Exclusive Coverage for KoolMuzone by Mobeen Ansari

An ETZ event.

Performers: Farhan Khan, Rapsterados, Zuj, Qayaas and Ali Azmat

The gallery is too large to appear on Front Page {Read More…}

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…}

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

“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…}

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Wardrobe: Kash Hussain
Photography: Fayyaz Ahmed
Styling: Sajid
Models: Gumby, Khalid Khan & Omran ‘Momo’ Shafique
Fashion Editor & co-ordination: Madeeha Syed

Source: BandBaji | Madeeha Syed

In the Drummer’s Den

By Khaver Siddiqi

Drummer Louis John Pinto, aka Gumby, talks exclusively to Images on Sunday about the new studio he set up with Mauj-frontman Omran Shafique and ace-bassist Khalid Khan, record producers, and what’s next in store for him.

{Read More…}

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By

Sara Khalid

Note: This review focuses primarily on performances and how they looked over television. It doesn’t cover the the venue mishaps and other events.

The show started with an Aag Alive lounge. The lounge started off with the Aagmentary which basically took a look at the history of Pakistani pop music from Ahmed Ruhshdi to Junoon, it was actually quite interesting for any Pakistani pop music fan. After the Aagmentary segment the VJs showed glimpses of the actual concert. They also showed the Behind the Scenes of Aag Alive, all of this was put together really well but after a while the Aag Alive lounge got extremely boring especially the clips in between the actual show…no one really cares about these actors etc. and their interviews, the people watching on TV or online are only interested in the PERFORMANCES not these lame interviews! They were HORRIBLE! Especially the last one with the old man Ali Muhammad Mir who passed very rude comments about Atif Aslam, Annie, and singers in general (he was suppose to be imitating Musharaf apparently)…

Now lets get to the actual performances. {Read More…}

“We’re a music production duo. Our style is a mixture of electronic and organic music.” – Taha Malik
As the debut video of Kostal makes way from the Internet to the airwaves, Instep catches up with Taha Malik of Kostal…

By Maheen Sabeeh

Instep: What can you tell me about Kostal?
Taha Malik: Kostal is Taha Malik and Omran Shafique. We’re a music production duo. We first met in 2002 while working on many side projects. During the recording of Mauj’s debut album at my studio in Houston, Omran and I would write dance and hip hop style records. As our library of ideas grew, we decided that we should compile the best and make an album of them. Of course, Kostal is much more than that now. We are currently writing/producing for other artists, movies, commercials, and any other projects we can get our hands on. The collective manifoldness of our musical backgrounds allows us to experiment with all types of styles and genres, from French rappers to rubab and tabla, to jazz-fusion, rock, Arabic… anything really. We love it! {Read More…}

Song: ‘Jaan Jaye‘
Artist: Kostal
Directed by: Uns Mufti (ROLA)

It is every begum’s darkest (domestic help-related) fantasy come true. With ‘Jaan Jaye’, Kostal’s hip-hop ditty that first became popular in 2006, we are treated to a colourful peek into the secret life of the cook and maali (gardener) in those gloriously unsupervised moments which every employer fears, and none has any idea about. {Read More…}

Rock ‘em shock ‘em:

Maheen Sabeeh
Karachi

Deciphering the numbers

The music winners at Lux Style Awards ‘09 indeed came as a surprise. Who would’ve thought that Najam Shiraz would walk away with Song of the Year over Ali Azmat, Shehzad Roy, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan and Zeb and Haniya? But he did.

In reality, the toughest competition for Najam’s ‘Khwabon Key Rishtey’ was neither Ali Azmat nor Strings. As it turns out, it was Shehzad Roy’s ‘Laga Reh’. The reason one can state this as fact, more than just an observation is because of the numbers that each category generated. In other words, thefinal result list (by the Lux Style Awards) given to the press validates these claims. Instep Today takes a closer look at the votes…

Best Music Album

As far as music awards go, this is the most prestigious and coveted trophy. And last year saw some incredibly tough albums go up against each other. Ali Azmat returned with Klashinfolk. Leaving behind the sonic effects that were the driving force behind his solo debut record Social Circus, Ali opted for a raw, fierce rock sound that was neither redundant nor monotonous. Klashinfolk really was the second coming of Ali Azmat. {Read More…}