Well now that you've been talking about Pakistan, here's a perspective from Pakistan for clearing up some points raised by some in this discussion:
First things first, what needs to be cleared is that pop-rock is big in Pakistan just as Bollywood is big in India. Although pop-rock was given a base earlier than 1970s but it flourished especially when we didnt have any strong movie industry of our own to do the job for us and our pop-rock bands or artists filled the gap. Starting right from Shehki and Nazia/Zohaib Hasan, this pop-rock has been growing ever since, just as Bollywood has been growing in India. Most of the Pakistanis of this age have grown up with this genre of music and that is why it sells in Pakistan. Its only now and very recently that India has been exposed to our music scene. So assuming that Pakistani music is surviving because of India is as big a fantasy as saying that Bollywood is surviving because of Pakistani fans.
1.
I like their session artists, specially the Drummer..
The drummer is Louis Pinto Gumby. He's commonly known as Gumby in Pakistan and is regarded as one of the best drummers to date.
2.
I like that singer with beard..
That will be Ali Noor of the rock band Noori that is hugely popular in Pakistan since early 2000s. His brother is Ali Hamza, the other guy in Aik Alif who sings 'jo na jaane haq ki taqat'.
3.
True.
Her solo (chori chori), though a copy of sili sili, has some indescribable melancholy and longing about it.
You either haven't heard Chori Chori originally by Reshma, one of the most well known folk legends in Pakistan since the 80s, or you havent heard Sili Sili. Please do a youtube search and listen to them and tell me if you find any similarity at all.
4.
Its true Pakistan has talent but its sad that Pakistani artists usually become successful when they come to India
And of how many Pakistani artists have you heard of? NFAK, Rahat, Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar and give and take a few more? You think thats all and that none other has tasted success in Pakistan? The fact is that most of these artists were BIG HUGE hits in Pakistan before they went to India and that is what made your Indian producers take note of them. Atif's first song 'Adat' with his previous band Jal was VIRAL in Pakistan and it was only after two years or so of this song getting big that he was noticed in India too. Its when the 'fame spills over' that our artists cross over to India which undoubtedly is the bigger market, rather than it being the other way round. World doesnt revolve around India, see. If Indians dont know of an artist, it doesnt mean he doesnt exist or isnt famous. Assuming that Indians give our poor artists a jumpstart is plain stupid, sorry.
Bands like EP, Aaroh, Call, Karvan, Kavish, Strings, The Sketches, solo singers like Hadiqa Kiyani, Shehzad roy, Abrar, Sanam Marvi, Rahim Shah, Fariha Pervez, Tina Sani, Sajjad Ali, Abida Perveen (etc etc etc) are all such names in Pakistan that you can cross the border, grab a steet kid and ask him about these and he will know. If YOU dont know about them then dont assume the ignorance is universal.
5.
because they get threatened and even get killed for singing...remember "Sayoni" song? ...which is still my favorite....but he quit singing now...idiocy or hypocrisy??...India offers them the freedom to spread their traditional and sufi music...and live on the earnings made
As I said, dont assume that ignorance is universal. You dont know the name of Ali Azmat, yes 'that' other singer who sang Sayoni (which might as well be the only song you've heard of him) and think you can comment on Pakistani music? At all? Ali Azmat happens to be one of the members of the rock band Junoon.
That Junoon that was referred to as one of the best bands of the WORLD. Not Pakistan, Not India, the world. Junoon was THE biggest thing that EVER happened to Pakistani rock music in the past 2 to 3 decades. Junoon is legendary, honey. Junoon released a total of 17 albums (show me one band in India who released as much and gained as huge a success as Junoon). Its called as the U2 of Pakistan, its work is still considered unmatched, what they produced a decade ago was way way ahead of their times. Salman Ahmed was another member of this band and he is considered to be one of the
best guitarists of Asia.
And no, Ali Azmat hasn't stopped singing just so you know. He hasnt been killed by anyone either rest assured. He released his album 'Kilashinfolk' a few years ago , and now one of his songs is doing rounds in Pakistan which means its a prelude to another album. You might as well drop the fungus gathering over your judgement by an overdose of your (AND foreign) media's reporting that tells you about how everything's a rot in Pakistan. Well, I'd challenge you for brining me some names in Pakistan who were
killed for singing.
Dont ever go on thinking that Ali Azmat got a chance at life because he once did a Sayoni for you.
I myself have quite a number of favorite bollywood songs and I would never go to the extent of dissing bollywood just because I have to. Genuine music lovers are not bound by geography.
And lastly, sorry folks to all those who were here to discuss Coke Studio for digressing. CS Pakistan has been and still is phenomenal. Hope CS@MTV achieves equal success in India. Kudos to all genuine music lovers here.
