Coke Studio Pakistan (season 7)

The seventh season of the Pakistani music television series Coke Studio premiered on 21 September 2014.^[2] and aired it finale episode on November 22, 2014. Previously it was scheduled to premiered on September 7, 2014 but was delayed due to an ongoing political crisis which has caught the media attention everywhere.^[3] Season premiered under the tagline of Sound of the Nation.^[4]

Season seven is produced by Strings (band) ^[5] as previous seasons producer Rohail Hyatt quits on January 22, 2014.^[6] while Coca-Cola returns as an executive producer. The band's duo, Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia produced the show for the first time, while they were briefly appeared as a featured artists in season one and season two, the duo took three months to complete the production of series.^[7] Season featured twenty-three artists, twenty-two musicians and twenty-eight songs.^[8] Also season is revamped with new house bands which includes, musicians, backing vocalists and guest musicians.^[9]

Season Changes

Season Seven witnesses many changes ranging from production team to studio sets, from music closure to musicians and from last season's atypical music genres to the return of original music genres of show. After the quitting of Coke Studio Pakistan founder's Rohail Hyatt as a producer due to the personal reasons, String's Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia took the charge of season, bringing back the rock, folk, pop and sufi genres of Coke Studio, with the season's Pakistani featured artists, many artists reprise their appearances from the previous seasons. This season pays homage to the Sound of the Nation. In a series of firsts, Season 7 delve into new unexplored genres while also touching upon the role that film music has had in defining the musical history by visiting quintessentially Pakistani film music within Coke Studio stage. Withe the change in appearance, Coke Studio logo's color were reverted as Coke was painted with White and Studio was Black, with the 'i' in Studio referring to Coke bottle, painted with white.

With many new additions, Coke Studio endeavors to cultivate a sense of national pride and make the platform more accessible to a diverse audience of viewers. Season 7 also features locally and globally renowned Pakistani artists, popular Pakistani songs and performances that incorporate the use of traditional Pakistani instruments to create a tapestry of music that aptly represents the fabric of our nation.^[10]

Season Line-up Chart

Featured artist line-up

Following is the list of twenty-four Featured Artist Line-up, that will perform as individuals, duo's and with chorus:^[11][12]

Backing Vocalists

For season 7, following is the list of backing vocalist that serves vocal harmony with the lead vocalist. Momin Durrani and Sara Haider are the first artists who make their debut as a featured artist and also served as a back singers while Rachel returns to season 7 with her third appearance as a backing singer.

• Momin Durrani
• Rachel Viccaji
• Sara Haider
• AKHILESH KUMAR RATHORE

Musicians

With the departure of Rohail, Musician House Band is alomost revamped with new artist, following is the list of featured line-up musicians:^[13]

House Band (Personals)

• Drums: Aahad Nayani
• Tabla & Dholak: Babar Ali Khanna
• Guitars: Imran Akhoond
• Piano, Synth and Keyboard: Jaffer Ali Zaidi
• Bass: Khalid Khan
• Percussion: Sikandar Mufti

Guest Musicians

Following is the list of Guest musicians that will support the Season 7 primary musicians, many guest musicians are from previous seasons, Ghulam Abbas, Shallum Xavier, Omran Shafique and Javed Iqbal are among them who served as the main musicians in previous seasons and now have a guest appearance in season seven.

String Section

Following are the list of Strings band musicians, that contributed in this season along with Faisal and Bilal.

Episodes

• Episode six of the season aired on November 16, 2014, in respect of the sacred month of Islam The Muharram while rest of the episodes follows the same weekly airing schedule.

Broadcast

Season Seven on airs its episode at following television channels and radio stations in Pakistan.

Television

All airing times local (PST/UTC+5).

• ^1 Channel on which the episode went on-air.
• ^2 Prime time only represents the time of fresh episode and day that on airs on relative channel. Prime time episode always airs on Sunday but changes may be subjected.
• ^3 Repeat Timings 1 is the timing of relative episode that airs again after the fresh episode went onair.
• ^4 Repeat Timings 2 is the timing of relative episode that airs twice after the fresh episode went onair.

Radio

• ^5 For Radio Prime time Timing is different as of TV, fresh episode onairs on Sunday and Monday.

Production

Coke Studio returns, after the sudden and abrupt ending of season six, because of copyright issues^[22] and bids the farewell to longtime producer Rohail Hyatt. After Rohail departure, Coca Cola approaches Strings band duo, Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia who had appeared as a featured artists in first two seasons. Shooting of Season 7 begins from May to July, while editing, development and progressive stages completes in July.^[23] In an interview with Dawn, Bilal said:

"We’re going to stay true to the CS feel and continue to merge elements of folk with modern music. There are so many untapped musical treasures in Pakistan and we’re looking forward to exploring into them. At the same time, we’re hoping to bring back the oomph that has been missing from the show during the past few years. Coke Studio was spectacular up till Season 3 but after that, it lost out on its element of surprise. We plan to bring it back."

— Bilal Maqsood - Dawn News.^[24]

While talking to Instep Magazine, answering to a question Faisal said:

"We had no idea how Rohail worked. Our interaction with the show, in the first two seasons, was restricted to our performances. During the first season, we weren’t comfortable with the arrangement and requested Rohail if we would play with our own band and it was just such a generous reaction on Rohail’s part to let us play with our band. Because now that we’ve worked with this CS7 house band for months, if someone comes in and wants to bring in their own band, we may not agree. Rohail said yes, but apart from that we didn’t know what else he did or how he ran the show. We made our own system…"

— Bilal Maqsood, Instep Magazine, August 17, 2014.^[25]

Coca-Cola GM Rizwan Khan said that their aim was to:

"reinvent the way music can capture the spirit of Pakistan. Coke Studio season seven will discover the talent and variance that this nation has to offer. Coke Studio has enabled and empowered Pakistani musicians to express their talents and skills. Many new stars have emerged and the initiative has provided a unique platform for the fusion and learning of music".^[26]

Reception and review

Before the episode hitting to the screens, the promos went enormously hits, as they depict the previous looks of sets, previous artists line up and studios previous music genres. Only the House Band personalities were missed by audience, from previous seasons Drummer Gumby was heavily demanded and appreciated for his work. Despite the abrupt ending of season six, people still admire Rohail and willing to see him back.

Bilal Masood the producer of series said:

"Taking the reigns of Pakistan's biggest music platform is a feeling that can't be expressed in words. This has been a magical ride for us, 23 artists, 22 musicians and 28 songs. As producers we couldn't have asked for more. It's all about celebrating Pakistani music and our artists".^[27]

Moreover, artists from the studio also shared their journey with strings and their ideas of working with bother producers. Keyboard player Jaffer Zaidi said

"I think Rohail Bhai and Strings have different strengths and weaknesses as producers, therefore the experience is entirely different. The most prominent difference this year has been the creative freedom, involvement, and dialogue being offered to all the musicians that were part of the project. God willing, season 7 has much to offer."

The Bass player, Khalid Khan of Coke Studio said:

"The best thing about this season is the fact that no one is over playing a certain instrument and everything is being used to enhance the ensemble. We have paid special attention to the groove and rest I leave it up to the listeners to decide."

See also

• Pakistan Music Stars
• Music of Pakistan

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coke Studio (Pakistan).

• Official website
• Coke Studio on Facebook
• Coke Studio on YouTube
• Coke Studio on Twitter
• Coke Studio at the Internet Movie Database
• Coke Studio on Google Play
• Coke Studio on Soundcloud
• Coke Studio on Vimeo