was held during the first week of May. The winners at this level, Char-payee, received a fully sponsored trip to Brazil where they battled it out against some of the best teams in the world.
The Red Bull Tum Tum Pa competition required participant bands to perform and produce sounds using school-related utensils — pencils, pencil-holders, desktops, notebooks to name a few.
This meant the band, consisting of Ahmer Kichoo Raja from LSE, Usman Qureshi from Punjab University, and Talha Jamil from the Professional Academy of Commerce (PAC) as well as the other members, had to use creative and innovative instruments that could produce various sounds. For instance, Char-payee created a dhol using a wastebasket and customised their drum kit using different Redbull cans with varying levels of water and also a pencil box for the snare drum sound. They named this invention ‘Chaudary Arif Gondal’.
“We wanted to show that music can be created out of anything. We were adamant about using the dhol because it represented our culture,” said Banwa.
The format of the competition was such that it included an original and a cover composition. The band chose Overload’s “Cursed” and played another original composition. Therefore, after a commendable performance in Rio de Janeiro, the band is set to be signed by Redbull as ambassadors for the brand.
Conflicting opinions of the success of this genre
Nausherwan Billa, CEO of entertainment company Curtain Call, who is also closely associated with underground band Quadrum, insists the concept of using percussions is gaining momentum in the country. Since his company includes a talent management side, he is aware of what the people are experimenting with and the kind of talent that exists in the industry. Therefore, he remains optimistic of a possibility of changing trends.
“This is a new thing that has never been done before and its demand is different,” says Billa. “This sort of music is interactive. We have seen the Sufi movement locally so it really depends on how much the music is promoted.”
Billa added that there was already a local market for dhol-related percussions but freestyle percussions was something that would catch on with people locally.
Meanwhile, Char-Payee’s Jamil explains that it is unlikely that people will switch from the guitar anytime soon because they have now developed a taste for it. “Percussion is not necessarily a sweet sound and you have to make the music which means practice and coordination with your partners is essential,” says Jamil. “We, in Pakistan, still have very few drummers so it will take time for this kind of music to establish a foothold.”
Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the success of the band will translate into a greater shift in musical trends amongst local musicians.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2011.
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