Hyderabad is one major city of Pakistan that is, quite frankly, deprived with musical concerts, lively events, or any other quality stuff due to its ever-rising security-related issues. Thankfully, though, the trend seems to be changing now and the city is finally getting its share of entertainment.
Artistes like Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar, Strings, Ali Azmat, Falak and many more have rocked the city of Hyderabad and joining them more recently, in the “Dance to the Beat” concert, are the likes of EP, RDB, and Gunaah.
THE CONCERT:
Entity Paradigm (EP):
Formed in the year 2000 by Fawad Afzal Khan and Ahmed Butt, Entity Paradigm, also known as EP, is a Pakistani rock-band which has delivered hits like “Kahan Hai Tu”, “Hamesha”, and “Waqt”.
After seven years of providing non-stop rocking stuff to the nation of Pakistan, EP disbanded “due to various members aiming to pursue different projects”. Shortly after a span of two years, in 2009 to be exact, the band made a reunion and came back strongly with “Shor Macha” –– a patriotic-rock number.
In 2010, the band also performed the song Bolo Bolo in Coke Studio.
Rythm Dhol Bass (RDB):
RDB, which is known as Rhythm Dhol Bass, was also formed in the year 2000 by three Punjabi Sikh brothers known as Kuly, Manj, and Surj.
This UK-based band has collaborated with famous celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Akshay Kumar, Public Enemy, and many more. Since their beginning, they have made a great fan following in the international market. And they are very much known for bringing in different musical styles and genres together.
Gunaah:
Gunaah is a band hailing from Karachi, Pakistan that consists of members Hassan Sarwar on vocals, Wishal Pirzada and Sunny Shah on guitars, Chandan Pirzada on bass, and Babar on drums.
THE CONCERT:
“Dance to the Beat” –– as it was named by its organizers –– took place on Wednesday, 14th of March 2012, at the venue of Police Ground, Hyderabad.
Gunaah, the band from Karachi, kicked off the show with Junoon’s “Pappu Yaar”, followed by Noori’s “Manwa Rey”. The band started to show some potential and I’ve heard their act of song “Shehrzade” would’ve been a must-to-watch one but however, due to some issues, they were not able to continue with their performance. Missing them was a huge blow.
The second act of the night was performed by the famous Pakistani rock band EP. The crowd, especially the girls section, went nuts as soon as Fawad Khan came into their sight. They started off with their single from the album Irtiqa; “Kahan Hai Tu”, followed by “Hamesha”.
After a couple of songs, Fawad Khan paved the way for Ahmed Butt, who then sang his renditions of “Sexy Back” (Justin Timberlake), “Take a Look Around” (Limp Bizkit), “I am Sexy and I Know it” (LMFAO), “Sexy Bitch” (David Guetta).
Driving the crowd mad and crazy with their performances is one of the attributes of EP. So, keeping that thing in mind, their act was a major let down as the crowd didn’t seem to be too much involved with them. It’s funny to note though that the crowd was actually present to see Ashar the actor of Humsafar and not Fawad the rocker of EP.
RDB, which was the main event, however saved the night and turned another run-of-the-mill concert into a memorable one. Yet, it was saddening to know that the UK-based Punjabi hip-hop-bangra band were actually lip-syncing. Not only had that made the crowd disappointed but also the fact that they missed a huge plot of not singing their incredible tracks like “Aloo Chaat”, “Aaja Maahi”, and “Saadi Galli”.
As far as the management goes; the show, no doubt, had some issues and glitches, but it was a major accomplishment for two reasons, which I believe, surpasses any reason whatsoever:
1) We’ve already talked about this once but we’re going to elaborate it a bit more here in this space. You see, the basic idea of organizing a concert in Hyderabad and its implementation process would maybe sound easy to you but it’s unbelievably difficult to perform that task.
It involves the risks of knowing; what if the crowd doesn’t draw up? What if the event flops?
2) The concert, which included star-studded performers like EP and RDB, was organized by first-timers –– who, believe it or not, were just young teenagers. So, a pat on their back for their hard-work and let’s hope that in the future they come up with something like this again.
To sum up, I’d like to mention again that the event had some “glitches” and all that, and yes, it could’ve been a lot better in terms of management but we must not be too critical. We must support these young and bright prospects so that they come up with something better in their second stint.
Special thanks to organizers Waleed Khokhar, Talha Qadeer, Omar Qureshi, Alee Shaikh, Daniyal Shaikh, Mubisher Shaikh, Abrar Shaikh, and Shahzain Brohi for giving such a refreshing event to Hyderabadis.
*Photos Courtesy: Sapna Batool and Haseeb Soomro*
