Revitalization of Music by Coke Studio
Pakistani music comprises compositions from various parts of South-Asian, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Western regions. With the modern era, our living style, traditions, ethics and music are advanced. Pakistani music plays a vital role for being recognized around the globe having some extraordinary artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Noor Jahan, Abida Parveen, Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khanum and Asad Amanat Ali. These legends have built the music industry from scratch. Music was always there from the beginning but with the paradigm shift, it needed a boast so that new generation could listen to that old music which their ancestors used to listen. Coke studio gives that boast to all the musicians to sing those old songs in a renovated way so the new generation could listen it and they could resemble it with their forefathers. Ancient music had its own popularity, represents our culture, heritage and roots to which we belong. From past 8 years, Coke studio has been working in restoring the ancient music with the fusion of Western and Eastern instrumental music. Coke studio has taken an immense step to preserve the Pakistani music by blending it with new age music. Artists like Attaullah Khan, Abida Parveen, Ustad Raais Khan, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam, Ali Azmat, Arif Lohar, Ali Zafar, Abar-ul-Haq and Fariha Pervez have contributed in restoring the music and transferring it to new generation using high tech instruments.
In previous seasons of Coke Studio, they have featured the artists and their music from Baloch, Pashto and Bengal. With the fusion of instruments, it created a whole new aspect of music that represents whole Pakistani music. Coke Studio is not only a studio with artists but it is a platform for Pakistani local music that strengthens our culture and provides awareness of our heritage.
As the significance of Coke Studio is increasing every year and in order to revamp the music, the challenges are getting bigger from Season 1 to Season 8. We have seen different artists playing new instruments who are renowned in their own music style but coming to Coke Studio, they have opened a new path way to Pakistani music so other musicians could come and they could collaborate with the Pakistani music and build a masterpiece that could persist for decades and helps Pakistan to flourish its music industry.
Coke Studio has built a professional environment which connects the people to recognize their roots through music. It has changed our thinking that music can be good when classical music is fused with eastern/western music and that the traditional music doesn’t controvert modernism and it makes it even better. Coke studio is doing an incredible job by integrating new instruments gives opportunities thus opens new horizons to all the artists to come and work with Coke Studio so they could revamp the music industry. The work that Coke studio is doing is extraordinary because no other platform would able to mix the classical, folk music with western music and presenting it in an entirely different way to the new generation. Coke studio is making a garland of music and spreading its aroma into the hearts of people.
SHAFAQ KHALID RANA
Lahore
