Underground Underground No More
- Year-end Roundup
from the
2001 saw the Lahore Music Underground mature and still
retain its vibrancy and hyper-activity. Existing bands grew competent, some
supremely so (Seth), while others seemed to be falling away (Entity)
or apart (Blue Buzz). Some new blood was
infused into the scene (Paradigm), certain players checked out (Qasim Khan, Blue Buzz, Entity?) and some
stalwarts (Gulls, Ali Noor, Salman Albert and Mohammad Ali Jafri
in noori) seem now to be on the verge of
graduating to the mainstream. All in all, ambitious boys and, pleasantly, some
girls made great music in
The major star of the year was no doubt Mekaal Hassan who exploded out of
the underground, proferring a virtuosic fusion of
Western and Eastern music. Mekaal had long been
slogging away in the idiom, but in 2001 he finally got the kudos and
recognition he has long merited. This particularly came to the fore at the
World Music Festival organized by the Rafi Peer Group
where the Mekaal jammed with world-music stars like
Peter Lockett and Nana and thereafter recorded with the legendary drummer Billy
Cobham. To date, he remains the mainstay of serious,
progressive music in
The best band for the year was Seth by a country mile. The band has now evolved into the tightest of musical units around, which, though it deals mostly in covers, makes each song its own. Their presentation is always top-notch and they appear to be possibly the only band in underground who is aware of the subtler aspects of stage-craft and presentation.
For once, in the year 2001, Lahorites were often spoilt for choice with the sheer number of events that took place. The Gulls organized Gig Nights, the Green Gig Night and the Rock Music Festival were all red-letter events. A couple of underground performers even managed to smuggle themselves into the World Music Festival. Overall, each project attempted was more ambitious than the other. However, some events did fall through: Bally Sagoo was a no show. But, in retrospect, Bally was hardly missed.
Of the new bands, Paradigm was a revelation. Although their earlier performances were tentative, by the year-end Rock Music Festival the band had grown in stature and skill. They came to the fore playing somewhat commercial alternative rock, but doing it with panache and quite a bit of passion. Their recent self-penned single Read Between The Lines also demonstrated good songwriting chops.
While new blood was infused into
the scene, certain others from the underground left the scene. Most prominent
among them was Qasim Khan from Entity who
moved to the
Despite cat-calls of “sellout!”, two of the brightest stars of the Underground now seem to be on the verge of making it big. Gulls, with a little help from Sameena Ahmad and friends, are taking their hilarious spoof Jutt and Bond to the small-screen. One wonders how it will affect the music-related side of the organization and the various gig nights. noori is set to release their long awaited album cryptically titled IDHMCBP. If the songs Manwa Re and Mujhe Roko already in heavy rotation on Indus Vision, are anything to go by the album is likely to be a masterwork. After their recent maiden live performance for Aptech more performances by noori are highly anticipated.
In 2001 it has been very
heartening to note that the Lahore Music Scene now seems to be attracting
musicians from all over
2001 was also the year when the music underground took to the internt like a fish to water. Several web-sites offering music, bios and what-not have sprouted all over the net. Mekaal Hassan has a fabulous (though seriously self-aggrandising) web-site at www.mekaalhassan.com. Once, the band one loves to hate, but also the band with the most hummable single of the year (tied for first with Adil Salik’s A Fool Recalls), has a similarly tops web-site at www.once-undercover.com (the site has recently been hacked by the Islamic Militant Front and makes curiously compelling viewing in this state). Adil Salik’s excellent page can be found at http://drive.to/dye. Gulls offer up an appropriately well-organised site at www.gulls.com.pk. noori offers some exclusive previews at a makeshift web-page at www.noori.homestead.com.pk/main.html. Finally, A+ for effort goes to http://www.entity.8m.com/ which does an excellent job in profiling the Lahore Music Underground and the various bands that have populated it.
For all its vibrancy, there are still things that bother one about the scene.
Lack of originality, humor and female participation continues to rankle. Bands still continue to rely mostly on covers of their favorite artists or when they attempt to write songs themselves, come up with extremely derivative songs. That in itself is not a bad thing; it is a shortcoming nevertheless. The absence of solo artists and of a single lyricist of note still persists.
While the emphasis has remained
on live performance, it is maddening that none of these bands has really
recorded any of the their materials on tape and made
it available to their fans. A record of their existence was made and a
creditable push was given to the scene with the advent of the Indus Music
Channel and particularly the Rock Music Show. RMS came and recorded in
Having said that, one must also
hasten to add that things on recording front as not as grim as put across
above. This shortcoming is slowly but surely these days being made up by profligation of bootleg mp3s of various performances. In
fact, with Napster, Audiogalaxy and other
peer-to-peer music sharing programs there is every chance that we shall soon
have an on-line music exchange or even a
It is sad that most of the local educational institutions have remained insular to the scene, neither participating nor hosting any musical events. Barring UET and NCA, no colleges are breeding real bands. Aitchison and LUMS have remained generally insular, displaying some musical talent in their talent shows. Ali Hamza (possessing possibly the most songwriting ability and best voice in the city), Asjad Saeed, Aamir Alavi, Mehreen (‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ by her was probably the best performance of the year), Musdassar, Salar all have great skill, but no band or musician has really broken out from these colleges. LUMS particularly has remained closed to public at large, not accessible to all, but offering entertainment of the highest quality to its students. Their LUMS-only concerts offered music of the highest quality.
The list of qualms and points of note is long and one can go on and on about them. And that perhaps has been the best aspect of the LMU this year, that it has been extremely engaging and has continued to infuriate, excite and evolve.
By Mohammad A. Qayyum