Strings join Fawad Khan and Meesha Shafi as co-judges; Sarmasta and Khamaaj say goodbye to the show.
Hosted by Ayesha Omar, the third episode began with the announcement that music group Strings (Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia) would be joining the judging panel with a conversation preceding their entrance, where the selected bands spoke about how they have influenced music.
The arrival of Strings was marked with two performances together – ‘Najane Kyun’ and ‘Mera Bichara Yaar’ – before the actual eight bands took the stage. Joined by their band members, the first performance of ‘Najane Kyun’ showcased how to take an old song and make it more vibrant while Faisal Kapadia reminded us that when it comes to singing and front-man duties, he has evolved for the better with time.
The second song, ‘Mera Bichra Yaar’, sung by Bilal Maqsood eclipsed everything else on the show because it looks like no matter how many cover versions of this song may exist, only Strings can take it to beautiful, new heights. As Bilal Maqsood took the guitar towards the end of the song, it was the perfect welcome to a band who have survived after all these years.
This episode also introduced Ahmed Ali Butt as co-host, who gave his words of wisdom to the bands, given his experience with EP. However, given just how many co-hosting gigs he has done in recent years, this was an unnecessary addition. His jokes bordered on tawdry.
As for the bands, in this episode, we got a glimpse of the makeover they got before taking the stage and their observations on how they felt. Priceless. Authentic.
In episode three of season three, the series has now entered knockout round where the theme was to perform older tracks in a retro manner and two bands would be eliminated.
The first to take the stage were Lahore-based Sarmasta who performed Sajjad Ali’s ‘Kuch Larkian’, which Meesha thought was an interesting choice to make for the band prior to the performance while Bilal had hoped their groove would be tighter than their last performance.
Sadly, that was not the case. Judges, on the other hand, were kinder even as they picked out multiple flaws.
Déjà Vu, from Islamabad chose to perform Ali Haider’s ‘Purani Jeans’, another iconic song like Sajjad Ali’s. Déjà Vu got the retro feel somewhat right as was pointed out by the judges. But their energy on stage was flat, which they picked out as well. Fawad Khan felt elements of reggae could have elevated their song.
Tamaasha, a Karachi-based band who picked up a standing ovation during the audition episode chose to perform Junoon’s ‘Sajna’ and really did throw a lot of things on the wall.
Tamaasha seems to be the favourite band of the judges so far, having strong stage presence, and picked up another standing ovation for their performance. Personally, it felt like a train wreck because it has to be about more than energy and stage presence.
Khamaaj, from Islamabad performed Alamgir’s ‘Dekha Na Tha’ who returned after getting rejected last year and put up what felt like the performance of the episode. With two vocalists and various transition, it felt like a newer version of a song that has existed through the decades. However, the judges did not enjoy this performance as much and had some tough words. Meesha rightly pointed out that the choice of song is therefore very important.
21 The Band presented Najam Shiraz’s ‘In Say Nain’ and divided the judges completely. A somewhat decent performance, what was needed here was something akin to punk, closer to The Sex Pistols and that never happened.
Xarb, who killed it in the audition episode with a cover of The Sabri Brothers presented ‘Dam Mast Qalandar’ by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, did another outstanding job and picked up a standing ovation from the judges. Bilal Maqsood loved them to a point that he said that they had the potential to make it to the top two. They were also among Meesha’s favourites.
Kaghaz, the only band with a female vocalist this season, chose to perform ‘Disco Deewane’ and were basically celebrating being in the top eight. And it showed in their performance.
Meesha found the performance “unexpected” in a good way; Faisal Kapadia found it “wonderful”, Fawad Khan gave them a standing ovation, followed by both Meesha and Faisal. Bilal enjoyed it but thought that while the technical ideas clicked, the vocals could’ve been better because Nazia Hasan’s range/voice was very powerful and the vocalist in Kaghaz missed a step.
Bayaan from Lahore picked Hadiqa Kiani’s mammoth song, ‘Inteha-e-Shauq’. Beginning on a mellow note, the performance went off the rails and never recovered. The judges agreed, although were much kinder for what was the biggest disaster on the episode.
While Khamaaj (surprise, surprise) was eliminated, Bayaan and Sarmasta vied for a spot by performing another song each. Out of them, Sarmasta took the stage to cover Junoon’s ‘Dosti’ while Bayaan performed an original called ‘Hum Nadaan’ and not surprisingly made it to the top six.
The good thing is that outgoing bands have been encouraged by nearly all the judges.
It has to be said (and as Bilal Maqsood pointed out earlier in the show), the remaining bands need to improve.
