by

Sadaf Fayyaz

The coke studio season 3 is all in the air and a hot topic these days. The exciting season marks with Noori, Meesha Shafi, Karavan, Arif Lohar, Arieb Azhar, Abida Parveen, Zeb & Haniya, Saba Shabbir, Zoe Viccaji, and Sanam Saeed. Sanam and Zoe could be seen as the backing vocalists this time. Abida Parveen outshines the show with her mystical and deeply enriched style in “Ramooz-e-Ishq”. One cannot comment or critique on her performance and chic. She sounds miraculous every time. {Read More…}

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

1. Tera Hone Laga Hoon (Atif Aslam OST Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani)

Atif stands on the top of the charts with his song, which has Alisha Chinoi as the other vocalist. Alisha sounds intense whereas Atif stands fresh, romantic and sensual in the song with his high-pitched vocals. The remix version of the same song, after some colorful mixing, sounds a bit faster and less romantic than the original one. Nevertheless, Atif rocks in both.

2. Meri Zaat (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan OST Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Be’nishaa’n)

With this as the title song of the Geo TV’s famous drama, a novel by Umera Ahmed, Rahat comes as deep and sensual, with an Alaap in the beginning. Rahat’s precise vocals do accurate integrity with the premise of the drama and are truly heart touching. Rahat really outshines with the miraculous melody.

3. Paimoona (Zeb & Hania Coke Studio)

With tinges of Afghan and Persian music, Zeb & Hania steal the show with potent music and a luminous rubab playing in the beginning by Sadiq Sameer. They beautifully maintain the essence and glitziness of the Dari language with a stellar performance and thrilling melody. As compared with the original version, the one with coke studio is more poignant, thus remarkably capturing the right intimacy of music.

4. Aik Alif (Noori & Saieen Zahoor Coke Studio)

A brilliant fusion of pop and folk: Saieen Zahoor opens the song with his high-pitched loud vocals and does right justice with Bulleh Shah’s mystical and impressive poetic works. With a deep message of “Alif”, the verses “Ek Alif Tere Darkar” reflect deep meanings. Ali Noor comes in the middle with his accustomed sensational style and lofty vocals. Indeed a very touching and powerful rendition with harmonious melody and superlative work.

5. Daasten-e-Ishq (Ali Zafar Coke Studio)

So here comes Ali Zafar at number five with his Daastan-e-Ishq. One finds a different touch in Ali Zafar’s voice this time. The true rhythm and melody needed for a Punjabi folk, reflects here. Ali Adds more exquisiteness to the Kalam, with continuing Alaap in the beginning and towards the end too.

Noori performing Aik Alif live & acoustic @ Shanaakht 09 featuring Yasir Qureshi from ADP.

YouTube is no longer just a medium where artists can share their content with the rest of the world. It is also a barometer of gauging public opinion. The latest example is Coke Studio. This season, YouTube is overloaded with Coke Studio content (despite an official website) and the two songs that have garnered enormous fame include Ali Zafar‘s ‘Dastaan-e-Ishq‘ and Noori and Saieen Zahoor‘s ‘Aik Alif‘. This is not to say that the rest of the singles were ordinary. Pretty much every tune was spectacular but some were more audibly stunning than others. And the numbers keep rising according to the varied views. When these numbers reached Ali Zafar, he was ecstatic. {Read More…}

What if
… Junaid Khan of Call joins EP instead while Xulfi flies solo

Not that we don’t appreciate Call but since their days of Bollywood, the aggression and the passion that made the rock band and its lead singer Junaid Khan stand out from their first single, ‘Nishaan’ has all but disappeared. {Read More…}

So, the coke studio season 2 finally comes to an end. We all are going to miss the studio where the fusion happened and will desperately wait for the the third season to come (May Allah give long life to Rohail Hyatt). During the airing of the second season, we actively collected statistics and ran voting polls (10 days per poll) for each episode, so, we may figure out and also share with you the likenesses and dis likeness of the crowd about the the season.

The statistics and analysis are our own and must not be used anywhere else without prior permission. They do not represent the original statistics of the Coke Studio by the Cokestudio.com.pk {Read More…}

There are always iconic musicians to every era who put professionalism in an energetic new light, here’s Instep’s list of five people who will define the decade in terms of presence.

Ali Hamza (Musician)
From singing with his brother Ali Noor to strumming the banjo for Ali Zafar and Saieen Zahoor at Coke Studio, this year has been the comeback of Noori and the spotlight is now on Ali Hamza. His voice has an unmistakable signature and with time Ali Hamza has proven that not only is he a fantastic singer but he is also versatile enough to carry ‘Jo Meray’ and ‘Aik Alif’ with distinct style. Fans of Noori have always wanted to see more of Ali Hamza and 2009 has made all their dreams come true! {Read More…}

“He has fit right in,” says Coke Studio co-producer Umber ‘Ma’ Hyatt about Ali Hamza, the man who not only blew everyone away with his rendition of ‘Aik Alif’ with Saieen Zahoor and brother Ali Noor, but also took up banjo playing and guiding the backing vocalists.

It started with a conversation about energy between Rohail Hyatt and Ali Hamza on Facebook. And then the two hit it off. {Read More…}

1.
Parh parh ilm te faazil hoya
Te kaday apnay aap nu parhya ee na

(You read to become
all knowledgeable
But you never read yourself)

You read so many books
to know it all,
yet fail to ever read your
heart at all.

Bhaj bhaj warna ay mandir maseeti
Te kaday mann apnay wich warya ee na

(You run to enter temples and mosques
But you never entered your own heart)

You rush to holy shrines to play a part,
Would you dare enter the shrine of your heart {Read More…}

Noori has been one of the best performances of the Coke Studio season 2. I think most of you will choose Noori & Saeen Zahoor’s “Aik Alif” for the best song of the Coke Studio season 2 apart from those who are here for the over-rated Atif of course. Noori will be playing two more songs at the Coke Studio one being “Kedaar” which was played at the Mtv Awards 2009 and the other being “Sari Raat Jaga“. Looking forward to the Noori performances.

Coke Studio and beyond: The wonderful world of Umber and Rohail Hyatt

Behind every successful man is a woman and Rohail Hyatt is the first to admit it, as he and his wife Umber let Instep in to their home and life at the height of Coke Studio fever.

By Maheen Sabeeh

Meet the producers

To the world at large, Coke Studio is the magnum opus genius of Rohail Hyatt. Featuring Pakistan’s biggest names in music, both from the Eastern classical/folk front and modern day pop giants while introducing new musicians into the mix who have hitherto remained unknown backing musicians at various concerts, the second season of Coke Studio is looking spectacular. {Read More…}

Madeeha Syed gets through high security for a backstage peek at the most elusive recording studio in town.

I drive several miles out of the main centre of the city, cross a bridge into an area dominated by warehouses and industrial mills and arrive at a venue marked only by a tiny sign. The only thing that gives the location away are the number of cars parked in front and the comings and goings of personnel with identity tags around their necks. {Read More…}

Despite all of the sociopolitical and economic odds it faces, art serves not only as a breath of fresh air but also motivates those exposed to it. Recently, episode one of the second season of Coke Studio titled Individuality was aired on private networks across Pakistan, giving audiences a flavour of the music coming out of Pakistan’s biggest music collaborative venture. {Read More…}

Bringing on the blitz
Coke Studio pushes the technology envelope as the Worldwide Web resonates with the sessions

Muniba Kamal
Karachi

The Coke Studio sessions have begun and the impact of Season Two is more far reaching than Season One. After the sessions went on air, the tremors were felt far and wide on the Worldwide Web. The Coke Studio website had to close down for some time the day after the show because of heavy traffic with people trying to view and download songs, wallpapers and other stuff it provides. {Read More…}

courtesy Instep Today, The News published on June 16th, 2009

Holding your ground against the mighty Saeen Zahoor is no small feat. Brothers Ali Noor and Ali Hamza managed it miraculously  well as they hit it off with Saeen on Coke Studio. In fact, watching Noori sing ‘Aik Alif’ was a revelation. For one thing, Coke Studio marks the coming out of Ali Hamza. It’s similar to the impression that Ali Zafar made last year when he performed with Saeen Tufail Ahmed on the magnificent ‘Allah Hoo’. ‘Aik Alif’ remains the highlight of Episode 1 of Coke Studio. {Read More…}