“Mahiya”: Jal is back

Will Goher Mumtaz and Shazi manage to maintain the band’s former glory?

The Pakistani pop/rock band, Jal has just released a new music video for their song “Mahiya” from the album Boondh, which was released four years ago, according to koolmuzone.com. The most interesting thing about Jal’s latest offering is the announcement of the release date of Jal’s third music album, which was smoothly incorporated in the video.

The video that seems like a montage of different scenes shot in different locations, is given narrative with the help of Post-it messages that explain the situation to the viewer. The band managed to inform the viewer about their upcoming album with a shot of a Post-it message — ‘Jal’s third album, March 2012’— at the end of the video. Piyaas, the name of their third album mentioned in the music video, will be released almost a decade after the band’s debut in 2002.

Till now, Jal has managed to release only two music albums namely Aadat (2004) and Boondh (2007) amidst controversies and break-ups. According to koolmuzone.com, this will be Jal’s first album after the departure of their lead vocalist, Farhan Saeed, who parted ways with the band to pursue a solo career and recently got recognition for his rendition of Nusrat Fateh Khan’s “Yeh Jo Halka Halka”. Saeed is also working on his own album with the talented young musician Saad Sultan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.