The Big Eight

In the second episode of Pepsi Battle of the Bands at least seven bands performed. Of those, Kaghaz, Deja Vu, OB Positive and Easy Games chose to perform covers like ‘Tara Jala’ by Junoon, ‘Bolo Bolo’ by Sajjad Ali, ‘Aankhon Ko Aankhon Ne’ by Junaid Jamshed and ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’ by Mehdi Hasan, respectively.

Other performing bands like Aarish, Bayaan and 21 the Band performed originals like ‘Aasman’, ‘Farda’ and ‘Taare’ respectively. Of these three, 21 killed it with ‘Taare’ and so did Bayaan with ‘Aasman’.

Kaghaz, a five-member band featuring a female vocalist who had henna on her hands and had just returned from her valima, not only impressed the judges but the story of the vocalist touched Meesha Shafi enough that she went up to the stage and gave the girl a badge she herself was wearing that said #GirlBoss. As for the performance, Farooq found it refreshing as did the rest of judges even as they had some critique.

Deja Vu’s cover of ‘Bolo Bolo’ – a song that Fawad Khan covered with his former band EP on Coke Studio many moons ago, appealed to the judges, mostly.

If you watch closely, you realise that of the three judges, Fawad is paying close attention to the instruments, not just the song, which reflects in how he judges a band while Meesha is looking at the holistic nature of the song/band and Farooq remains the more critical of the three.

It has to be said that between the first and second episodes, the first episode featured stronger bands. For instance, not one band got a standing ovation from the three judges this time, as was the case in the first episode.

Moving on, OB Positive is the one band in this episode who were a returning band, having had a stint on Pepsi last year where they were ultimately rejected. Their comeback this year was an improvement, as Farooq noted after their rendition of Junaid Jamshed’s ‘Aankhon Ko Aankhon Ne’ and Fawad and Meesha also appreciated them for their unique sound.

It’s a big platform; one that does create a case of nerves particularly when you’re performing in front of such a prolific panel of judges, but it was good to see the judges reiterate that bands should be themselves and play what they are good at.

Easy Games, a five-member band, for some reason decided to perform Mehdi Hasan’s ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’ and while they got points from the judges, it was a pretty awkward performance and them not making the cut for top eight made complete sense.

21 The Band’s ‘Taare’ only got positive notes post-performance with Meesha saying that she absolutely loved it, Farooq standing up and stating this is what we want and Fawad, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, said it was great to hear such a vulgar song before calling it good with the potential to become an anthem.

Once the bands had played their songs, the question of top eight finally emerged. Of the 20 bands shortlisted, only eight could make the cut to the main round. The process of the judges as they go through the acts was followed by an appearance from Kashmir that was a surprising, endearing moment for the episode.

With ‘Kaghaz Ka Jahaz’ playing in the background, Kashmir – the group that won Pepsi Battle of the Bands last year - sat down with the bands and gave them a pep talk on not losing heart, taking the advice of the judges and to just keep playing.

As for the top eight bands, they are Tamasha, Bayaan, Xarb, Déjà Vu, Kaghaz, Sarmasta, 21 the band and Khamaaj. And with that the decision-making process is now over. All of them offer some form of variety with Tamasha being a theatrical act and so on. But will they surpass the kind of musicianship brought to the show by Roots and Kashmir, remains to be seen.

“Whatever the result, you are all amazing… don’t stop and don’t give up,” said Meesha Shafi before announcing one of the top eight bands. And that is the right message to send.

Another thing that is clear is that while the judges do find flaws in certain performances, they don’t trash the bands outright. They also highlight their strong points even as they point out where an act went wrong and what they could do to improve.

It may seem strange at first but bands in Pakistan, particularly the kind that appear on Pepsi, not only need a profile that the show provides but also encouragement and, in that sense, it’s good to see that a performance is not followed by a comment on how bad a band is. But begins on a positive note before it is pointed where they went wrong.

On a side note, as a fan, I’m surprised to see Déjà Vu make the cut but not Dhool, who were outstanding in the last episode.

But that’s the way the cookie crumbles. In the coming episode, as these top eight bands compete, we will also see Strings take on the role of co-judges; they were associated with the debut season and their return, for this reason and more, is a welcome one.