Raahi goes old school… literally!

Succeeding their debut release, new single ‘Aasman Ki Oor’ marks unique alteration in music style.

KARACHI:

Regardless of being truly energetic and anthem-esque, the video for Raahi’s latest venture ‘ Aasman Ki Oor’ transforms the single into an even more agreeable experience for the listener.

Directed by Bilal Khan, who had also helmed the music video for the band’s first single — ‘Dil Ka Raahi’, the latest track displays the band members succumbing to the rigours of old age and labouring into the recording studio using walkers and canes for support.



According to Khan, the video is about a couple of old guys who feel completely young when playing music together, who otherwise are just a bunch of typical old men.

Instructed by the band members to direct a music video in the ‘parameters of fun’, Khan took to the task and created a concept which would have more of a recall value with viewers.

“In this day and age, you have to create viral content which people would remember. So, we decided to create something different and fun as there was no point in making something which would become part of a clutter and would be easily forgotten,” says Khan.

Terming himself as ‘very lucky’ to have been given a free hand in regards to the music video, the director decided to add some of his own flavour into the music video. “I remember the conventional wedding video music from my childhood days and incorporated that too into the beginning of the video.”

‘Aasman Ki Oor’ succeeds their debut release, ‘Dil Ka Raahi’ and is completely different from their previous works, not only in terms of the video but also in terms of sound.

Members of the band describe the single as their ‘most energetic’ song to date and discuss the genesis of the track and how it eventually took shape.

“Ahsan (Bari), the vocalist of the band penned the lyrics for the song and also composed the (initial) melody for it,” says Omran ‘Momo’ Shafique, the lead guitarist.

But for a band which comprises several of Pakistani music industry’s top names like Momo, Sameer Ahmed and Louis J. Pinto (Gumby), it was highly unlikely that they would finalise a song without playing around with it a little bit.

“I remember that one day, Ahsan was just singing the song on a 4/4 time signature and I joined in and switched up the time signature from 4/4 to 7/4,” recalls Shafique.



Having only played ‘Aasman Ki Oor’ at live gigs before, Shafique states that although the song might be the same ‘chord-ically and melodically’ when compared to other Raahi singles, it is still ‘quite different’.

“I don’t think Raahi has a signature sound as such and it would be very difficult to classify our music into a particular genre. Out of all the songs we’ve recorded so far, ‘Aasman Ki Oor’ is the most energetic and vigorous,” asserts Shafique.

Bass player, Sameer Ahmed notes that despite coming into view as a very easy to play song, ‘Aasman Ki Oor’, in reality, was one of the ‘most difficult’ tracks to engage in.

“It took us quite some time to work on this song as not only did we increase the time signatures but some of the notes that Bari struck towards the end were also very difficult”, he said.

By the end of this month the band will decide on the band’s third release. Bilal Khan will direct the video.

Enjoy the video:



Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th,  2015.

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