Coke Studio Season 8 Review - Part 4 | Hare Hare Baans feat. Shazia Manzoor | Khalis Makhan feat. Bakshi Bros | Sammi Meri Waar feat. Umair Jaswal & QB

And here's a last ditch effort to slip in a few more of the remaining gems from Coke Studio Season 8 before Season 9 begins today! Feels like I am playing a 20-20 match here trying to slog it out in the last over!  Before we continue with the last over proceedings, here is a quick look at the highlights of the match so far! So It was Nabeel Shaukat Ali (Blog 1) who opened with a first-ball-six with Bewajah! Then Ali Sethi (Blog 2) joined him for a steady partnership culminating in a classical climax with Umran Langiyaan. It was then the other Ali (Zafar) who romanced with Sara Haider in Ae Dil to add some naughtiness to the innings. It then took a grounded Mulazim Hussain (Blog 3) to steady the ship with a couple of soulful performances. As the match enters its final lap, there are quite a few gems left to uncover which I'll try to bring forth today.

Hare Hare Baans

Vocalists: Shazia Manzoor, Rizwan & Muazzam

To view the lyrics click here

First up is Hare Hare Baans. This one is a Hazrat Amir Khusro written kalam (poetry)! Some quick googling revealed that this is quite a rare poetry and one would see a lot of online debate on what's the exact lyrics and origin of the song. But there is a general consensus on this having an Awadhi (Lucknowi) influence. The literal translation of the lyrics depicts the marriage of one's daughter and all the festivities around it. It narrates the plight of a father who is bidding farewell to his daughter with a heavy heart and this is reflected in the mixed emotions the composition evokes in the listener. Metaphorically this is to be understood as one's soul departing one's body towards the almighty.

Coming to the composition, Strings have conceptualised it beautifully to bring forth the pain of departure with Shazia Manzoor's singing while keeping the liveliness of the composition by concocting a beautiful Qawwali piece of the same song by smart use of instruments and powerful voice of Rizwan & Muazzam duo. The song is primarily on raag Khamaaj and at places you would find similarity with many familiar songs on the same raag. Especially at 5.25 there is an uncanny resemblance to 'Piya tose naina laage re' from Guide. The arrangement is beautifully done by Strings! I urge you to watch the behind-the-scenes video of this composition. The sheer sight of the team coming together on one of their jam sessions and experimenting, disagreeing and coming out with something brilliant is great to see. Definitely made me envious of the life these brilliant musicians lead! Especially loved the part at 0.33, when they discuss the chord structure and trying different patterns to reflect the sad mood of the song. The choice of instruments in this whole season has been fantastic and same holds true of this composition. Baans(uri) is beautifully used throughout the song. Also they used the low-frequency flute which goes with the mood of the song. The composition has two distinct arrangements - one for Shazia Manzoor's soulful part where the music is toned down to let Shazia's deep voice spray all the emotions so beautifully into the air, while the second part is the Qawwali by Rizwan & Muazzam and the music is a tad louder with use of harmonium and dholak (instead of tabla earlier!)

The soul of the song definitely is Shazia Manzoor, haven't seen many singers who can convey the essence of the song so beautifully just by varying one's voice! This is one of those songs which will keep reverberating in your head for a long long time primarily due to Shazia Manzoor. The subtle harkats are a treat to hear with Shazia hitting each note perfectly. Rizwan & Muazzam duo too have done full justice to their qawwali part complementing each other well. The sargam at 5.33 is masterfully done. Also loved the part (at 2.29) when one brother backs the other taking turns to render the alaap. Coming to Shazia's part, it would be really unfair on my part to single out any particular moment. Her performance in totality was a big 'wow' factor of this composition.

I hope this song dissolves you too in its fold like it had me! This is what I call a 'fast-poison', hits you quick, while the kick lurks inside you for a long time! Enjoy and do share your reaction after listening to this. :-)

Khalis Makhan

Vocalists: Bakshi Brothers

To view the lyrics click here

This one is yet another Punjabi folk song from Coke Studio Season 8. Unlike other performances Strings have experimented with a group (Bakshi Brothers) singing the main vocals as a chorus. And their Midas touch seems to have worked wonderfully for them yet again. The song is all about remembering the good ol' childhood days when one experienced many 'pure' things in life giving 'pure happiness' which is absent now. The choral singing does a good job in bringing the nostalgia effectively. 

The arrangement is beautiful. The best part of the whole composition is that no one element dominates the song at any point and it's indeed a team-effort - the vocalists (and don't miss the backing ones!), instrumentalists and the beautiful lyrics. The song begins with a beautiful riff on piano played by Jaffer Zaidi (of the Kaavish fame). Strings introduce matka as a percussion instrument here and it goes well with the nostalgic, rustic theme. The guitar chord-roll along with the bass-line forms the structure of the song. Sajid Ali's flute, Arsalan Ali's harmonium and Tanveer Tafu's Rubab are smartly used at interludes enriching the composition. Tabla forms the base of the percussion and Babar Ali Khanna is at his best again. Strings section adds another layer of beauty and comes much later in the song when the 'Peera-Ho' part starts at 3.34. Incidentally the raag also changes at this part and the violins convey that effectively!

The composition overall gives a happy, lively feel. While primarily on a major scale, off notes are beautifully used at places in the composition like 'komal ni' in the antara and interestingly 'komal ga' in the Peera-Ho part! So do listen to this and feel good remembering those past childhood days. :)

Sammi Meri Waar

Vocalists: Umair Jaswal & Quratulain Balouch (QB)

To view the lyrics click here

With the risk of lengthening this blog further, let me try to squeeze in another one of my favourites here! Sammi Meri Waar is a power packed performance and will keep you on your toes swinging to the beat. Strings constructed a brand new song out of a small folk piece - Sammi Meri Waar (which Quratulain Balouch - QB sings beautifully throughout). The star of the show however is Umair Jaswal! Boy what a powerhouse he is! For starters his voice is so unique and gifted. Has great control to render those vibratos and high scale pieces. He single handedly gave a rockish feel through his vocals to this otherwise pop arrangement! (check the controlled scream at 2.08)

The composition by the way is not as simple as it sounds! There is a continuous transition of scales (and hence raags) all throughout the song with Umair's part on major scale and QB's portion is on the minor scale of the same key. Hence the chords are completely different and bringing together this fusion so seamlessly speaks a lot about the creativity brought in by Strings here. Instrumentation is equally beautiful. This song like in most other compositions of the season starts with a piano riff from Jaffer Zaidi, but the most prominent part is the use of mandolin along with flute which gives a pleasant feel to the air when the song begins, as if one is teleported to a valley full of flowers and sunshine (personal imagination :-) )! This feeling continues with Umair's vocal which is accompanied by rhythm guitar in the background. The mood changes at 1.44 with the onset of strings and the minor scale kicks in beautifully! This sets the stage for QB to come in with the mukhda of the song. QB too, like Umair, has a very different voice. It's so different that it's difficult to stereotype! I believe she has created her own genre of vocals - powerful, thick in a sense yet agile. Drum work by Aahad Nayani is brilliantly done all throughout and helps Umair get the rockish feel. The other percussionist Babar bhai as usual rocked with the Dholak. A beautiful moment in the composition is when the lyrics goes 'dhol baaje' at 3.35 and all of a sudden there is a pause and only the dholak is heard giving it a contextual beauty! The acoustic guitar solo by Imran Akhoond too is brilliantly done at 3.06 which transitions QBs part to the happier sounding Umair's part. Also don't miss the brilliant flute solo by Sajid Ali towards the end at 4.56.

This one is perhaps the most powerful performance of the season and might leave you gasping at the end of it! The composition definitely deserves more than one listening for all the layers to hit you! 

There are a few more tracks from Season 8 which I would have loved to cover in this blog series. However, I don't see that happening in the near future with Season 9 starting today the hope that I get an opportunity to write about some awesome brand-new compositions with the new format this time! However, I definitely recommend you to listen to a few more of my favourites:

1) Man Aamadeh Am by Atif Aslam and a Pashto singer - Gul Pannra (she is brilliant!)

2) Rung Jindri by Arif Lohar - This man comes back after a powerful 'Jugni' performance! (watch-out for the awesome Strings section)

3) Neun La Leya by Kaavish (sung by the piano guy - Jaffer Zaidi, who has an incredibly deep voice!) - Enjoy this amazing track on raag Des

4) Tajdar-e-Haram by Atif Aslam - This one perhaps is the most popular track and one of Atif's better performances at Coke Studio

Would love to write about these ones as well sometime, time and mood permitting! Meanwhile do listen to these from Season 8 and enjoy Season 9! Will hopefully soon share my thoughts on the Season 9 tracks! Until then alvida!

- Prabhu :-)

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