String along with the Pakistani duo

Bilal Maqsood

ENTHRALLING the city of Chennai, Strings, the duo from across the LOC set the stage on fire at the showdown to the IIPM culturals. The first concert after the launch of their latest album, 'Koi Aanay Wala Hai', Bilal Maqsood(guitar) and Faisal Kapadia (vocals) believed that Chennai is a great place to do some live gigging. Expresso caught up with them.

Your first song, 'Sar Kiye Ya Pahar', became popular in India, especially after it was played in the clubs. But what is your take on remixing original songs. Does it lose its flavour in the process?

All we can say is that when you do it, it becomes a new form of music. The people who make the original piece never think of remixing it. Earlier, there was a special form of music that was meant for the clubs. Now it’s different. Every popular song finds its way to the console. But the life of a remixed song is never as long as the original.

You have worked with Euphoria, Hariharan and many other Indian musicians. Do you see music as a key factor for building bridges between nations?

Absolutely. And we are glad we are a part of that process. This year has been great for us. We have done quite a bit of travelling and a few movies as well. What we have noticed is that things are getting better between the two countries. The governments are doing what they can and music is doing what it can.

When you started in 1989, in college, as a pop-rock band, doing such music was considered a bad trait in Pakistan. What did it take for you to get to this stage?

True. When we began, it was testing times in Pakistan. There was just one state television and a radio station, which never promoted any sort of music that we did. It’s different now. But we struggled, as we had to prove ourselves. But we believed that if we were honest about our work and that we would take off.

You are the ambassadors of peace in the UNICEF. You have also done a video on the Beirut crisis. What about a project on the India- Pakistan peace process?

We always wanted to look at the India-Pakistan relationship in a positive way unlike how many people see it now. It’s about coming together. Why not, we might do a project soon.

Being the brand ambassadors of Gibson, you use only their guitars for stage shows. Do you do it because of the profitability factor or because you are hooked to the brand as musicians?

A true musician never looks at just the profitability factor. Gibson has been a dream come true for us. It’s like getting the Nobel Prize in peace. Growing up, we’ve seen the big acts in the world playing Gibson and we are only happy to be representing the name.

It’s the third time you are performing in Chennai. Tell me one thing that you find different in Chennai when it comes to audience response.

We keep touring India very often. Perhaps the one thing that we find different in Chennai and all over South India is that the crowd really loves live music. People, we believe, go out of the way to listen to someone playing live.

Coming to Chennai, did you get a chance to listen to any Tamil film music?

Actually, yes. We have heard some film music and we absolutely love AR Rahman. But unfortunately we never got a chance to listen to the local bands here.

Urdu music is traversing borders these days. Who do you think is the generation-next in Hindi pop-rock music?

There’s lots. Pakistan has a bundle of young talents as Urdu pop is becoming more popular unlike film music, which is hardly heard. Two names that we would say are those of Asif’s and Jal’s. In fact everyone is doing a good job.

And we want to say, ‘Do music because you feel it from the heart. Don’t run after the money’.

Link: NewIndPress.Com