Previews of Episode 3, Coke Studio Season 4 (Videos)
Previews of Episode 3, Coke Studio, Season 4
Mole:
The six individuals, who together make up the band Mole, are drawn together by a single unifying force – music. Some of them were already active in the Karachi underground music scene as far back as 2003, despite the fact that the average age of these young musicians is just 21. It began when Ziyad Habib and Danial Hyatt teamed up, roped in a few more like-minded friends and started doing “what every underground band in Karachi, Pakistan was doing” – playing gigs, doing covers and striving to be heard. But the force of a fertile and prolific creativity set Mole apart and they quickly abandoned cover tunes for original compositions. Although the Mole material was not tailor made to fit any identifiable genre or indeed, to fill an apparent void, audiences connected with what they heard and public demand grew. Mole has since released two EP’s online; “We’re Always Home” in 2008 and “Visiting” in 2010.
In between these two albums almost all the members of the band made the transition from being Karachi-based school kids to college students enrolled in universities across the globe, and yet the flow of music from Mole continued unabated. This happy inability to perceive conventional boundaries also seems to have allowed them to evolve with absolute freedom. True children of the Technology Age, Mole’s creativity has, over the years, been stimulated by a variety of diverse influences – from Radiohead and video games to the uncharted territory of ‘experimental music’. When asked what inspires them the volley of responses ranges from the misleadingly mundane: friends, family, children and childhood to the comfortably introspective: feelings, peace, love, God, the universe and seamlessly on to art, anime, video games, space travel, fantasy and super natural existences. And, of course, “lot’s of music”!
Mole, with a line-up that includes Amman Mushtaq, Abdullah Tariq Khan, Bilal Nasir Khan and Faizan Riedinger, along with the two founder members, brings their unique brand of experimental music to Coke Studio this year.
Quratulain Balouch did not grow up dreaming about being a singer. By her own admission, she “realized it pretty late”. Balouch’s training was not of the traditional kind either. Instead of employing a vocal coach, she listened to and sang along with popular numbers by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen and Reshma. In this way she nurtured her natural talent and developed it into a potentially promising career, recording a video of her song Peera with Khawar Jawad and performing a gig at the World Fashion Café.
A hallmark of Balouch’s personality is her modesty and respect for those she grew up listening to. Whatever success she has had, she credits to “the divine inspiration I get from the big names.”
It is no surprise then that Balouch’s favourite quote comes from Frederick Peris. “I do my thing and you do yours. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations and you are not in this world to live up to mine.” It is this philosophy that has allowed Balouch to maintain her independence without losing her admiration for others.
She joins Jal at Coke Studio this year for a collaborative fusion number.
“There is peace to be found within Music,” says Ustaad Naseer-ud-din Saami, “We all feel the effects of music – but in going a step further, in understanding the effect that music has on one, is the key to a greater truth. One that can enable us to bring about tranquility in our heart, body, mind and soul.”
Ustaad Saami has spent most of his life immersed in this quest. His musical education, under the tutelage of his uncle Ustaad Munshi Raziuddin, started in 1957, when he was 12. “For the first six months we just sat in front of our Ustaad,” says Ustaad Saami, “He would sing and we would listen.” After singing to his students for six months, Ustaad Raziuddin set them to singing a single note or sur – ‘sa’. “We sang until our jaws ached, but that was a part of our learning process.” Finally, three months later, the Ustaad allowed his pupils to add one more note to their repertoire and in this painstaking manner the education advanced. It would be two years until the Ustaad felt his students capable of attempting simple melodic progressions.
Now, himself an Ustaad of unimpeachable repute, Naseer-ud-din Saami is known for his formidable talent and the intense refinement of his skill. Ustaad Naseer-ud-din Saami’s musical lineage of over 700 years can be traced back to Amir Khusro, through his ancestor Mian Samaat bin Ibrahim, who was a student of the famed 13th century poet, mystic and musician. A central component of the musical inheritance is the emphasis on the purity of sur. Ustaad Saami’s performances are marked by his command over his medium and of course, the enhanced definition of sur, articulate against the resonant drone of the exquisite twin tanpuras that have been in the family for over 175 years.
Enigmatic and graceful, Ustaad Naseer-ud-din Saami mesmerizes audiences as he conveys the emotional essence of a raag to powerful effect. This year Ustaad Saami brings the magic and magnetism of eastern classical music to Coke Studio.
