Will the old order prevail?

Noori on upcoming project ‘Begum Gul Bakaoli Sarfarosh’ and keeping it interactive with fans

LAHORE:

As Noori gears up to release their third album Begum Gul Bakaoli Sarfarosh (BGBS) on September 30 after a 10-year hiatus, fans wait with bated breath to see whether Pakistan’s rock titans will create the same buzz as before. If their recent single Aik Tha Badshah was any indication of what the cards hold, there will be mixed views.

Where some fans weren’t amused by the Dubstep-feel of the song, predicting that the band would reach a dead end if they traverse this path, others enjoyed their evolved sound. The Express Tribune catches up with the brother duo Ali Noor and Ali Hamza to explore what their upcoming album has to offer and their comeback mantra.

Read: Noori treats Lahore to Nusrat and more

“The album can be called current in terms of its genre,” says Hamza, as the brothers make preparations for their next video Pinjra, for which students of the National College of Arts, where Noor is currently teaching, are also on board. “It’s groovier and slightly more danceable,” he adds. Noor shares that the album has a consistent sound, like that of “one long song.” He explains that it has the quintessential Noori aura like their previous albums did, except that the chorus is very ‘anthem-like’. “Every song has space for someone to sing along,” states Noor.

On why the band lay dormant for a decade, Noor cites how appearances these days have become media events. “If you want to come to a Noori show, you can’t. There’s no way for regular audiences and fans to access us. This is something we want to change – the way in which fans can access us,” he states. To ensure this, the band has decided to give 111 fans each in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad an acoustic preview of the album, and the only way they can access the event is by buying t-shirts from the newly launched Noori website.



“What I hope to impart to people is that if they want our music, they have to buy a ticket [a t-shirt, in this case] like they would for any other thing. Music doesn’t come for free and this is what essentially bothers me. It’s not about the money, but audiences have a responsibility towards the artist,” says Noor. Hamza adds laughingly, “With BGBS, we want to diversify the ownership of the band as the album should feel like a collaborative project between us and our fans. So, that so that’s our survival plan.”

Interestingly, Noori recently held an event in Lahore, where around a 100 fans got together to record vocals that will be added to the album. “Every song, except for two, has parts where [these vocals] have been added. The album is like one huge concert in how you get the continuity and feel of a live show,” Noor explains.

Recently, the band teamed up with Shiraz Uppal to compose the album Sur Dervesh for the film Karachi Se Lahore. Of the experience, Noor shares, “I don’t like being paid to make music. I’d rather make songs and people put them in their movies. I can modify them slightly but my ideas and themes should be driven by my experiences, not because they’re imposed on me.”

Hamza is slightly more flexible in the kind of music he’d prefer to extend his talent to. “Noor and I have our musical differences, but that’s understandable because everyone is shaped by their own life experiences and ideas of music. He wants to do more of English music in the future and I want to venture into folk, so we keep it flexible on that front. We may do it together or separately,” says Hamza.

For him, it doesn’t matter who fronts the band. “The song determines who should do the vocals. If it’s mellower, I’d probably be a better option for it and if it’s high-pitched, Noor’s vocals would fare better. This is how we figure out how we can complement each other.” Most of Noori’s contemporaries have been lying low, but Noori is not the least bit hesitant about their comeback. “We’ve had a number of members moving out, from Gumby to Farhad to Salman, and that’s understandable because very few bands have stuck together for very long,” acknowledges Hamza.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2015.

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