Coke Studio Season 8

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Ali Sethi and Nabeel Shaukat on the vocals — Publicity photo

In its third episode, Coke Studio 8 returns to its signature, lining up a series of re-interpretations of gems from our archive of classics. Arif Lohar, whose 'Alif Allah' in Season 3 caused a frenzy, also returns.

With Ali Zafar's 'Rockstar' taking it away last week, this episode will be fueled by the likes of Kaavish, Ali Sethi and Gul Panra, the Pushtun singer whose presence in the promo tugged heartstrings.

Appearing for the second time, Arif Lohar will be sticking to the genre of Punjabi folk in 'Rung Jindri', in which he sings some wise words about worldly life. Kaavish, whose 'Nindiya' still puts a smile on his fans' face, will be attempting a rendition of 'Neun La Leya’, a Punjabi song originally composed by Ali Bela and written by the great Kalay Khan sahab.

Jaffer Zaidi of 'Kaavish' performs. — Publicity Photo

However, the two songs that appear to be chief attraction will definitely be 'Umraan Langhiyaan’ and 'Man Amadeh Am'.

Written by Khuwaja Ghulam Fareed, the former is synonymous with Asad Amanat Ali Khan of the Amanat family and has been attempted by various artists in the past. This will be the first time that Ali Sethi will perform on the platform and will be joined by Nabeel Shaukat who was lauded for his 'Bewajah' in the first episode.

Gul Panra. — Publicity photo

Meloncholic 'Man Amadeh Am' on the other hand is associated with the then popular Iranian singer Gogoosh who also toured Pakistan in 1975. Featuring Atif Aslam, the song will introduce Gul Panra, who is well versed in Persian. Atif has also included his own Urdu lyrics in the song and only time will tell if they gel well with Persian.

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Let the music do the talking

Lessons brands could learn from Coke Studio.

Photos: Coke Studio's official website.

Here’s a question: do you like a haddi in your kabab? How about a big pothole right in the middle of a road? Of course you don’t. No one does. And that’s exactly why most people hate ads. There you are, trying to enjoy your favorite programme and all of a sudden someone ambushes you, selling something you have absolutely no interest in. Yes, I’m sure it’s very important to clients that their new detergent magnetically removes stains or that their new cereal will sh*t-start my morning, but trust me, when I’m in the middle of an episode of Castle, that’s the last thing I want to hear about.

So is that to say we should stop advertising altogether? Of course not. What it means is that like any successful industry, we need to take a step back, re-evaluate and adapt to changing trends. I’m not talking about taking the harassment online and provoking innocent Facebookers with poorly animated banner ads. I’m talking about changing the way we approach and engage audiences altogether. For example, what if we stop interrupting and start integrating by creating content that audiences actually want to seek out and enjoy? Seems impossible? The truth is it’s already being done. It’s called Coke Studio.

Coke’s deafeningly loud presence
Let me be honest: although I’m a Coca-Cola fan, I’m actually not a follower of the Coke Studio series at all. But despite that, even for someone like me who generally avoids mainstream media, Coke Studio is pretty damn hard to ignore – impossible actually. Almost everyone I know (music-lover or not) is already talking about the ongoing season as if it’s the only music show on TV. They know the songs, all the artists, and have their own personal ratings for each season. But that got me thinking. What did Coke Studio do that MTV, Channel V and all these other music channels didn’t so many years ago? Why did it take a brand like Coke (that wasn’t in any way exclusively linked to music) to bring out the avid music enthusiasts of Pakistan?

Back in 2008, while all the big brands were busy scrambling for our attention, Coke took the road less traveled and decided to revive Pakistan’s dwindling music scene by launching Coke Studio (a ‘studio-ized’ adaptation of Brazil’s live concert platform Estúdio Coca-Cola).
Instead of invading our living rooms and bombarding us with contrived reasons to guzzle down cola, they made the smart choice and gave Pakistanis what they were looking for all along: quality entertainment And they did so without the overbearing product placement and commercial values that audiences have since grown to resent.

Were they the first brand to ever ride the music train? Certainly not. But Coca-Cola stuck to its guns and created quality content that people have come to love passionately.

Let’s face it, today Coke owns the music platform. Pepsi, Clear, Nescafe and more have all tried to follow suit but were met with limited success.

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Revealed: Ali Zafar's next Coke Studio song is a classic!

Ali promises his latest rendition in the upcoming episode will be a big hit. SCREENGRAB

Ali Zafar’s hit Coke Studio song Rockstar won the hearts of fans and impressed Bollywood celebs like Hrithik Roshan. The rockstar will be seen in Coke Studio’s Episode 4 with his version of Saleem Raza’s hit classic Aye Dil Kisi Ki Yaad Mein along with the talented Sarah Haider.

SCREENGRAB

Just as Rockstar made waves everywhere — from TV to social media — this rendition of Aye Dil Kisi Ki Yaad Mein promises to offer an unforgettable experience. A short promo released earlier shows Ali clad in a chic Ismail Farid tux, lending his powerful vocals to the song.

The singer updated his fans and shared the promo on his Facebook page:

The song is a fusion of eastern melody with western jazz. The singer was reportedly in low spirits a day before his recording and he hoped to reflect that in his song.

Here’s the piece of paper on which Ali wrote the lyrics of the song a night before his recording:

Hoping to do justice to the original, Ali has promised fans his latest rendition of the song will be a big hit — if not bigger than Rockstar.

Here are a few behind the scenes shots of Ali Zafar prepping for his recording:

Originally sung by star Saleem Raza, Aye Dil was featured in the 1963 Pakistani film Ek Tera Sahara starring Shamim Ara, Darpan (Syed Ishrat Abbas) and Rani. It was composed by the magnanimous Masta Inayat Hussain and the lyrics were penned by legendary Urdu poet Qateel Shifai.

The song will be released on Saturday.

 

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Nabeel Shaukat Ali, Bewajah,