It’s a really long read but awesome indeed and great insight on Strings, Dhaani and their music.
Whether it was an eight-year break between Sar Kye Yeh Pahar and Duur or now a two-year gap between Duur and their upcoming album Dhaani – Strings have an innate ability to bounce back. With Dhaani they are all set to hit the charts again. Nor are Strings in the least bit nervous about how they would fare in the presence of Noori and Fuzon. Here they tell us why they are ready to dazzle yet again
Does the release of this album mark the consistency of Strings or was Duur a landmark in that aspect?
We released Duur three years back. Both of us now feel that our music has matured since then. At the time of Duur, we had nothing to lose since we were almost dead. So there were no expectations from us. We just did it because we wanted to do music. We rejuvenated ourselves with Duur. But after Duur we gave up our professional lives and dedicated ourselves to music. After the success of Duur people have expectations from us. So the new album is in the string of providing good music to our listeners and yes, it marks the consistency of our music.
There are the general thoughts in people’s minds about your new album. It is said that with this album you have rather played safe with your music. What do you have to say about that?
Bilal: The day we play it safe, we will be dead as musicians. Experimentation is the need of the day. These days if you are content with yourself and your work you cannot produce anything especially quality work. Innovation is the key to success.
Faisal: There is no success formula in music. You have to be on your toes all the time and come up with something new and different all the time.
In what respect is this album different?
Bilal: There are several things that you can’t change in our music. The most important thing that forms the core of Strings is our melodies. That would stay there, but this time around we have experimented as far as arrangements are concerned. Musically there are a lot of experimentations. The album has a very groove-oriented feel. We are more active on the rhythm front in Dhaani. After Duur we realized that though melodically our songs are good, but people want something foot tapping. Keeping that in mind, we made our songs groovier.
We have ventured into a lot of acoustic guitars with this album. When you listen to it, you start swaying to it. This gives a wider spectrum to our music.
Faisal: And there is a certain rhythm going on. Melodies are really foot tapping.
What is the meaning of the title of your album?
Bilal: Dhaani is light green. It has come from a word called ‘Dhaan’ that is the outer covering of kacha chawal ka daana (a grain of raw rice). The green color of that grain is called dhaani. So ‘Dhaani Chunarya’ is a song about chunariyas. This song has been written by my aunt, Zehra Nigah, who did ‘Kuch Tu Ho Gaya Hai’ in our last album. The rest of the album is written by my father (Anwar Maqsood).
Does having Anwar Maqsood as a lyricist give you an edge in the quality of lyrics because he has an elaborate background in arts and literature?
We have that edge but not because of the name, but because of his style. When Abbu writes for us, he writes with Strings and its music in mind. This style is because he is in tune with the band. He has seen us grow. He knows our style and knows exactly what we want. We have tried to work with other lyricists too but it didn’t work out. In fact it was a disaster. With others there is little understanding and every lyricist want to insert his ideas into band’s music. Dad doesn’t have this issue. His lyrics are very simple, straightforward with a lot of meaning to it.
Faisal: When we were doing ‘Hai Koi Hum Jaisa’ we went to a few people but the wavelength never matched. Anwar Maqsood has seen Strings doing its music and knows us well. He knows our music well.
The international market has opened for Pakistani singers specially the Indian one. How would you suggest, should local singers make use of the opportunity?
Bilal: Earlier it used to be that Pakistani albums would be released in Pakistan only. Now the whole world is divided into several markets and every region’s distributor and record label can market its product better. So it’s best for artists to deal with each region differently.
How do you compare Indian and Pakistani market for Strings and in general?
Bilal: In the Indian market a good pop album is a novelty. The film music is very dominant there. That is why they crave Pakistani albums. On the other hand Pakistan has no film music while the pop music is the most popular form of music here. The best thing about the Indian market is its media support. Thankfully it’s getting better in Pakistan too.
Faisal: In India music is already developed because of films. So when an album is released it goes through the regular procedure of pre-release publicity, media coverage, hype-generation etc. It works wonders for the album. Fortunately that’s now happening in Pakistan too since we have dedicated music channels and all the things revolve around music now. But as far market is concerned I think Pakistan’s pop music is bigger because pop music is the main music here.
Having said that, do you think pop music here can contribute to film music in Pakistan?
Bilal: I think people making movies have a very fixed mind-frame. They don’t want to move away from that. They know that this is what we will make and get so much amount of money with this. With this mentality of the filmmakers here, I don’t think any sensible pop musician would want to make a contribution here unless there is a new director like Jami or Asim Raza (who are planning to make films). If these directors make a film then one could hope that pop music shall have a place in films otherwise, in the present scenario, I don’t think pop music can fit into movies.
How has the evergreen piracy journeyed along?
Bilal: Piracy doesn’t effect us much because the system is changing. Earlier people used to have royalty based deals, nowadays it’s lump sum deals; take upfront money and give the master copy of the cassette. There are no royalties. So this way we are saved.
Faisal: With times piracy has become vast. There are now two types of piracies. Other than cassette piracy Internet too has become a haven for music piracy. The music that masses prefer like Attahullah Essa Khelvi etc. suffers piracy on cassette level only while pop music is facing piracy through the Internet. Since our youth is much glued to the Internet and computers, it’s difficult to stop the net piracy. With Internet, things move so fast that any new album is available on the net 20 minutes after its release. We put our songs on our website too as people would download them from Kazaa and Napster anyway.
As you say there is a different sound to Dhaani, the album, which marks change in your music. So would you opt for a change in your respective images too?
Bilal: We have never paid much attention to image. We don’t put a facade on our faces so our image comes across as it is. We would like to stick to our boys-next-door image. And that, in no way, means that we look like as if we are too simple to know where we are.
Faisal: In music, changing image depends on your music. If it’s rock or something very loud than you can have an image accordingly. But our music is very simple and down to earth and our image reflects that.
How do you term the recent phase in the Pakistan music industry as channels and bands are mushrooming?
Bilal: I think right now history is repeating itself. Music experienced a sudden boom in 1990s (followed by a lull). The same thing is happening again. But like always the screening process shall come into action soon.
Faisal: The capable ones shall stay while those who are incompetent will get wiped out.
When Duur was released two years back there weren’t the likes of Noori and Fuzon around to pose any competition. But now the market has expanded and there is a lot of competition. How do you feel Dhaani shall fair in this scenario?
Faisal: The industry has improved a lot compared to the time when Duur came out. When there were fewer bands, pop music had a limited market. But with this rush of new signers the music market has expanded giving us access to a larger market. This bigger market could now be tapped by everyone, be it us or Junoon, anyone.