To Africa, with love

From the birth of Coke Studio and growth under multiple producers, no song has found as much acclaim as ‘Pasoori’ is released on Coke Studio Africa ft. Ali Sethi, Marwan Moussa & Reekado Banks.

“Ain’t love the sweetest thing.” – From The Joshua Tree by U2

Throughout the course of its illustrious history, Coke Studio (Pakistan) has placed artists on a national platform from all genres including contemporary musicians, iconic veterans, classical, folk and emerging artists, creating collaborations both good, great and terrible along the way. Has the show always got it right? The plain and simple answer is no. But as the music series became mundane to the audience that waits for its appearance year after year, and critique or appreciate the music, season 14 blew every season out of the water.

One of the songs from Coke Studio 14 called ‘Pasoori’ has done the unthinkable: it has broken barriers and left every song behind.

Featuring Ali Sethi and Shae Gill on vocals with the music video directed by Kamal Khan and an appearance by the incredible Sheema Kermani coupled with, “Seraiki jhoomar style dancers”, the single reached 100 million views on YouTube alone in three months.

Cover version upon cover version has followed from dance videos to instrumental music videos and efforts made to sing the song, it is now becoming increasingly time consuming to compile all the people it has influenced - whether it is the neighbouring India, within Pakistan or on a global scale.

We know it is part of Ms. Marvel, the Disney+ series, we know it has made it to Spotify’s global charts and just when you thought ‘Pasoori’ may have run out of luck, it has emerged again, only this time on Coke Studio Africa 2022.

Released just days ago on Coke Studio Africa, this particular ‘Pasoori’ version features one of the original artists from the song, Ali Sethi, who is joined by Marwan Moussa and Ree-kado Banks. Dropped on the official Coke Studio Africa platform, you can find three 15-second versions, featuring each artist and a combined version featuring all three. Is it a remix? Yes. But does it destroy the integrity of the original? No. Cover songs can be delightful when the effort is organic and this seems to be the case with Coke Studio Africa’s remix version of ‘Pasoori’.

While 15-second versions are well and good, the combined version featuring all three artists is where the magic lies because there is no effort to overdo the audio or video by making it a thumping song heard at clubs and parties. The sanctity of the original song in audio-video is still there, even as the new version catches you by complete surprise.

The Coke Studio Africa (remix) version is described as one that embraces, “Nigerian Afrobeats represented by Reekado Banks”, and trap elements courtesy, “rapper Marwan Moussa”, combined with original composer and singer Ali Sethi. So, if you think it’s another cover, watch the music video and listen to the song.

As Ali Sethi opens the song, the rapping that follows by Moussa will, at first, leave you intrigued and then, enchanted. As Moussa is followed by Banks, who also raps, you know that this is a collaboration that is more than a remix. Each rapper has flair and they showcase it while performing. The song comes home as Ali Sethi appears after the two artists and brings the house down, so to speak. The visual aesthetic is decent. Though it doesn’t surpass the original, it does have an aesthetic to it as well.

‘Pasoori’ from Coke Studio 14, was first conceptualized by Ali Sethi out of frustration and is a song about, “acceptance”, of the artist within all of us.

Associate producer, Abdullah Siddiqui, noted that the song is “a ground-breaking new hybrid genre” and we agree, as ‘Pasoori’ continues its journey long after first releasing as part of Coke Studio 14, curated and executive produced by Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan, who is better known as Xulfi.