The most awaited season of Coke Studio has just begun and we are sure many of you have watched its Episode 1 up till now. The first episode of Coke Studio Season 5 was made available Online on the Saturday night, before airing the whole content on any other medium. This way we can say that for the very first time the digital medium took over the Electronic and other medium. As soon as the videos were made public on Youtube and shared on Facebook page, it spread like FIRE all over internet.
Though, some people had an idea about its release on Saturday night, many music aficionados were surprised to get their hands on the CS stuff, before its actual broadcast on Television. As expected, the views on Youtube exploded and were actually halted on 301 views, while the number of “likes” were doubling each time you were refreshing the video. This led us to believe that Coke Studio’s virtual reach and following has been exponentially increased. Remember? Last year it had only Half a million fans on Facebook and now currently it has 1.1 Million fans following it just on Facebook only.
Talking about the song performances, the people were excited to see Atif Aslam featuring with Qayaas this time. Another great surprise this time was the presence of Bohemia, who did rapping in which he is best at ! Where Hadiqa tried a typical Sufi Punjabi Kalaam this time (originally written by Bulleh Shah), SYMT brought a modern new feel to the show. The Episode 1 ended up with the beautiful and romantic Tappas, sung by Hamayoon Khan.
Lets take a detailed review of each and every song performance below:
Note: Click on song titles below to watch its music video, download mp3 and read lyrics.
Hamayoon Khan – Larsha Pekhawar Ta
This song starts with instruments of North blended with some jazzy sounds that Coke Studio is known for. A song that contains music instruments from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is really giving this song a different vibe, a different touch to it. Larsha Pekhawar Ta includes a genre of Pashto poetry known as tappas. Tappas are couplets in which the second line is longer than the first. There are thousands of tappas in Pashto literature that deal with the themes of love and separation – either from a beloved, a loved one or from the homeland. In this song, Hamayoon Khan has typical Pushto vocals to it, so overall this is a treat for all folk and experimental music listeners and of course for our Pakhtunkhwa brothers. I shall rate this song as:
8/10.
Tum Kaho by SYMT
A groovy experimental track that sounds more bluesy and jazzy. The interesting part about the song is fusing it with Mere Sohneya Mere Meherbaan, for which it is widely criticized also. Many critiques believed that fusing it with Mere Sohneya was totally unnecessary and injustice to the original track. Even then we would say that blending it with bluesy chords played at the back, shows that this season of Coke Studio has so much experimental to offer. Apart that Viccaji sisters providing backing vocals to this song makes this a worth listen. According to me if I consider about music, lyrics and composition of this song I would rate it a:
7.5/10
Kamlee – Hadiqa Kiani
Whenever we talk about Hadiqa Kiani, a certain image comes to our mind that she’s up with some lovey dovey pop song but here in CS, she comes up with a sufi kalaam. It was pretty new seeing a pop singer singing a sufi track but she really did justice to this tune. She’s singing without music for around 2.5 minutes and then the beat starts off where she takes this kalaam to a whole next level. The best part about this song is that when she reaches the 6th minute of the track and echoes are added to her vocals, the song takes a divine touch and the end to this track makes this song a MUST LISTEN. According to me I might rate this song as an excellent one
9/10 – Good job Hadiqa!
Paisay Da Nasha – Bohemia
When Coke Studio team released a promo that Bohemia is included in CS this season, it was expected that he’s there to set some fire to bluesy Coke Studio stage and that’s what happened. He came up with this track called Paisay Da Nasha in which he raps about MONEY as he usually talks about in almost every song of his. The song is pretty rageful and sounds good because it contains hard drums with some dhol beats by Babar Khanna and Viccaji sisters providing slow harmonic sounds and singing chorus to this. In background you can feel some Mission Impossible type secretive tune playing which makes this song more interesting and artsy. This is one of the most viewed songs of this season and Bohemia is confidently doing it what he does best. I would rate this track as:
8.5/10
Charkha Nolakha by Atif Aslam & Qayaas
Now this is the song that everyone NEEDS to listen because Pakistan’s finest metal band collaborates with Atif Aslam. Umair Jaswal sings out in his raspy voice and the acoustic guitaring at back gives the melancholic feeling to the music. The song gets energized when the song crosses 5:30! According to me, this is the finest track of Episode 1. Qayaas has alot of potential when it comes to blend rock music with eastern elements. One thing that you all guys must notice while watching this song is that Umair Jaswal is jumping and moving without any reasons, haha. Jokes apart, he has unique vocals. If we have to consider the popularity level, views, reach and performance of this collaboration, I would rate this song as:
