Sibti’s Anay De: A sarcasm-loaded message

KARACHI:

The last few months have been very successful for the Pakistani music industry. New music videos were released on Facebook and on local music channels. The new pop culture emerging is a break from the stereotypical Indian item numbers. This new number pokes fun at the gradual invasion of Bollywood into the lives of listeners and musicians.

Anay De is one of the finer rock numbers to have been released by a new, young musician (Sibtain), better known as Sibti. With this song, he manages to send a serious message in a subtle manner, while keeping the audience entertained and aware.

“Sheila teri jawaan hai, Munni bhi teri badnaam hai, ooper baitha Hanuman hai, aray apnay andar bhi tau ek Khan hai… Anay de, anay de, hamay bhi anay de,” (Your Sheila is young, Munni disgraced, Hanuman is upstairs, we’ve got a Khan somewhere in us too… let us come, let us come).

The video depicts Sibti waking up, shaving his beard and mimicking the moustache of Bollywood actors. He goes on to worship the pictures of stars like Anil Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Vidya Balan. The song takes a hilarious turn when Sibti appears in front of the jury of a show called Bharat Star and tries to impress them with his dance moves; the song moves onto Indian Premiere League (IPL) and Indian cricketers.

“There is no sarcasm in that verse,” clarifies Sibiti. “I am a big fan of Tendulkar!”  He then adds “There is an element of sarcasm in the song. Producers in general showcase the same talent, there are better musicians than the usual run of the mill talent [in India and Pakistan],” he explains, referring to the lyrics.

Popular for consistently being different, Sibti is not happy with the present day Pakistani music industry and believes that our musical growth has come to a standstill.

“The mainstream has not gotten over commercial music like Jal and Atif Aslam,” he says, clearly unimpressed.

“I am not saying that [their music] was bad; it worked back then. But it’s our responsibility to take the music industry forward,” he adds.

In the Pakistani underground music scene, Sibti is a well known name. Songs like Peshawar Ki Larki and Naughty Boy — which he launched in the first season of Uth Records with RamLal — are quite popular. He hopes Anay De is taken in good humour, as he has no reservations against Bollywood. “There is no personal attack on Indians or anyone for that matter, and people should take it in good taste,” he says, adding that he would accept an offer from Bollywood if the opportunity arose.  “If the music that I am supposed to make is different and involves travelling and exploring Indian culture then why not?”

Sibti has a few tracks ready for release; he plans to hit the studio and is all set to release some heavy rock music soon. “All of my tracks will be angry rock. If an album is not ready for release, then an extended play is certain,” he says excitedly.

What his ‘angry rock’ songs will sound like is yet to be determined, but keeping Sibti’s track record in mind, one can certainly hope that they will be full of surprises. As far as Bollywood producers are concerned, Sibti is a gem of a musician with a very good understanding of folk beats, rhythm and rock music — something that Bollywood is desperately trying to get into without much success.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.          

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