A rich fusion of culture, tradition and history, Pakistani music is derived from diverse elements and various musical influences. Within this dynamic musical environment, Coke Studio has emerged as a musical fusion platform of exciting elements and influences, ranging from traditional eastern, modern western and regionally inspired music coming together to form a distinctive Pakistani sound. Bringing alive the magic of live recordings and performances, Coke Studio prides itself on providing a musical platform which seeks to bridge barriers, celebrate diversity, encourage unity and instil a sense of Pakistani pride. Coke Studio is indeed an inspired step by Coca-Cola for having created a platform where renowned as well as upcoming and less mainstream musicians from various genres can collaborate musically.
Join the Coke Studio journey, as we broaden our horizons to encompass a wider circle — an expanding sphere of diversity, culture and tradition. Central to our third edition is the need to explore the intricacies of inspiration, creation and evolution, and to discover how the elements of reason, will, resolve and form come together and culminate in the realization of dreams and goals. True to the desire to retain and revere individuality, Coke Studio’s wings span the entire breadth and length of our soil: from the rugged custodians of the Sufic tradition to suave urbane men and women, from indigenous ballads to universal kalams. This season as the wheel rotates, a growing palette of unique colors, flavors and sounds come together and contribute to enrich the Coke Studio circle. Come and be a part of the sea change as once again we connect distinct and varied styles, ethnicities and identities and link them with that one common denominator — Music.
Believe it or not. Pakistan’s music industry has a horde of worldwide fans. As soon as new music hits their ears, most likely with urgent reluctance, they find the download link and add it to their collections. The problem is that the industry is too far away, and global fans can only keep up to date via the Internet. That is, unless they get the chance to go to Pakistan, but chances of getting ‘into’ the scene are limited due to family visits and the traditional, but fun, mass feasts.
We thank Pakistan’s online music societies and blogs for keeping us up to date with the music we take pride upon, even though not all of us are pure Pakistani’s. {Read More…}
Posted by FaizCategorized Under: Tv ShowsNo Comments
Join Ayeshah Alam as she ventures into a world of music and speaks candidly to the multi-talented musician Omran Shafique (Mauj) and the contemporary youth icon Omar Bilal Akhtar (Aunty Disco Project) in this episode of No Reservations
Posted by Guitar_freaKCategorized Under: NewsOne Comment
We have come across an interesting yet a little shocking news that Sikander Mufti (Co-ven) will be playing drums in the Coke Studio season 3. The news has been disclosed on a TV show of Style360 by Omran Shafique of Mauj, who works closely with Sikander Mufti in Mauj.
We think with this, Sikander also gets a chance to fulfill his wishes to design a show. He says
I’ve always wanted to design show. I have so many ideas about light design, stage design and so forth. But here you have a show to play, you also have to see security and the ‘know-how’ is missing from the scene completely. For instance, on one song, let’s say I want dominantly red lights and at some point, I want a blue affect on stage, who should I say this to?
That also leaves us all to wonder if Sikander will be replacing Gumby or will this season feature two drummers? and If Sikander will replace Gumby why would that be?
Update:
To all that have read this little article.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but I just want to clarify that I WILL NOT be playing the “Drums” on the next Coke Studio Season!
I WILL, however, be playing PERCUSSIONS as part of the house band. Gumby is STILL the drummer!
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By Amar Ayaz
The man who gave us those iconic Stop and Eject signs was not into art for art’s sake. For him, it was a way of life. Instep pays tribute to a rare shooting star…
At around noon on a Sunday, Omran Shafique sits in his apartment next to the neighbourhood bakery, above a carpet store, getting ready to listen to the latest album he downloaded onto his iPod. Always in search of new tunes and sounds to broaden his experience of music, the lead vocalist and guitarist of Mauj sits on a revolving computer chair gazing into his iPod as though in search of a lost track.
While noontime is not early for most, after a long Saturday which involved running between a photo shoot in the morning and a Coke Studio session at night, Omran should be resting at midday, Sunday. Instead he decides to call me over to chat about his longstanding love affair with music. {Read More…}
“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.”Carl Gustav Jung
“Mona is a song about a bad habit that people accumulate over the course of life time and we have given it the name Mona.” Omran
Finally Mauj has come up with their much awaited video “Mona”, directed by Sohail Javed. While first watching the video, no one gets a clearer idea of what the video is actually about. It features Sanam Saeed, Anisa Sheikh, Maryam Kazmi, the band members and some other actors too. {Read More…}
Posted by Guitar_freaKCategorized Under: NewsNo Comments
The much awaited album of Kaavish, Gunkali has been delayed once again for another week. The new tentative date has been set as 15th of January ’10. The albums scheduled after Gunkali were subject to delay based on the country’s situation and response on the albums but Devika (2nd Jan) and Kaavish (8th Jan) were planned to be released right on time.
We are on track for the first two releases Devika on the 2nd and Kaavish on the 8th. Let’s see how things go from there on.
This also means there is going to be a change in schedule for other releases lined up for January including Nida Arab on 15th, Mauj on 22nd and Sketches on 29th.
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By
Madeeha Syed
Just when you thought it was all over, the music industry is abuzz with plans of album launches, collaborations, soundtracks, creative projects, the potential for solo projects by the likes of Rohail Hyatt and Co. In 2010, the music industry is slated to make a comeback with a vengeance
The albums are slated for a late 2010 release but chances are that it could take till 2011 for his work to come out. One of the albums titled Koi Umeed will have four qawwalis, one of which – the title track – is a whopping 30 minutes long! It will contain poetry and bandish from Mirza Ghalib’s selected works. The selection of poetry and composition has been done by Mian Yousuf Salahuddin and those close to Rahat expect that this album will land him a place with the great maestros. {Read More…}
Posted by Guitar_freaKCategorized Under: News2 Comments
Update:
Two more albums have been scheduled for January 2010. Devika Chawla will come out on 2nd of January while sketches are making their debut on 29th of January.
All the albums will come out with gap of one week between each other. Kaavish, being first in the queue, will hit Pakistani markets on 8th of January ’10. Nida Arab on 15th of January and Mauj’s debut will come out on 22nd of January.
Dr Yezdani also mentioned that the videos are also ready and the long delays weren’t really their fault. He states
Just pray that nothing drastic happens. We have been trying to do this for over a year now but each time there are either explosions, some political issue like elections, long march and what not. This time we are determined. Their videos are ready and hope all goes well. Do buy their CDs and support music
He also mentioned few upcoming releases which will include Sohail Salamat, Call, Annie & Noman Javaid.
Good luck Fire! We all hope that the albums actually come out in January. I personally have been desperately waiting for the release of Mona’s video and Gunkali.
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As we reported earlier, Fire has some massive plans for 2010 which include a total of 60 releases, 19 of which are to come out in first four months. Fire has finally released the list of those 19 artists who are already in the release process. The videos have been shot already and will be released with each album. You can see the artist list below: {Read More…}
Posted by Guitar_freaKCategorized Under: News7 Comments
Dr Akbar Yezdani, COO Fire Records, has just made an unbelievable claim on our Facebook page stating that almost 60 albums will be released by Fire Records in the year 2010, 19 of which will be released in the first 4 months, schedule of which will be posted soon after the new year. He also stated that they have planned to release over 80 albums in 2011.
He has already shared the schedule for January which includes 3 major releases including Mauj, Kaavish and Nida Arab. The claim sounds unbelievable because year 2009 hasn’t been a very great year for albums and some major artists of the industry have went independent or even free.
According to the claim, 5 albums per month will come out which means more than one album per week. This also means, production of over thousand songs and at least 100 video releases.
If the claims are true and Fire has such massive plans for 2010, this is going to change the history of Pakistani music industry and the underground artists should already be prepared to send their demos to Fire Records. However, I certainly believe that Fire has to re-look into their contracts before making so many deals or the wave to change the music industry could even turn out to be disastrous.
Believe it or not. Pakistan’s music industry has a horde of worldwide fans. As soon as new music hits their ears, most likely with urgent reluctance, they find the download link and add it to their collections. The problem is that the industry is too far away, and global fans can only keep up to date via the Internet. That is, unless they get the chance to go to Pakistan, but chances of getting ‘into’ the scene are limited due to family visits and the traditional, but fun, mass feasts.
We have come across an interesting yet a little shocking news that 
At around noon on a Sunday, 
Finally Mauj has come up with their much awaited video “Mona”, directed by Sohail Javed. While first watching the video, no one gets a clearer idea of what the video is actually about. It features Sanam Saeed, Anisa Sheikh, Maryam Kazmi, the band members and some other actors too. 
The much awaited album of 
He has already shared the 
