ALBUM PROFILE
The 7-track album, based on kalaams by Amir Khusrau, Usman Haruni, Baba Bulley Shah, Shah Hussain, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and WaliUddin Sahab, is not only beyond genres but does justice to the devotional verses, penned by the greats.
Chand Tara Orchestra’s debut album, titled Volume 1, finally arrived late last year after giving us a taste of its music with songs like ‘Nami Danam’ on Coke Studio 11 and before that ‘Khaak Nasheen’. In between, they’ve also done unplugged versions but for the sake of this story, our focus is on the 7-track album.
For one reason, the release of an album at a time when more and more artists feel compelled to release either singles and/or music videos, CTO is guiding the industry that it can be done.
And though CTO has seen several iterations as a group, the current line-up seems to have gotten the job done with this record. It should be the record of the year if Pakistan had independent music awards but anyway, let’s get back to what is before us and why is it so.
To call Volume 1 just another good or decent Sufi album would be a terrible generalisation because as has been said before, when it comes to sound, it is a genre-bending album. You’ll find influences from post-rock to eighties, blues, soul, ambient and amalgamation of Sufi thought that is both free-form and well-thought out. It may sound like a paradox but it’s the kind CTO have figured out like nobody else. This is not a band imitating a Mekaal Hasan Band or a Junoon but has carved its own identity because of its reflective music.
Every number feels like a prayer, an elegy of sorts, written in centuries past, but having survived due to their truth, beginning with ‘Rung De’ - the track that came attached with a beautiful music video that actually featured the band - in its element.
‘Rung De’ is based on kalaam by Amir Khusrau, who is paying homage to his teacher, Nizamuddin Auliya. Apart from featuring the entire band (Rizwanullah Khan on harmonica, Sherry Raza on vocals, Babar Sheikh on bass guitar and Omran Shafique on electric guitar) it features Aziz Kazi on drums. Recorded by Shahnawaz Feroz and Omran Shafique at Omran Shafique Studios, mixed and mastered by Omran Shafique and produced by Babar Sheikh and Omran Shafique, ‘Rung De’ serves as the perfect start to the album and that sweet harmonica from Rizwanullah Khan just adds an element without which you cannot now imagine the song sounding the same.
If Babar, Omran, Rizwanullah deliver as players, Sherry Raza matches them with his vocals and it is hard to imagine the band without him. What a lovely voice.
The chemistry seen in the ‘Rung De’ video doesn’t end there but goes right back with the band to the studio.
It is palpable on every track, starting with ‘Nami Danam’, first heard on Coke Studio 11. The album version is actually quite different from the music series version but takes hold of you instantly. Based on kalaam by Usman Haruni, the song takes so many shapes and forms while staying within the CTO free-form structure that it makes you wonder about the combined power of these musicians.
Like its predecessor song, it features the same musicians except Babar Sheikh, who - in addition to playing the bass guitar - is also on synth while Aziz Kazi has played electronic drums on it.
The third track on the album, ‘Ishq Kamal’, based on kalaam by Baba Bulley Shah, features the full-band as well as tabla nawaz Ashiq Ali and therefore comes across as yet another beautiful surprise; it also gives the song a hint of a qawwali but it is never fully that; the distortion of guitars also comes through and suddenly you’re transported to a time and place not known before. It is as soothing as it is divine. In this song as well, Babar Sheikh takes on dual roles of bass guitarist as well as synth man. Ultimately though, it’s the collective sound that makes it so fantastic.
‘Meda Dil’, based on kalaam by Shah Hussain has a darker edge as it opens and goes into a direction you can neither predict nor don’t enjoy as it arrives. Apart from featuring Sherry Raza, Omran Shafique and Babar Sheikh, the song also features Aahad Nayani on drums, Kashan Admani on guitar/synth and Alex Shabaz on synth. A trance-inducing album if there was ever one.
On ‘Makki Madani’, which is based on a classical qawwali originally performed by the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sikandar Mufti is featured on percussions, Rizwanullah Khan is featured on acoustic guitar as well as banjo while Sherry Raza, Omran Shafique and Babar Sheikh retain roles of vocalist, electric guitarist, and bass guitarist respectively.
Produced by Omran Shafique sans Babar Sheikh, it shows Shafique’s progression – not just as a solid guitarist – but as a music producer. Somewhat melancholic, this ambient-meets-mystery ‘Makki Madani’ is quite possibly the best version since NFAK made it immortal once upon a time. Sung with such respect, it almost radiates through the song.
‘Khaak Nasheen’ appears as well with L.J.Pinto (Gumby) on drums, Ali Khan on synth and effects, Sherry Raza on vocals, Babar Sheikh on bass guitar and Omran Shafique on electric guitar. Based on the kalaam of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, ‘Khaak Nasheen’ is post rock richness with great heart. It is so eloquent that you can’t tell that it’s been co-produced by Babar Sheikh, Omran Shafique, L.J. Pinto and Ali Khan.
‘Durood Sharif’, the final devotional epic that closes the album, according to the band, is "inspired by love of the famous PTV Durood Sharif" that became popular in the eighties.
With words, extracted from ‘Sareer-e-Khama’ by WaliUddin Sahab, chordal arrangement by Sohail Keys, choir led and arranged by Sherry Raza, the rendition is by Sherry Raza and Hanzala and produced by Babar Sheikh and Sherry Raza. Handled with a great deal of respect and an ode to the Prophet (P.B.U.H.), this is not a song per se so much as a devotional ode.
The ultimate beauty of CTO’s Volume 1 is that though it is a devotional album, it is so rich in sonic texture that it is cathartic and trance-inducing. It’s also respectful of the material, the kalaams, and therefore doesn’t treat it lightly but with a great deal of care, which is maybe why it engages you but doesn’t let you go. For an album to manage that in this information age of phones and constant distraction, it is a miraculous feat but then so is this album.