The ninth season of the Pakistani music television series Coke Studio Pakistan commenced airing in Pakistan on 13 August 2016, concluded on 24 September 2016 and contained seven episodes. Season 9 aired Fridays (digitally) and Saturdays (televised), on various timings and channels across the country.
The Strings and Coca-Cola returned as an executive producers, while for the first time in series history, season was composed by six music directors, namely Noori, Shani Arshad, Jaffer Zaidi, Faakhir Mehmood, Shiraz Uppal, and Shuja Haider under the supervision of Strings. Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri marked his debut and final appearance with this season shortly before his assassination on 22 June 2016.
Artists
Featured artists Following is the list of forty-one featured artists line-up, including this years' five of six music directors, that performed as individuals, duos and with chorus:
Abida Parveen Ahmed Jahanzeb Ali Azmat Ali Khan Ali Sethi Amjad Sabri Asim Azhar Basit Ali Damia Farooq Faakhir Mehmood Haroon Shahid Jabar Abbas Jaffer Zaidi Javed Bashir Junaid Khan Kashif Ali Masuma Anwar Meesha Shafi Mehwish Hayat Mohsin Abbas Haider Momina Mustehsan Naeem Abbas Rufi Naseebo Lal Natasha Khan Nirmal Roy Noor Zehra Noori Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch Rachel Viccaji Rafaqat Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rizwan Butt Saieen Zahoor Sanam Marvi Sara Haider Shahzad Nawaz Shani Arshad Shilpa Rao Shiraz Uppal Shuja Haider Umair Jaswal Zebunnisa Bangash
Note: Shahzad Nawaz is the only featured artist who served as a narrator.
Music directors Following is the listing of artists that were assigned one of each, six music directors who composed, wrote and rendered songs with them, under Strings' supervision. + Music directors Artists Noori Zebunnisa Bangash Haroon Shahid Quratulain Balouch Shilpa Rao Junaid Khan Momina Mustehsan Itself Shani Arshad Meesha Shafi Abida Parveen Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rizwan Butt Sara Haider Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Amjad Sabri Himself Shiraz Uppal Naseebo Lal Umair Jaswal Mehwish Hayat Jabar Abbas Nirmal Roy Rachel Viccaji Kashif Ali Rafaqat Ali Khan Himself Jaffer Zaidi Ali Khan Ali Azmat Javed Bashir Mohsin Abbas Haider Saeen Zahoor Sanam Marvi Shuja Haider Abida Parveen Ali Sethi Ahmed Jahanzeb Umair Jaswal Naeem Abbas Rufi Meesha Shafi Asim Azhar Momina Mustehsan Quratulain Balouch Himself Faakhir Mehmood Momina Mustehsan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Zebunnisa Bangash Javed Bashir Masuma Anwar Shahzad Nawaz Basit Ali Damia FarooqNatasha Khan (Pakistani Singer) Himself
Musicians Following is the three backing vocalists that serves as a vocal harmony with the lead vocalist. Among them Nimra and Shahab marked their debut while Rachel returns, both as a backing vocalist and a featured artist for the second time.
House Band Drums: Aahad Nayani Dholak & Tabla: Babar Ali Khanna Guitars: Haider Ali, Imran Akhoond Bass: Kamran Zafar Percussion: Abdul Aziz Kazi
String Section Violin: Javed Iqbal
Backing Vocals Nimra Rafiq Rachel Viccaji Shahab Hussain
Guest Musicians Guitars: Omran Shafique Flute: Sajid Ali Guitars: Rahil Mirza Tabla: Fazal Abbas Guitars: Kashan Admani Drums: Kami Paul Bass: Bradley D’Souza Mandolin: Amir Azhar Sitar: Shehroze Hussain Rubab: Ustad Tanveer Hussain Piano and Keyboard: Umair Hassan Flute: Hassan Badshah Accordion: Azhar Hussain
Episodes
Initial promo songs
On 3 August 2016, a rendition of Madam Noor Jehan's cult-classic song "Zalima Coca-Cola Pila Dey" as a tribute to her, was released with also revealing the premier date of season. It featured vocals by season 9's featured artists Meesha Shafi and Umair Jaswal.
Following previous year format, at the 69th Independence Day of Pakistan, Coke Studio released another rendition of a song "Aye Rah-e-Haq Ke Shaheedo"a mili naghma (patriotic song) originally sung by Naseem Begum, on 6 August 2016. The song opens with a dedicated monologue, voiceover by filmmaker Shahzad Nawaz. The song was also as a tribute to those who sacrificed their lives during the Partition of India for the creation of Pakistan and reads, "Dedicated to those who sacrificed their todays for our tomorrow". "Aye Rah-e-Haq Ke Shaheedo" featured all the artists that were scheduled to lined-up for this season. It was well received by critics. Sharing their idea behind the song, the Coca-Cola team explained, "Coke Studio is all about bridging barriers and bringing people together through music. During this difficult period in our history, we wanted to unite the nation in recognition of all the heroes who have sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us can live in freedom. Together with Strings, we felt this song would be a beautiful tribute to them, and to their families and loved ones on behalf of our beloved country. Bringing together artists of all ages, cultures and geographies of Pakistan to perform this heartfelt rendition, originally sung by Naseem Begum, was our way of saying thank you." The song was used in closing credits of television film Ek Thi Marium aired on Defence Day.
Episodes
Production
Format "From the very outset, when we came on board in Season 7, this had been our vision. Up till then, it had been one person, Rohail Hyatt's journey. We now wanted to transform it into a collective dream. We were working on something as special as Coke Studio and we couldn't be so selfish that we kept it all to ourselves. We took our initial steps in S7 when we brought in external musicians aside from the house band. Season 8 was an extension of this. With Season 9, Coke was initially against taking on external producers because they thought that they already had the perfect formula and didn't want any changes. But we insisted." – Strings, on Format of show, 4 July 2016, Dawn News. For the first time in series history, each episode of season was composed and produced by six music directors – Shani Arshad, Noori, Shiraz Uppal, Faakhir Mehmood, Shuja Haider, and Jaffer Zaidi. While Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia served as executive producers and show runners for season along with Coca-Cola.
For this particular season, all the lined-up artists were selected by assigned music director/producer of each episode for their team with the final approval of Strings, whereas the songs' lyrics and compositions were done by producers. Performers were mutually selected by each producer and Strings, who would perform them. Season 9 featured mostly original songs.
The format of the show was initially planned to be instilled when Strings held the reins of show. However, the duo wanted to stay with the original format and started making changes in season 7 and season 8, bringing new artists and more original songs. The format would not be adapted in next seasons of series.
In an interview with Samaa, Strings said, "We've always believed in collaborations because this is how the industry grows. After the monumental response of season 8, we decided to bring onboard 6 of Pakistan's leading music directors to be a part of Coke Studio. Our vision since season 7 has been to involve more and more people from our music industry and make this platform a collective dream. When we presented the idea to Coca-Cola, they loved it and were fully supportive. It was a challenging task and our guidance was required throughout the process, but today we are extremely satisfied that we took this initiative."
Debutants Pakistani actors Mehwish Hayat and Junaid Khan made their singing debut in the season, while Indian singer Shilpa Rao was announced as a featured artist, under Noori's supervision. Rao explained, "I met Noori in Delhi for lunch at a common friends’ gathering, we hung out, sang songs together and that is when they asked me to come to Pakistan and sing for Coke Studio. I agreed – Ali took it very seriously and actually got me here to record the song. It's basically musicians bonding with each other. One song can make you friends for life – that is the power of music," sharing her experience she stated, " It [Coke Studio Pakistan] is a place where all the musicians are in an environment where they have their instruments, their space and the freedom to choose anything and convey it to the people in their own style; it's very powerful." Atif Aslam announced that he would not return to season 9.
Veteran Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri made his final and debut appearance on Coke Studio, before his death on 22 June 2016 in a targeted killing, where he recorded a rendition of qawali, "Aj Rung Hai" with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Coca-Cola GM Rizwan U. Khan said, "Coke Studio is the ultimate manifestation of Coca-Cola's music strategy and Season 9 will further strengthen Coca-Cola's cultural leadership, celebrating diversity while bridging barriers relevant to the youth of today, it is very distressing that Amjad Sabri himself will not be with all of us to see Season 9 go on air in August. His death is a huge national loss."
Coke Studio for the deaf
On 30 July 2016, preceding to the launch of season, a special musical segment called "Coke Studio for the Deaf" was launched in association with Deaf Reach program of the Family Education Services Foundation (FESF), for hearing-impaired persons with a setup invented by China that mainly comprises a special sofa/couch embedded with hundreds of vibration engines and LED lights that are synced with the sound of the song being played. A grand LED installation around the couch provides synchronized mood lighting to elevate the experience visually, lastly an LED screen in front of the sofa displays the video playback, while the studio is propped with guitars on stands, a drum kit and a keyboard on a stand adding to the overall ambience.
In an interview, Coca-Cola Pakistan's GM Rizwan U. Khan stated, "Coca-Cola, because of its all inclusive brand trait, revolves around bringing people together. It shrinks social barriers and encourages people to share their emotions and experiences. However, despite reaching the masses, an estimated 9 million of our population have some form of hearing impairment, and have not experienced the magic of Coke Studio. We are really happy that we are now able to make them a part of this unique experience and keep them connected with other people who have been enjoying Coke Studio for the past 8 years."
Richard Geary, founder and director of the Deaf Reach Program commented, "Our collaboration with Coke Studio reflects our approach towards opening new experiences for the Deaf Community and creating enabling opportunities for their inclusion and success. Coke Studio's new initiative will not only draw a circle to include those who are often marginalized, but serve to create more awareness and acceptance from the mainstream audience, helping them to better understand the challenges faced by those with a hearing impairment."
Reception General