‘Patli Gali’: Song of the streets

Rock band Azal on their new video ‘Patli Gali’.

KARACHI:

With a Pakistan flag fixed on its bonnet, a Surf moves into the frame. A man, wearing a black waistcoat and a moustache, steps out of the car and, to his shock, gets beaten up by a bunch of angry musicians. As absurd as it might seem, that is rock band Azal’s way of standing up against the existing system as depicted in their new video “Patli Gali”.

The song, however, hits a chord with the listeners due to its witty yet ironic lyrics which are sung in the typical Karachi street lingo, using words such as ‘chal be nikal’, ‘tapori’ and ‘kanpatti’, etc. The video takes one into the long known but ‘hush hush’ underground subculture of Karachi: places where gambling is rampant or where a bet over a snooker match can cost lives.

Who are they?

Azal entered the music scene in early 2008 with their debut single “Aisi Taisi”, a song that made a bold statement about the state of Pakistan and took rock music fans by storm.

“Unlike most musicians, who have only recently joined the bandwagon of anti-status quo songs, we’ve always sung against the system and ‘Patli Gali’ is an extension of what we did with ‘Aisi Taisi’”, Ehtesham Khan, the lyricist, vocalist and composer of the band tells The Express Tribune. Apart from Ehtesham, the band comprises of Rajab Ali Khan, also on the vocals, Shahbaz Ali, the producer and arranger of the songs and bass player Omer Khalil.

The band followed up the success of “Aisi Taisi” with a venture in Bollywood in 2009, where they did a remixed version of Singh is Kinng’s title track.

Back to the roots

To some, “Patli Gali” is an old concept (taken up by an army of musicians before) presented in a new manner; however, the popularity of the song on social media — above 10,000 hits on YouTube — is testimony to the fact that it has been well-received. What listeners appreciate are the catchy lyrics used for getting the message across. “Be it any part of the world, rock music has always appealed to the masses but in order to get the message across in the best possible way, it needs to be in the common man’s language,” says Ali.

Speaking about his unconventional approach towards lyrics, Khan explains, “We’ve grown up in places like Lalu Kheth, hung out in Baldia town and played cricket on the outskirts of Federal B Area — that is where you find the true spirit of the city and we hoped to capture that through the lyrics in the song.”

Meanwhile, the band members dismissed rumours that the song is inspired by the words used in Bollywood gangster films. “Every word used in ‘Patli Gali’ is from the spoken language used either in Karachi or Hyderabad.

Changing the face of rock

Khan also believes that Azal’s music (especially songs like “Patli Gali”) will rebrand rock music in Pakistan. “So far, rock music in Pakistan is seen as an elitist venture — it’s either too philosophical or too romantic and that doesn’t really offer anything relatable for the ‘average’ Pakistani.”

Although, they will not release an album in the near future, the band plans to release a video every three months.

Taking to the streets

No vacancy ki takhtiyan maathay pe hain saji

Daftar ki aisi taisi phir kabhi

Public ko meethi goli na khila

TV pe mat chaba

Chal be nikal le zara

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2012.