Anwar Maqsood is a part of Strings: Bilal Maqsood

Strings as we know today became what it is after going through a renaissance in its ranks roughly two decades ago. The second reincarnation of Strings saw Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia return as a duo following a long hiatus. With the album Duur, Strings went on to reach new heights becoming one of the most formidable pop acts to come out of South Asia as it delivered hit after hit.

There is no denying that the band’s newfound success owes a lot to the musical maturity Bilal and Faisal had attained during their sabbatical in the 90s. However to leave out, lyrical maestro Anwar Maqsood out of the equation, when reflecting on the band’s songwriting, would be an injustice.

As Bilal makes the most of his time in social distancing, writing new melodies for Strings, his father is penning the lyrics like always. In an Instagram post, Bilal showed a glimpse of a new Strings songs, Ye Piyar ka roug hai, the words to which came from Anwar. For Bilal, at this point, the working relationship with his father is more than just collaboration.

“The thing is I won’t call it a collaboration since he’s a part of strings now. We have grown with my father’s poetry. Starting from Durr; that was the first song he wrote for Strings. Before that, we wrote the two albums ourselves,” he said.

Adding on, Bilal reflected on how most of the band’s catalogue since then is penned by his father. “Durr, Dhani, Koi Anay Wala Hai and then Strings 30, along with many one-off tracks were written by my father. I also wrote. But mostly, my father has written the songs.”

That being said, the workflow between the father-son duo isn’t as simple as Bilal sending a melody to which Anwar writes in isolation. In fact, it is more back and forth with Bilal being very particular over the words relaying the essence of the composition.

Speaking about the process involved in writing the upcoming song Bilal recalled he had a very clear theme in mind when he came up with the melody. The theme of a relationship coming to an end. “So this happened three, four days ago. I was making a melody and came up with this tune. First I tried to think for the words myself. I had an idea that this song is about separation. This song is about two people going in different ways. A relationship has ended. This I knew. But I wasn’t able to come up with the right words,” he said.

Like always he turned to his father to help in this predicament. “I called up my father and he came over. He’s my next-door neighbour so it’s very easy for us. He comes over right there and then and it becomes a matter of, ‘Ok, tell me what you have in mind’. And then it all happens.

Adding on Bilal said, “I keep telling him what I have in mind. And he keeps giving me options. And then a line comes where we both get excited and instantly we know that this is the line we were looking for.” It is not yet known when the new song would be released.

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