Pepsi Battle of the Bands begins on a strong note

When Pepsi Battle of the Bands made a comeback last year with its second season after more than a decade, with a new producer and a new set of judges, the ultimate result was a somewhat mixed bag. It, did, however, pluck several existing bands from obscurity and put them into the national spotlight with Kashmir ultimately winning the competition and Badnaam picking up the runner’s up title and everything that came along with it. Because PBOTB had returned after years, the mistakes were forgiven. But, it also meant that with season three the expectations from the bands as well as the judges and the entire production had risen. One expected there to be a stronger filtering process so that the bands that appeared in the audition episodes in order to win a slot in the top eight had grit, flavor, diversity, musicianship and character. Fortunately, the first episode of the third season that appeared a day or so ago, lives up to those promises. Unlike last year, where more than 100 bands applied, this year the number is closer to 400. Watching how the show helped in creating a national profile for bands that appeared in the last season, more bands have applied this year it seems, which is a good thing. The first episode, running a little over an hour, opened with the narrative of the successful comeback of the program last year and notes from the judges who admit that they expect this season to be “bigger and better”. Ayesha Omar, serving as host, is neither here nor there, but her lack of hosting ability in a production like this, is made up by everything else. At least nine bands ended up performing in the first episode. Of those, at least two were music groups who had applied last year but hadn’t gotten past the audition rounds due to one reason or another. It’s still early but this may well be the secret appeal of the production’s return. Bands take it seriously enough to take the criticism home and come back as a better, stronger unit. The first episodeOur story begins with Xarb, a five-member band who took a qawaali of Sabri Brothers, ‘Tashnagi’ and performed a beautiful, surprising cover of it as the opening performance of the episode. It was a powerful and memorable rendition made special because of their vocalist, a quality that was not lost on the judges. Fawad thought that they had a bluesy vibe to them; Meesha thanked the group for such a strong start while Farooq commented that though he enjoyed the performance, the vocalist needed to loosen up a bit. Fair enough. Another group called Tamaasha, a five-unit band gave what was a theatrical performance and picked Aaroh’s famous tune, ‘Raag Neela’ as their song. Pulling a rabbit out of the hat, they performed so well that they received a standing ovation from the judges with Fawad giving them a ten on ten. The third band, and perhaps the gem the new season has discovered, was IFRA, with the group name based on abbreviation of their first names. This six-unit group featuring a female singer, were from Faisalabad and performed a stunning original called ‘Balliya’. As Meesha pointed out after their performance, their choice of subject for a song (based on rural life) was both unusual and good. While the vocalist flew high, the rest of the band did get some criticism and as Fawad pointed out, needed to jam more. Another great find was a band called Dhool from Rawalpindi who performed an original called ‘Nukta’ that they stated was based on Bulleh Shah kalaam which they had reworked. The final result: brilliant. The vocalist in particular had a very Asrar-esque voice. Meesha was appreciative of their performance while Fawad told the vocalist that he had a gift and Farooq, who is more critical of the three judges, was also impressed. They too made the shortlist. After these bands, the episode featured a glimpse of at least five bands, who were rejected. And to be fair, the glimpse really did showcase them as lackluster. The episode went on to feature a two-man band called Aag from Lahore, who made the shortlist. It also featured Khamaaj, who were rejected last season and were back this time with an improved line-up that now included a keyboardist and a drummer. Presenting a song called ‘Chimta’, they got a standing ovation from Farooq. Fawad Khan was impressed while Meesha Shafi noted how sweet their song was before stating, “Welcome back”. Ehl-e-Rock, who were also rejected last season came back again and managed to win over the judges. Personally, this was one performance I found at minimum to be an irritant. Estraplock, a five-member band performed a very wild cover of Bunny’s ‘Dil Mein Tum’ and elicited some criticism for the drummer and the band but found the vocalist to be their real asset. Sarmasta did an original called ‘Bullah’ and found a spot on the shortlist as well. Of the bands that did make the shortlist were names like Xarb, Tamaasha, Khamaaj, Dhool, Aag, Ehl-e-Rock, Estarplock and Sarmasta. Others like IFRA also have a shot on the shortlist but the real result will come once the second episode returns with more bands vying for a spot on the coveted eight. It should also be said that the judges, though confident in their conviction are not vicious even as they reject a band. The production looks slick and with Shahi Hasan producing this season, one hopes things will be only be on the up and up as time goes by.

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