Khalid Khan wants you to fight inner demons with latest track 'Uth Ja'

Ace bassist's new song is about overcoming fears and inhibitions

KARACHI: Veteran musician Khalid Khan has been in and out of the limelight ever since Aaroh disbanded. Having dealt with cervical issues for a while, seeing Khalid on the live circuit had become a rarity way before the current pandemic took flight in Pakistan.

" I was playing live with Aaroh then Farooq left for the US. So it became nearly impossible to manage the band with each of us geographically apart," Khalid told The Express Tribune. " If I had a band and the opportunity is one of a kind then I’ll play live. Otherwise, there is little point for me to do live work with my cervical problem. I try to do mostly studio work now."

When it comes to recording music Khalid is keeping busy. Just recently the seasoned bass player released the track Uth Ja, in which he is also singing. According to Khalid, the song is about overcoming hardships and fears that are innate in nature.


"The song is about inner fears that are not apparent but tend to eat you up inside. Things that I have personally experienced. Be it in the form of mental health issues or something else, the theme is to rise above and face them," he said.

The chorus line uth ja, daarta hai kiya, iss dard kee kia hai wajah (Get up, why are you scared, what is the reason behind this fear) perhaps sums up the theme of addressing your inner demons. "This line came to me four months ago.  So I composed a melody around it and then my friends Owais and Faisal wrote one verse each."



According to Khalid, one can also relate this track to the current circumstances the world is facing. "The listener could relate the song to the current atmosphere. There is a sense of fear and panic everywhere you look," he said.

The video of the song shows a dystopian war-torn urban landscape. The protagonist is seen helplessly caught in a nightmare of sorts initially. But as the song progresses she is seen taking control of the environment around her one step at a time.

"As seen in the video we show the main character is being overburdened by problems and eventually is able to overcome them.  I and Shallum in the video portray a support system of sorts for her," he added.



The video is directed Maaz Maudood with the song being produced by Jaffer Zaidi from Kaavish. "When the song was being recorded Maaz was there. He told me that he wanted to direct the video for this.  I told Maaz what the song was about," Khalid recalled.

"The song was made before corona. Right before the lockdown, we shot the video which took us 3 hours.  It took Maaz three months to do post work on the video due to the 3D effects it incorporates."

The song may not be the best anthem for the testing times everyone is facing, the musician community in particular but it does manage to scratch the surface in relaying the message.



"I have spoken to a lot of musicians and all of them are worried. Most of them earn their bread through live music and very few do studio work so the corona outbreak has really messed things up for them," Khalid concluded.

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