It was two years ago when I first heard about coke studio.Some of you might be following it from last five years.Some things don’t come to us themselves.We have to make special efforts to take a sip of them.Same applies to music
I still wonder when I see people listening to only hit songs from bollywood, which off course come to them via the active media, and they don’t even bother(in some cases they don’t even know about) listening to other songs.And here I am, everyday complaining to god about how much less time I have got to listen to all these songs.Still hundreds of songs in my drafts, waiting for me to give them an ear at least once.
Initially I was like, ‘OK, I know coke studio thing, it’s really good and I should listen to it’.But the time came only when I saw advt on TV about coke studio India season 2 (I didn’t like season 1).At that very moment, I opened all my drafts and downloaded about 15-16 tracks and started listening them one by one.. This was coke studio Pakistan. I literally got goose bumps when I listened to some of those tracks. Here’s list of some of them:
1) Pere pavandi Saan – Tahir Mithu
2) Saari Raat – Noori
3) Bulleya – Riyaz Ali Khan (This is different version of bulleya, one I knew previously was by Rabbi Shergil. It is an old Sufi poem and has different versions in India and Pakistan)
4) Chup – Zeb and Haniya
5) Mai ni Mai – Atif Aslam
6) Rona Chod Diya – Zeb , Haniya , Javed Bashir
7) Tere Bin – Uzair Jaswal (youngest coke studio artist, super talented, can touch any scale)
And many more… (Coke Studio fans, please don’t troll me if I miss out any of your favorite tracks! Hahah)
Coke Studio started in Pakistan 5 years ago; and in India, last year. The first season of coke studio India was a big failure. Indian audience was already following Pak version and it had set a real good standard, where Indian version couldn’t reach. It was all messed up. So when I heard about India season 2, I didn’t have much hope. But the first episode left me totally captivated. Thanks to the brilliance of Clinton Cerejo! I had no idea what caliber this man has! Before this, I had considered him only as a good playback singer (Kya karoon from wake up sid, Hey yya from Karthik Calling Karthik…).
Although I loved all the seven tracks from the first episode, I will only tell you about my most favorite track – “Chhad de Moorakh Moh” – based on a doha of Kabir, written by Manoj Yadav, and sung by the real Master – “Master Saleem“! (You have heard him in many bollywood tracks such as Aahun aahun, Tashan me, Maa da ladla…..). Music by Clinton. This one is 10 minutes long, but Master Saleem does not allow you to pay attention to anything else once he starts singing.
The song is about letting go of desires. It talks about how futile it is to fret over desires or wants when your time on earth is limited. Kabeer says, when we came into this world, the world laughed as we cried. Let’s do something, so that we laugh and the world cries (as we leave this world)…
Nice use of the string instruments, bass, light keyboard, super chorus. The music arrangement is brilliant. What else does it take to set a track just above all bars? You will forget the world around when Master starts singing aalaaps and saragams!
(This article was written a month ago, coke studio India season 2 is over now)
