Yasir & Jawad’s Jaam offers an escape from reality

Duo’s latest musical offering is one that will take you away.

KARACHI:

Over the past few years, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has emerged as a prolific region in terms of music production. From stalwarts such as Sajid and Zeeshan, who have surprised us with the incredible production quality of their latest album Harvest, to newbies who have recently taken over the music industry, the Pashto music scene has moved persistently along. Ismail & Junaid are a prime example of this phenomenon — making it big not only in K-P, but also across the Durrand Line, with songs like Qaraara Rasha. However, the one video that really gave K-P’s underground musicians a license to kill was Yasir & Jawad’s Reidi Gul.

Since then, Yasir & Jawad may have evolved musically, but in terms of poetry they are still looking for more to explore in the works of Ghani Khan; a progressive Pashto intellectual poet, who is a common source of inspiration for Jawad Iqbal (guitarist), Yasir Khan (Rubab player) and Wali Orakzai (vocalist).



While their previous song Reidi Gul dwells on the uniqueness of self and the search for the universe within, their second offering Niqaab deals with the poet’s existential crisis. Their latest music video Jaam is a more light-hearted endeavour. It is a simpler and more humorous account of their efforts to seek an escape from realities of life in K-P.

“Jaam is a celebration of life and of finding salvation in small things of everyday life,” Iqbal shares with The Express Tribune. “We are not ignorant about what is happening in our province, but we also know that these issues cannot be resolved easily, so the best way [to cope] is to have the Jaam of happiness, and live the best way out of what [life] you have.”

Though the poem has a consistent romantic undertone, the musicians choose to ignore the element of a specific beloved and interpret Khan’s poem on a more elaborate canvas. This suits their genre of music and fits in line with the message they want to convey through their melodies.

Unlike their last few songs, which featured elements of hard rock and electronic music, Jaam is less experimental for a change and is a more traditional effort.

“I think a new producer made a lot of difference. Since it’s a happy poem and extremely popular among traditional Pashto music listeners, we intentionally kept it easy on the ears,” elaborates Iqbal.

That is perhaps the reason why Jaam has appealed to the general Pashtoon population, a feature that newer bands from K-P have yet to accomplish. Instead, most bands create an alternate market and listening base in places like Islamabad, Lahore and to some extent, Karachi.

“For a traditional Pashto music listener, if the song doesn’t provide something one can do Atan [traditional dance] on, then the song is a failure. Keeping this in mind, we tried to find the best possible balance between their tastes and our tastes,” says Iqbal.

Jaam is the first single from the album Albert Studios Compilation Album 1, which is being produced by Salman Albert, the former drummer for EP (Entity Paradigm), and will feature young and upcoming artists. As for what we might expect from Yasir & Jawad in the future, despite their professional commitments in fields outside of music, they have further renditions of Ghani Khan’s poetry in the works.

Excerpt from Ghani Khan’s Jaam

Get me ascetic dreams

So that I may shed my misfortunes

And upon the string of life commence

A delicate, lovely tune

To my Majnoo, be the Laila

Come, bring me a drink

Sweetheart, serve the cup

For youth flows in young blood

And colour is all there is to life

Beauty in all its self-obsession!

Be my sweetheart and beloved

Come, bring me a drink

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2013.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.