SomeWhatSuper, a Lahore-based music duo featuring Talha Dar and Feroze Faisal, made a mark with the song ‘Bandook’ many moons ago. Having produced Abid Brohi’s ‘The Sibbi Song’ that was a part of Patari Tabeer, they have not looked back.
In a recent interview with Red Bull, the duo spoke about the EDM (electronic dance music) scene in Pakistan and their upcoming record, among other things.
Speaking about EDM and its existence in Pakistani music, Feroze Faisal noted, “It isn’t as if there wasn’t an existing EDM scene within the country, it’s just that it was a miniscule one. Nazia Hassan, Sajjad Ali and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, to name a few, had all used EDM within their songs, but of course no one had done it exclusively and there wasn’t much knowledge rather a lot of confusion surrounding it. Not everything electronic is techno or trance.”
He added: “We try and experiment and bring a new style of EDM every single time we come out to play. There’s so much to explore. We don’t want our audience to pigeonhole or fit us within a box.”
Both also spoke about the perception people could have about EDM and how they went about addressing it.
“We haven’t really faced many issues as such, but sometimes we do fear that the first thing masses think about when they hear the word electronic music is that it’s associated with a dance party where drugs and other things are rampant. This is something which we, very early on, strategized about and addressed,” said Talha.
Added Feroze: “In people’s minds, there’s a very thin line between drug-music and mainstream EDM – which is something we are very cognizant of, that’s why we keep it simple and easy to groove to. We understand that it’s a privilege and a responsibility to make something out of EDM within the country.”
SomeWhatSuper boys noted that one tool that has helped them is social media. “Social media has played a tremendous role in our journey. It was digital media which brought us on the map. We do everything ourselves – all growth on our social media is organic,” said Talha.
They also revealed that they’re “very active” on Facebook, “and try and help out others as much as we can. After all, our eventual goal is to make electronic music, mainstream in Pakistan.”
The duo also spoke about their experience of playing Lahooti Melo and noted, “We played at the Lahooti Melo recently and it was amazing. We went in there with zero expectations; we didn’t know who would show up. We didn’t know if the audience would be open to electronic music since the event wasn’t in a big metropolis. However, all those doubts were immediately put to rest because we had an amazing time not just playing there but the atmosphere was insane.”
Talha and Feroze also revealed that they are indeed working on their album. “We’ve always preferred creating good music over gigs and concerts,” Feroze told Red Bull, adding, “Our belief is that if you work hard and are able to make it, it will all be worth it. That’s how we are doing it.”
