Coke Studio Season 3 : Rohail Hayaat definitely knows what he’s doing !

When we first heard Meesha Shafi, currently Overload’s lead vocal, the throw of her voice was so big that all that came to mind was “Rock star Alert” and seeing her later along side Arif Lohar, a Pakistani folk legend, seemed to be a unique idea but it remained to be heard. “Alif Allah” is by no means an easy project as it’s a very well preserved folk melody, many have tried their luck with this melody prior to the coke studio sessions, but hats off to Meesha, she rose to the occasion. Their were moments in the performance when she actually overlapped Arif Lohar. It was not an easy transition and she showed a lot of promise. Meesha has a lot to offer to the Pakistani music scene.

Zeb & Haniya seem to have found a nice comfort zone with Rohail. Their own versatility gives Rohail a good ground for some really melodic experiments. The Pashto-Persian songs by Zeb and Haniya were definitely targeting the pashto speaking audiences but Rohail created such catchy fusions of the traditional Afghani folk with the main stream pop that although we don’t understand most of “Bibi Sanam Janem” but the funky rhythm with the traditional Rubab gets us moving.

Arieb Azhar fits in very well to the sufi theme of the coke studio but his first performance for this season was a bit unfitting. “Na Raindee hay” has very strong lyrics but it couldn’t fit well in to the episode.

Its so good to see Karavan after such a long time and to no surprise Tanseer Daar has still got it. A mellow song, well arranged but it would have been great to hear Gumby at the drums with Karavan though Sikandar also did a good job. Looking forward to hear more of Karavan in coke studio sessions and waiting for their upcoming album. Yaadein is no doubt a great comeback song for Karavan.

Abida Parveen is always a treat to the ears. Over the ears she has established herself as a Sufi music icon and has earned the recognition and fan following of global audiences. She is no doubt the queen of Sufi music. Her appearance at the coke studio sessions is itself a proof of the recognition and fan following it has earned. It would not have been easy for anyone playing alongside an icon but it was an awesome performance. The ambience Ramooz-e-Ishq created was sublime, especially Gumby keeping up with the Sufi style of music. Rohail’s maturity at his work is reflected especially in this performance.

There’s more to come and we’re waiting anxiously !