Music festival: Rock the Casbah

Lussun TV’s gig at Kuch Khaas left Islooites head-banging and grooving to the slick riffs.

ISLAMABAD:

Scores of youngsters lingered around the large canopy hoisted for the two-day Khayaban-e-Lussun tour. The tour formed a part of the month-long Rock Fest at Kuch Khaas on Friday evening. Overhead spotlights cast a neon haze as band members and solo musicians scurried for last-minute sound checks. Huddled around heaters, the audience seemed all set for a night of indie music.

Originating from Karachi, Lussun TV is a platform for indie artists and bands. In their live music performances called “The Drawing Room Sessions”, they garner new and old artists from the country’s indie music scene and bring them to the forefront. Lussun TV is now touring Islamabad and Lahore for live music performances.

“Lussun TV attempts to, and at some level manages to, bring music for the sake of music,” said Natasha Ejaz, who is a part of the music tour. “I’m really glad that musicians are coming out to play and that people are coming out to listen to them, and that live music is being appreciated here. Some recurring themes in the music are freedom of expression, some level of anarchy and political commentary.”



Other musicians who performed at the rock fest were Sikandar Ka Mandar, Ali Suhail, Shajie, Iman Shahid, Poor Rich Boy, Red Blood Cat and Orange Noise.

“It’s pretty cool that Kuch Khaas is bringing bands from all over the place for a rock fest, since it has been ages that anything of this kind happened in Islamabad. Back when I started playing music, musicians from Lahore and Karachi would come over to perform music on a common platform. The culture scene here is almost dead ever since that time, but I’m happy to be concluding the festival with my band’s performance,” said Umair Jaswal, a member of Qayaas, who will be playing alongside the band Saturn on January 31.

“I loved it! Although I was sick and I’m not much of a music person, even then I decided to attend as I had heard really good things from the last week’s gig. Made it in time for the last set and thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Faizaan Ahab, an architect. “What they sang was not only very inventive and out-of-the-box, but meaningful too. The song ‘Dajjal is coming’ had a satirical message. Aside from the content, the arrangement was pretty good, the show was well organised and there was a good audience. I could feel the excitement and energy and I caught on to it, towards the end I was pretty much head-banging myself!” he added.

The audience warmed up to back-to-back performances by Sikandar ka Mandar, shouting out requests for two of their popular songs, “Dajjal is coming” and “Badshah”. With a funky and upbeat attitude, the vocalist Nadir Shahzad and his ensemble of instrument players kept the show lively till the very last performance. The show ended on an electrifying note with wearied head-bangers leaving the venue abuzz with excitement.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2014.