At the age of 30, Rohail Hyatt, a Pakistani rock musician and founder of the band Vital Signs, woke up one morning to realize that he could not bear to hear the music he had been making since he had come of age.
How could it all sound wrong? He could not deny the healing, rejuvenating, soul-replenishing effect that the other kind of music, ethnic music had on him, even the physical effects: he’d stopped needing eyeglasses, hair on his head was growing faster without any extra effort. Even so, how could he accept that his previous identity had nothing to give him anymore?
This conflict was the genesis of what we now know to be the phenomenon of Coke Studio Pakistan, which is currently in its tenth season. It is a music program that presents orchestrated jamming sessions by musically diverse, vernacular and Western, emerging as well as established musicians that had its first season in 2008. Perhaps the most enduring and endearing aspect is that it revitalizes the “other music” that Hyatt had discovered in his own journey—ancient and folksy repertoire—but fashioned into a modern setting while still retaining the authentic sound.
Today, it is an iconic format of music programming that has youth re-engaged into ethnic music and thereby culture. It is a fair guess that youth comprise the majority of the 7.4 million Facebook likes. Coke Studio Pakistan’s impact is far-reaching: Inspired by the compelling pull of this music-discovery-fusion-harmony-universality movement, India, Africa, and Middle East have since launched their own avatars.
Esta historia es de la edición September 2017 de India Currents.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 2017 de India Currents.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Elephant and Donkey Tribes of Politics
The Motorcycle Guru Speaks.
On Feminism
It has been eight months since I started my MFA at Bennington College. In the last eight months I have cooked half a dozen meals. I pack my children lunches and I clean up the kitchen after my husband when he makes dinner for the family after he comes home from working in a Silicon Valley tech company. Cooking has never moved me. Motherhood has—but not the baggage of social dos and don'ts that accompanied it. I have done fewer play dates than the meals I have cooked in the past few months, and I rarely go to a birthday party. My husband takes the children to their social engagements. “But is this fair?” you might ask and I answer, “It is not about fairness, it is about what moves you as a person and how to keep that flame of what keeps you alive, burning within you, while negotiating roles in an adult world that still largely favors men over women.”
Of Wedding Bells And Hospital Bills
Not another invite,” I groaned, picking up a thick cream and red colored envelope.
A New Lease Of Life
How an Indian grandmother started making heart-healthy choices.
A Mother Loses Her Child: Fact And Fiction Coalesce
LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York. 472 pages. Hardcover. $27.00
From The Hood Without A Loo
TOILET: A LOVE STORY. Director Shree Narayan Singh. Players: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Padnekar, Anupam Kher, Sudhir Pandey, Divyendu Sharma, Subha Khote. Hindi w/ Eng. Sub-tit. (Viacom).
Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness
A LIFE OF ADVENTURE AND DE- LIGHT by Akhil Sharma. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York. 202 pages. wwnorton.com $24.95 hardcover.
Who Was Enid Blyton?
Raised in and out of India, I don’t remember reading too many Enid Blyton novels—barring those from the Noddy series. I knew, though, they were all the rage among girls—mostly girls. They’d spend hours reading them and like fish in a school, prattle over what they’d read over their lunchboxes.
Victoria And Abdul: It Looks A Lot Like Love
VICTORIA AND ABDUL. Director: Stephen Frears. Screenwriter: Lee Hall, based on book by Shrabani Basu. Cast: Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Adeel Akhtar, Tim Pigott-Smith and Michael Gambon. Focus Features, 2017. MPAA Rating: PG-13
Looters, Schemers And A Curse
Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond.
