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London calling
lt had been a while since Pakistani artistes visited London for a concert and till the October 8 earthquake, everyone was counting the days to the Mega Eid Hungama. Of course, because of the disaster, this was later turned into the South Asia Relief Concert which took place on November 5 at London's Wembley Conference Centre.
The show took off to a warm start with Shiraz Uppal and just the perfect amount of energy on stage. He sang Saiyan Ve while slowly enticing the audience and then Tera te Mera. The recorded music continued with Rabi Pirzada and her attempts at casting her Jadu on the audience, wearing an outfit that glittered and shone for even those in the last row. She then performed Nazia Hasan's Boom Boom with one kick in the air for each 'boom.' She threw out CDs after which host Adil Ray from BBC Asian Network quipped to those with the CDs, "that would be 7.99 please."
The show picked up some momentum with Faakhir who walked in singing "hongay kabhi hum juda ... meinay ye socha na tha." He then broke from the lyrics, greeted the audience and offered a prayer for the earthquake victims. Afterwards, he continued with Jiya na Jaye, all in all just vocals with a bit of acoustic guitar. He was live and he was good. Then came a song for the earthquake victims, Tere Bina, followed by other hits Tauba Hai and Sub Tunh Sohniye.
Humera Arshad arrived on stage in a fancy white and red shalwar kameez and red lipstick, magnified to manifold extremes on the big screen behind her. She started off with Mein Nahi Boldi while waving her hand to the words as in the video. The beat made the audience hyper as it saw the first and last of bhangra that night. She sang her Basant special Seetay te Seeti and the entire hall erupted in whistling.
Haroon stormed in wearing a black leather jacket, singing Yara. The song ended with a boom as Haroon knelt and threw one hand to the audience with the word Yara, while simultaneously there were pyrotechnics at the corners of the stage. The singer followed up with the national song Dil Se, which did him good. Songs that followed were Mehndi and then Mehbooba, in which he got four girls on stage to dance.
As the compere did his thing between sets, one could see glimpses of Goher Mumtaz, Farhan and Shazi — collectively known as Jal. The moment Farhan began his alaap for Woh Lamhay the evening reached its climax. It was almost a shock to see the entire audience up on its feet to a ballad like that while yelling the lines of the song. Jal then sang a song for the earthquake victims, which was a different version of Ik Din Ayega. When Adil came on to usher them off stage, the audience rebelled. In response, the band rocked the house with the ubiquitous Aadat.
Ali Azmat was up next and his head shone under the yellow, green and blue lights and to top it all, he wore a suit. He sang a different version of Deewana with a very rock'n'roll touch, following it up with Garaj Baras, which was more familiar to the audience. He sang Dosti and then Na Re Na, as someone in the audience was overheard calling him the 'Asian Aerosmith.'
Second last was Strings with Dhaani and a selective response from the audience. Bilal looked cute in a black t-shirt and bangs over his forehead. Session guitarist Adeel — playing the brightest yellow guitar — was thoroughly enjoying himself and singing along to the camera. They sang Duur and then did Dhaani a second time, this time with a little more contact with the audience. Then came Sohniye and at last Laal Meri Path, which really got them going since everyone knew the song. At the end Faisal was the only one who had the courtesy to say "thank you London."
Jawad Ahmad was the most awaited artiste of the evening, and left with less time than originally planned as others had played beyond their scheduled slots. But he made good use of it. He spoke briefly on the tragedy with first-hand experience and the tiredness and sorrow in his eyes. He dedicated the song Dholna to the quake victims.
As his song Dosti begins with Pakistan's national anthem, everyone stood up and did not take their seats for a long time to come after that. It was just the right feeling to go back home with. Jawad did not sing any of his fast numbers after that as it did not suit the mood. Yet, somehow, the show felt complete.
The show took off to a warm start with Shiraz Uppal and just the perfect amount of energy on stage. He sang Saiyan Ve while slowly enticing the audience and then Tera te Mera. The recorded music continued with Rabi Pirzada and her attempts at casting her Jadu on the audience, wearing an outfit that glittered and shone for even those in the last row. She then performed Nazia Hasan's Boom Boom with one kick in the air for each 'boom.' She threw out CDs after which host Adil Ray from BBC Asian Network quipped to those with the CDs, "that would be 7.99 please."
The show picked up some momentum with Faakhir who walked in singing "hongay kabhi hum juda ... meinay ye socha na tha." He then broke from the lyrics, greeted the audience and offered a prayer for the earthquake victims. Afterwards, he continued with Jiya na Jaye, all in all just vocals with a bit of acoustic guitar. He was live and he was good. Then came a song for the earthquake victims, Tere Bina, followed by other hits Tauba Hai and Sub Tunh Sohniye.
Humera Arshad arrived on stage in a fancy white and red shalwar kameez and red lipstick, magnified to manifold extremes on the big screen behind her. She started off with Mein Nahi Boldi while waving her hand to the words as in the video. The beat made the audience hyper as it saw the first and last of bhangra that night. She sang her Basant special Seetay te Seeti and the entire hall erupted in whistling.
Haroon stormed in wearing a black leather jacket, singing Yara. The song ended with a boom as Haroon knelt and threw one hand to the audience with the word Yara, while simultaneously there were pyrotechnics at the corners of the stage. The singer followed up with the national song Dil Se, which did him good. Songs that followed were Mehndi and then Mehbooba, in which he got four girls on stage to dance.
As the compere did his thing between sets, one could see glimpses of Goher Mumtaz, Farhan and Shazi — collectively known as Jal. The moment Farhan began his alaap for Woh Lamhay the evening reached its climax. It was almost a shock to see the entire audience up on its feet to a ballad like that while yelling the lines of the song. Jal then sang a song for the earthquake victims, which was a different version of Ik Din Ayega. When Adil came on to usher them off stage, the audience rebelled. In response, the band rocked the house with the ubiquitous Aadat.
Ali Azmat was up next and his head shone under the yellow, green and blue lights and to top it all, he wore a suit. He sang a different version of Deewana with a very rock'n'roll touch, following it up with Garaj Baras, which was more familiar to the audience. He sang Dosti and then Na Re Na, as someone in the audience was overheard calling him the 'Asian Aerosmith.'
Second last was Strings with Dhaani and a selective response from the audience. Bilal looked cute in a black t-shirt and bangs over his forehead. Session guitarist Adeel — playing the brightest yellow guitar — was thoroughly enjoying himself and singing along to the camera. They sang Duur and then did Dhaani a second time, this time with a little more contact with the audience. Then came Sohniye and at last Laal Meri Path, which really got them going since everyone knew the song. At the end Faisal was the only one who had the courtesy to say "thank you London."
Jawad Ahmad was the most awaited artiste of the evening, and left with less time than originally planned as others had played beyond their scheduled slots. But he made good use of it. He spoke briefly on the tragedy with first-hand experience and the tiredness and sorrow in his eyes. He dedicated the song Dholna to the quake victims.
As his song Dosti begins with Pakistan's national anthem, everyone stood up and did not take their seats for a long time to come after that. It was just the right feeling to go back home with. Jawad did not sing any of his fast numbers after that as it did not suit the mood. Yet, somehow, the show felt complete.
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