This is my entry for this weeks #ttt run by the fantastic @ablaze. Do check out his posts to know about the fun contest. Thanks @ablaze, this is one contest that compels me to write a post at least once a week - I love it!

And now to the show :

Music from across the border

Music is big in the subcontinent. India has a rich and diverse world of great music, from folk to classical, from ancient to contemporary, from raunchy and naughty to devotional to pure abstract. And the same deep history of music exists in all the neighboring countries

Many programs come up from time to time to tap into the love for music that India and the surrounding countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka love. In particular, the shared music history of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh allows for music to be one of the three things that unite people despite politics (the other two being food and cricket) Hence good programs tend to be big not just in the country of origin but across borders.

Coke Studio is one such lovely show. This is the original version that started in Pakistan and later spread to other countries in the subcontinent (e.g., Coke Studio Bharat) I tend to like Coke Studio better for its vocal prowess and experiments. The melody of Hindustani Music, folk melodies, Punjabi, Urdu, and Pashtun poetry combine with Qawwali, Sufi, and many other sources to give many rich and beautiful songs in every season. Coke Studio Bharat (and the earlier Code Studio India) does more experimenting around the music production and I find it to be a bit more hit-and-miss. There are some great numbers there too, which I will share later.

Pasoori | Coke Studio Season 14 | Ali Sethi | Shae Gill

This was the song that brought me back to Coke Studio in 2022. What a song what an arrangement! Ali Sethi puts together a beautiful song speaking of love and heartbreak. All in such a majestic song that it was the top song in two countries and many other parts of the world at that time. I love the vocals and the instrumentation of the song, danceable as a slow dance but has the soul of a folk song. Voice as music, that's what pulled me in, considering that I also did not understand all the Punjabi lyrics. Ali Sethi is a master at this, and the beautiful voice of Shae Gill adds the cherry on top. Hope you love it too.

Kana Yaari | Coke Studio Season 14 | Kaifi Khalil x Eva B x Abdul Wahab Bugti

A young singer singing in contemporary Balochi (typically songs on Coke Studio have been in Urdu, Punjabi, or even Pashto is more common as far as I know) with such a sweet melancholic voice, a veteran Balochi folk singer with his plaintive dambura, and a spunky young pioneering Balochi female rapper are assembled by Xulfi to create a fantastic mix. The output is a song of Kaifi Khalil supported both by the ancient roots through folk, as well as the modern aggressive hop through hip hop and rap.

Again the production is so fantastic and yet the voice soars. Starting with that beautiful, almost fragile, sound of the dambura, weaving into Abdul's voice which seems to have the strength and pain of all his forefathers coming through it, then rippling into the melody of Kaifi speaking of two-facedness and how one should be true inward as well as outward, to the machine gun Balaochi firing of our pioneer Eva B.

When I heard this song it was due to all the viral dance memes which typically only had a snippet of the song. I liked it enough to come over to YouTube to watch it. I was blown over by the tour de force. Like great western rock band songs, it is worth rewatching the video again and again to both hear the fantastic song as well as see the production put together with some beautiful rarely seen instruments.

Hope you love it as much as I do.

If you have the time check out the viral dances that came out of this song. QuickStyle, in particular, did a fantastic improv on this song and it was so good that they ended up creating an official dance video for this song last year

Tera Woh Pyar + Nawazishein | Coke Studio Season 9 | Momina Mustehsan x Asim Azhar

This is both a simpler song as well a more complex one - complex in the sense that it is a remix of two songs. The song is produced by Shuja Haider who, I am given to understand sang both of these hit ballads originally. Here he manages to seamlessly put both of them together into one production. The originals were sweet, this remix takes it up a notch. Knowing that the original artist himself is creating the new version makes it an even bigger WOW. The sound of this song is a song I associate with old Pakistani and Bollywood pop. Sweet, simple, melodic, rich! Love the voice quality of both the singers too!

That's it for now

So many more songs I want to share from this show but will hold back for now.

Don't worry too much about understanding these songs. The words are not native to me either and I don't understand most of it. However, if you consider voice as a musical instrument you will be able to enjoy these songs at their fullest. I do advise that you check the lyrics on the interwebs, cause the songs do have very good poetry too. However, the tone and the treatment of the songs are what shines through for me.

Music the global language

If you have the time and opportunity do check the comment section of these songs. Most people know YouTube comments to be the cesspool of humanity. However here you will see so many positive comments enjoying the art. One thing you will notice is the surplus of positive and hopeful comments from Indians for these songs. Truly Music and Love have no borders.