Lux Style Awards: Who will bag the music awards?

This year’s LSA music nominees were quite predictable.

KARACHI:

The Lux Style Awards music nominations are out, with welcome appreciation of Pakistan’s creative geniuses. But there are minor (and mysterious) changes. The LSA jury has removed the Best Music Producer category, a decision which came as a surprise. The Best Music Producer Award has been instrumental in giving recognition to people who call the shots from behind the camera. Rohail Hyatt may have bagged this award on multiple occasions, but it would have been fair to recognise the work of other producers this year.

To say that this year’s nominations are predictable would be an understatement. It is not difficult to guess who will make the list since the music industry’s output is not at its maximum.

For Best Original Soundtrack, the nominees are a mix of film background scores and drama OSTs. Despite the famous “Hona Tha Pyar” from Bol, the OST of “Humsafar” will bag the award at any cost, making nominations like “Khuda Aur Mohabbat”, “Mein Abdul Qadir Hoon” and “Qaid-e-Tanhai” insignificant.

“I believe ‘Woh Humsafar Tha’ deserves to win the award and also the song of the year. If people love the song so much, then we musicians are no one to question that,” Shallum Xavier of Fuzon tells The Express Tribune.

The Best Music Video Director category has improved remarkably from last year. This time, we have the bold and stylistic “Paki Rambo” by Shahbaz Shigri and Aisha Akhtar running neck and neck with Jami for the psychedelic “Bum Phatta”. Regardless of who wins the award, both videos were landmark works in the history of Pakistani video making. While the likes of Adnan Malik for “Mera Bichra Yaar” will have to take a backseat, one wonders why Farhad Humayun’s “Batti” was nominated when it was merely a product full of sound and fury which signified nothing. In addition to this list of bewildering nominations, Josh’s “Pyar Hogaya” didn’t deserve to be shortlisted at all.

It is heartening to see young musicians in the Best Emerging Talent category. But despite some original and redefining work by Adil Omar, Bumbu Sauce and Poor Rich Boy, Usman Riaz will bag it without a doubt. One wonders why Ram Lal was nominated despite not having released a proper music video after their “Uth Records” launch.

“Among the youngsters, I think Bumbu Sauce and Poor Rich Boy are two very good nominations but if I were to pick one, I’d say Poor Rich Boy are my new favourite,” says Xavier.

Due to the dismal state of the music industry, options for the Best Music Album are always limited. This time, however, we have some promising contenders. Qayaas’ Uss Paar deserves appreciation as the album created a cult in no time. If it isn’t Qayaas, then the winner has to be Ali Zafar’s  Jhoom without a doubt; the competition is between Qayaas’  solid rock album and Zafar’s  brilliant pop album. Once again, Josh’s Beyond Qismat seems out of place whereas Bilal Khan’s Umeed and Call’s Dhoom are definitely not worth an award. But according to Xavier, “Call deserves an award for the best album as they’ve been around for a while and also have melodious ballads.”

The category of Song of the Year is by far the most interesting. Gauging its popularity, nothing will stop “Wo Humsfar Tha” from bagging its second award. But the jury should note Ali Zafar’s inventive “Jhoom” and Ali Azmat’s unorthodox “Bum Phatta”. The most ridiculous nomination was “Mera Bichra Yaar” — a cover song revamped for Levis. “Hona Tha Pyar” from Bol is the last nomination but not on our list of favorites.

At the end, we wish the best of luck to all the nominees. May the best musician win!

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2012.