Coke Studio 12 kicks off with dark tones and deeper questions about music

By switching between genres and different opinions, promo tries to explain what music means to the artists involved

KARACHI: The official promo of Coke Studio Season 12 has been released, and it renders its listeners with the theme of this years enchanting music, and where it's coming from.

It begins slowly, grasping the minds of its listeners to intently worded descriptions of sound, the promo relays how music is spirituality, geography, history and most importantly, alive.


It introduces the line-up with verdicts from each artist who go on to describe what music is to them, and suddenly progresses to an upbeat frenetic cadence, that makes one want to shake and relate.



“It is 2019 and we find ourselves in a digital age that operates at a constant pulse. Human technological expanse is at the pinnacle of its evolution and as borders become permeable, the physical distances grows shorter. In this process, people see just how artistic expression not only links with its origins from the past but also evolves in new hues in the present day," said team Coke Studio, while explaining what the upcoming season will be all about.   

It is expected to showcase music that has travelled from the country’s northernmost borders, westwards Balochistan, mountains, frolicking fields of wheat and voices which have poured in to share the legacies of their heritage and stories.

In the soft vowels of Pashto, zesty flavours of Punjabi and earthy tones of Sindhi, the upcoming season will voice Sufi tales on divine love and ghazals that emanate nuances of the human condition and festive duets of romantic conversations between coy lovers and human emotions taking shape in words and melodies.



The season will also render folk music, along with the words of philosophers and saints that echo in the shrines of the country. It also promises classical renditions of songs from the hills of Kashmir and poems on the human soul.

It appears this year the studio has experimented with the new and old, bringing together the house band which has been part of its family since adolescence, along with young talent that brought with them a fresh understandings of sound and rhythms.



This year, veteran Babar Khanna, drummer Kami Paul, multi-percussionists Aziz Kazi, Hassan Mohiyuddin and Coke Studio’s first female house band member Veeru Shaan are the highlight of the season. While a young and talented musician from Gilgit Baltistan, Kashif Din, will also make his debut.

"The season wishes to offer voices from the courts of Delhi, to the music studios of early Iran. At its core, it promises space where humans continuing to share the journey of exploration,” concluded the team. The first episode will be released on October 11, 2019.