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Battle of the Bands

Pepsi's latest music joint was a major success as many aspiring bands from nooks and corners of Pakistan [mostly from Karachi and Lahore though] got a unique chance to perform on national television and get nationwide recognition. Pepsi surely managed to uproot fresh talent beyond the underground music scene of Karachi and Lahore.

Pepsi Battle of the Bands [PBOB] thus unearthed some enormous talent from the backgrounds of our local music scene which perhaps due to lack of opportunities had been performing for a limited audience prior to this venture. These bands comprised mostly of pop singers but some alternative/rock bands are really worth mentioning like Aks, EP and Messiah.

.: FINAL EVENT :.

The final event to select the winner of PBOB was staged in a jam-packed Marina Club [Karachi] with a grand jury of top faces from the music industry including Zoheb Hassan, Junaid Jamshed and Arshad Mehmood. The finalists were the local favourites AaroH, a classical/rock band from Karachi and an alternative/rock band from Lahore - EP. Both the bands performed really well and it must have been a tough job for the jury to decide the winner, which however concluded that AaroH was the one. Here's the story of PBOB..

.: AaroH :.

Although with the advantage of homeground, AaroH performed outstandingly, both throughout the series and in the final against EP. Their lead vocalist Farooq has full command of his voice on key notes depicting proper education in classical music rarely seen in upcoming bands these days. AaroH exudes this distinct classical touch to their lyrics and that perhaps won them the prize. This junoon-inspired blend of east and west works well for AaroH only because of their command on voice and beat. The plus points for AaroH were their vocals and drums, the bass guitarist however did struggle with his instrument but thats how new bands learn.. and if they keep up their good work AaroH is surely to make it big on the national music scene especially after being officially endorsed by Pepsi.

.: Entity Paradigm/EP :.

This alternative/rock/rap/hip-hop ...you name it they got it, team of musicians [originally two bands now joined together] from Lahore made into the finals just because they were a different act. The lead vocalist Fawad lagged far behind AaroH's Farooq in key vocals however the english rap by Ahmed Ali added a fresh touch to their performance. The drumming was also weak as compared to Aaroh, and even a strong bunch of three guitarists failed to compensate for all that. But all in all, EP's performances were just brilliant, perhaps owing to strong vocals, a little bit of english rap and more on bass drums makes the EP magic work. The highly charged up performances brought them to the finals but lack of basics led to their fall. Still EP is a fresh start for a band which has already made its mark by a fresh outlook on the rather monotonous pakistani music scene.

.: Final Word :.

PBOB was a step in the right direction. With the ban on foreign music channels, Pakistan music industry has gone through much needed renovation with more and more local bands going national and PBOB provides them with this very opportunity. It should be held as a regular event anually if possible to promote more of fresh talent.