Coke Studio Season 2- Yay or Nay?
Coke Studio is all over the place – advertisements, billboards, exclusive airing time on different channels, ring tones, the radio, you name it – its there. Season 2 was much anticipated, and so far two episodes are out – the first titled Individuality, and the second titled Harmony.
Coke Studio has been creating some fabulous work – Season Two has been dealing with more contemporary artists, and a full fledged house band, accompanied by different guest artists to contribute their special feel to different tracks. Some of my favourite tracks so far this season have been Aik Alif and Khamaj is episode one, and Aaj Latha Neeyo , Daastan – e – Ishq, and Janey do in episode 2.
Episode 3 should air this sunday, ie the 12th, at 7 pm. The cool thing about this season is that it ends on 14th August, ie, Independence day. On the plus side, the work being done, though heavy on the sufi side, is being done with songs that are popular, contemporary, and well loved, thus bringing an automatic appreciation in most cases for the mystic feel.
**This year, Coke Studio looks to reignite Pakistani passion and pride by chronicling a journey through a series of episodes, each of which is based specifically, on distinct philosophies showcasing a multi faceted Pakistani identity: Individuality, Harmony, Equality, Spirit and Unity.**
The show has faced some serious criticism this time round for two reasons – the first being that the music from these contemporary artists doesnt live up to the hype created by their being included in this years line up. I personally feel the original version of Paimona Bitte is much better – im not a fan of the Coke Studio version, to say the least. The mixes aren’t as amazing as last year.
Secondly the lack of a live audience has attracted many hisses and boo’s, but as I was given to understand earlier, having a live audience causes major recording issues, such as the murmers of voices, cellphone calls, doors opening and closing, etc.
However, all in all, for a follow up season, Coke Studio’s not doing badly at all – they’re making music history loud and proud, and will probably go down, even if as a show steeped in branding, as one that helped enrich contemporary music with the sounds of folk lore and a tinge of spiritualism.
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Coke Studio Season 2- Yay or Nay? | Tea Break - July 11, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I for one really liked the first season. The second season isn’t that bad and it has its share of some interesting performances. However, personally I miss the old times when we had bands like Junoon, Vital Signs, Strings and even the later Fuzon, Noori, Jal, eP, Aaroh and other contemporary artists like Fakhir, Haroon and the like.
All that isn’t there anymore, the type of music they made that time was less commercial as it is now I believe.So it is always nice see them play again. I wish they had more variety and fusion in the second season though.
iAmbiguous - July 12, 2009 at 7:46 pm
The absence of legends like Abida Parveen, Salamat Ali Khan, Nayara Noor, Rahat Sahab was greatly missed in this session. Could have been much better if all our new contemporary bands were performing with our legends. It would be a treat for listeners and our new breed would get to learn alot. Frankly Speaking Josh was not fitting in the whole session. I dont see a point putting a band like Josh into an experement. Ali zafar was very ordinary this time, though he impressed me in the first session. Atif was unexpectedly good apart from that Billie Jeans(Chris Cornell version) blunder. The vocal treatment on the mixes were not that good this time, too much tuner applied on the vocals were killing the live feel of the songs. Besides all these glitches Coke Studio still maitained to keep the hype and the IDEA is superb. Keep up the Good work guys and we expect alot more good work from you.
Saqib - July 22, 2009 at 11:07 pm