Faris Shafi writes ferocious songs that take their cue from the environment that shapes us as people, our perceptions and our daily lives in Pakistan. His song, ‘Jawaab De’ is one of the biggest examples. It blew up when it appeared on BBC Asian Network with Talal Qureshi and gave the perception - to those of us who do not spend time on Facebook - that it was a new release. But as Faris later revealed to Instep, the song is an old collaboration, with an unambiguous music video to go along with it.
From the face of Zia-ul-Haq to the current age of militarization and extremism, the video is hard-hitting and doesn’t shy away from showcasing both, a very broken reality of Pakistan and an alert Faris, asking pertinent questions, with the biggest one being the non-rhetorical one: “Koi tou Jawaab De.”
The singer-songwriter, rapper and producer, who recently released his solo single, ‘Nazar’ to great acclaim, actually made ‘Jawaab De’ music video in 2015 and as Faris revealed, the music video was removed by YouTube from its website in November 2019 while it’s still up on Facebook and Vimeo.
Citing graphic violence reports, YouTube removed it and even after Faris Shafi wrote to them, the result was the same. “I wrote to them and they replied saying too graphic.”
As Faris Shafi notes, it’s banned by YouTube Community Guidelines but is still up on other sites like Facebook and Vimeo. This is in fact the second Faris Shafi music video to be removed from YouTube. The first one was removed by Faris himself as a precaution. Keep this up and we will lose all content from Faris Shafi who refuses to hide behind ambiguity.
It should be remembered this is the same YouTube that also removed Coke Studio content in season 12 only to bring it back later.
Their absurd and transparents policies are becoming a hindrance for artists as well with the website continuously pulling these stunts. As a result, artists akin to Faris Shafi will not produce sharp content out of sheer fear that it might be removed. As for the eye-opening ‘Jawaab De’ original music video, head to Facebook (that may want to read our minds in the future) but does feature the music video at least for now or the safer Vimeo. Watch and decide for yourself whether a song like ‘Jawaab De’ should have had a sedated video or what Faris Shafi conjured.
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