With a spectacular intro to the song, we are reminded of the soulful composition that once moved our hearts in the ‘80s. Zoheb did a perfectly good job and although the fresh candid voice is replaced by a new husky tone, the pop icon did just well enough to give justice to one of the best numbers in Boom Boom. As far as the re-entry of the icon in the music scene is concerned, the job was perfect. Certainly well above par, but the question still looms over the seventh edition of Coke Studio — what exactly is Strings up to?
Strings have constantly been relying on the skills and the fame of the stars to churn out simple, easy-to-hear numbers which, although are ringing well with the audience, have nothing new to offer. Jaana starts with the similar intro as of the original but fails to keep up with the soul of the song. Strings has failed to add a new dimension to the song and thus have, by far, not lived up to the standards that Rohail Hayat had set for the prestigious music platform.
The only thing that Strings did right to mutate the song was the introduction of Zoe Viccaji (I still don’t understand what she does to gain entry in the studio) who remained true to her nature of always giving a below-par performance. I hope that Strings can certainly find the heart and try to utilise the platform — which can offer just so much more — to give the studio a new direction and not just keep caving in to the risk-free ideology that they have adopted for now.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2014.
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if somehow Junoon reunite and start producing coke studio future edition, I am very much sure some freak writer pop up from tribune and start criticizing and comparing junoon with strings and rohail hayat... because that is what you guys do criticizing nothing much... what are the positive highlight of latest season of coke studio is that string manage to introduce amir zaki, combo of abida parveen and rahat fatah ali khan, faraz anwar dominating role in lead guitarist... awesome songs of sajjad ali, zohaib hassan and few others....
I dont know since start writers from tribune comparing strings work with rohail hayat... it is my sincere advice to all upcoming writer kindly avoid this kind of attitude and rather than criticizing, prefer neutral comments...
in short strings done an awesome work, yes there is still a room for improvement... even in rohail hayat era, there were few season which are below standard but audience still follow his later season and yet remembering his work... but whats is in past stay in past... lets focus in present and think about future...
Good Luck Strings, you are just awesome and keep doing good work!!!
@MJ: I'm sorry but strings' compositions were much more predictable because they played it extremely safe. I wasn't expecting a lot from them in the first place but I hope they do a better job next time by learning from the experience of this season and also from the previous ones.
Siddiqui sahib,
You seem to be a young man who probably was either very young or not even around when Nazia Hassan was singing. Those of us who heard her regularly in the eighties, did feel Zoe Vicaji's voice doing justice to the song.
Music is a relative art. Its silly to compare Rohail's directions to those of the Strings. To some the latter seems better, to others, the former. Many others would disagree that the Strings have not done a decent job. This is their first season, Rohail had six to evolve and secondly, when Rohail started, all of this was new to the Pakistani public so most of his music was met with acclaim. Now the audience has developed a more refined taste, thus all the harder to please everyone's palate.
No disrespect to Rohail. He did a wonderful job with Coke Studios but in the end it seemed that he ran out of steam. The variations were lacking and compositions became predictable. He truly deserves a well earned rest from producing Coke Studio. Rohail's lack of creativity or our familiarity of what he does was highlighted with "Charkha" not the song, but the album sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. That is one of the most mundane and humdrum collection of songs that you would expect from someone as talented as the producer singer duo. Strings may not have reached the fanfare of Rohail Hayat and may lack in production mastery of the former but they have brought out their raw energy and this season has been one of my favorites so far.
Strings has been doing an excellent job. I have enjoyed every minute of the season and some of these songs will be etched in my memory for a long, long time. Thank you Bilal and Faisal, and I hope, I hope you continue running the show!
Bro,
However asked you to be a music critic from express tribune should be fired. Not your fault.
Couple of points, the role of Zoe was kept subdued on purpose this was a production decision, not Zoe's fault, but the notes she did hit when given the chance were exactly why we got the haunting feeling of Nazia still in the room. She did it perfectly and that is why she find her way to the studio. If anyone was off key it was probably Zoheb, who in all fairness has been away from music way too long and never was best known to hold a note.
While I agree strings have failed to bring back what Rohail Hyatt did with the way he conducted the studio, this song is probably one of the exceptions of this year. It was perfectly done, without experimenting too much.
Don't mean to troll on you. But the article really did stand out since I am a huge coke studio fan.