Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: December 04, 2019 | 
| 中文
Pepsi Battle of the Bands National Tour
The twin cities are the hometown of bands such as ‘Vital Signs’ and ‘Qayas’, their memorable songs and melodies along with powerful performances are close to our hearts and etched in our memories. For over two decades, the hills have been rocking to the sounds of numerous garage bands, made of dedicated musicians coming together to perform in small venues for friends and family.
Without a real music industry ecosystem, live performing venues, booking agencies, and events, the tour life is near to impossible in Pakistan. Islamabad has not been able to foster a rock band culture as yet, but there are still a few bands who continue to dream of performing in front of a live audience.
Pepsi Battle of the Bands attempts to fix this, by making sure that rock bands have a presence in Pakistani popular culture. Thousands of viewers have been tuning in to watch local bands compete on the television show. This competition model of auditions, selections and completion has been successfully adopted from shows like American Idol, The Voice and The X Factor. And Pepsi Pakistan is going strong, currently in its 4th season of Battle of the Bands. Pepsi Battle of the Bands has been a great opening for young talent, helped release fresh tracks and now has brought incredible independent rock bands onto the national stage.
The national tour of Pepsi Battle of the Bands featured the top contenders from various major cities, such as Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi returning to their cities to perform with one another. The Islamabad chapter had homegrown talents such as ‘21 the Band’, ‘Black Hour’ and ‘Aarish’ representing their city. The musical journey of these upcoming bands can be traced back from their first Pepsi audition, to then watching them take the stage on their home turf with original songs and hits from their Pepsi Battle season. But the final band for all the major city Pepsi concerts featured the well-established, and the all-time favorite Mekaal Hasan Band (MHB).
After years of not performing in Islamabad, Mekaal Hasan Band’s finale here felt like something extra special. Their performance featured “Chal Bulleya”, a classic recently re-released on their Youtube channel. New vocalist Rassab Amir took to the stage as the vocalist for the band. It was inspiring, both for the audience and the newer bands, to hear MHB’s signature tracks, including Sampooran, Jhok Ranjhan, Sindhi, Sajan, Sawal and Ranjha.
Mekaal Hassan Band (photo credits to Mughees Safdar Syed)
One experienced a spectrum of emotions, through Kami Paul’s understanding of rhythm and groove, bolstered by Waleed Attique’s driving bass. Mekaal’s guitar had a melodic conversation with the flute section, supported effortlessly by Tipu Khan’s keys. The timing of each distinct musical element was perfectly repeated, and built gradually in the classically termed ‘Jugal Bandi’, meaning "entwined twins". This is when a duel between two instruments, traditionally a sitar, sarod, flute or tabla is set to escalate and create rhythmic directions in a composition. The pull and push between Mekaal’s electric guitar, Mohammad Ahsan Papu’s flute and Rassab’s soprano, took inspiration from both eastern and western classical practices.
The opening act of the night was ‘21 the Band’, with the lead vocalist Yahya Farid (the original band member from season 3), now joined by Mubashir Sheikh Mashoo on guitar, Waleed Mazher on bass and Hussain Abbas on drums. The audience instantly felt the chemistry between Yahya and the band. And even though people were seated, Yahya managed to get the crowd to loosen up, and join him in singing the songs. ‘Dil Ki Baatein’ is a crowd-pleasing song, with nostalgic chords and a love ballad mood that was the complete opposite to the band’s new song ‘Chill Mahol’. And this is testament to Yahya’s versatility as a singer. The guitarist Mubashir, also played for Naseer Afridi in the band ‘Black Hour’, who performed afterwards.
21 The Band (photo credits to Mughees Safdar Syed)
Black Hour’s lead vocalist is Tayyab Rehman, who won the hearts of the judges over the course of the season. His performances on Pepsi Battle of the Bands grew stronger each time, leading to the hit track ‘Aik Naye Subh’. The lead guitarist Hashim Mehmood has energetic riffs that created the dramatic highs and lows of Black Hour’s sound. It was a treat to hear the alternative sound of the band, which involved blending love ballads with the darker tones of the electric guitar and drums. Salman Afzal’s electric bass lines and Daim Mehmood’s dramatic drum beats, added an underlying structure to Black Hours.
Black Hour (photo credits to BKazi Productions)
Home-grown talent Aarish, who were the finalists for Season 4, also performed. Aarish were the underdogs of Pepsi Battle of the Bands since season 2, when they auditioned but did not clear. The front-man, Nowsherwan Mehmood, had a confident and expressive performance, and enjoys sharing his thoughts and feelings with the audience between songs. The band comes together to mirror the poetic and lyrical quality of the vocals through steady drums by Humayun Mir. The bassist, Fahad Sikandar, and keyboardist, Nehal Azhar, draw the audience in with their warm tones. Meanwhile the two guitarists, Syed Haziq Ali and Ali Sohail, accompany Nosherwan’s strong vocal performance.
Aarish (photo credits to Pepsi Pakistan on Instagram)
The Pepsi Bands from Islamabad have shown camaraderie and mutual admiration for each other, encouraging the next band and praising the previous one. The positivity was felt throughout the audience, and created a fun environment for everyone present from children to adults. Platforms such as Pepsi Battle of the Bands, provide a great opportunity to cultivate the versatility, passion and talent of emerging bands all over the country.
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