INSTEP INTERVIEW

Having been up for the last 48 hours, Ali Noor, singer-songwriter and music producer, is more than pressed for time. Flying between Karachi and back home to Lahore, he has been in a marathon recording session. In between the chaos, he is accommodating enough to give this interview via voice notes and WhatsApp.

Noor’s latest effort, released on August 14 of this year, via Strepsils Stereo, is an acapella version of ‘Mera Pakistan’ featuring 100 voices including Ali Noor, Kami Paul, Shiraz Uppal, Sara Haider, Ayesha Omar, Ahsan Pervaiz Mehdi, Rabi Pirzada and Kumail Jaffery. It is a hopeful patriotic song that doesn’t feel engineered or jingoistic but authentic and sweet.

It’s been roughly a year, perhaps more, since Strepsils Stereo made its debut and has dropped more original material than cover songs with releases including ‘Khayal Rakhna’ (cover), ‘Rang De’, ‘Dil Jo Chahey’ and the all new ‘Mera Pakistan’. In this interview with Instep, Ali Noor discusses the philosophy behind Strepsils Stereo, the future of Noori and the prospect of his first solo album…

Instep: What made you choose acapella (as a format)?Ali Noor (AN): When Strepsils approached us that they wanted to do something with music, I just remembered an ad they had done many years ago which became very popular and was about a guy trying to sing in an acapella group. I think it was a British ad in which he tries to sing and so I thought let’s use the voice as an instrument. I had seen some videos on YouTube, which had people doing just songs using their mouths to create the instruments and I said let’s do it and that’s how acapella came about.

Instep: Does it mean there was no post-done on the songs besides vocals, claps, stomps, mouth and rap?

AN: Vocals are the only instrument, the aaaa ooouu eee, etc. It’s not that everything is sung out right; we cut them and put them together. We create the sounds from the mouth and edit it through a software like we do editing. It’s not how choirs do it or live bands do it where they sing these parts together in a group. Of course, it doesn’t work like that but there is no twist other than the cutting and the chopping and putting together of the samples we get from the voice(s).

Instep: ‘Dil Jo Chahey’ from Strepsils Stereo does not feature you at all.

AN: ‘Dil Jo Chahey’ does not feature me because the point is that this is not just me. I’m producing and creating it but I don’t want to be a part of many songs, and with ‘Dil Jo Chahey’ I didn’t think I should be singing it.

Instep: How much creative control did you have as executive producer of the series? Were there commercial concerns?

AN: I have complete control; they don’t interfere at all. They’re very cooperative and rarely get up and say ‘we want this’. I usually come up with these ideas and say how to do it and if the song makes sense, we all go ahead with it. As far as commercial concerns are concerned, these people are, I must say, very less commercially driven. As you can see, they don’t do too much branding. I want to add that the whole point of developing this project was to support BIY (Believe In Yourself) and the basic concept of BIY Music is original music. The new song ‘Mera Pakistan’ is an original song and after a long time we’ve developed a patriotic song and I’m proud of it because I like the song.

Instep: Will Strepsils return with more songs with you as executive producer?

AN: Yes, we will do four songs this year.

Instep: What to you made this project different than other sponsored projects?

AN: Simply the fact that these guys really want us to do original music and they’re really not interfering and that’s the cool part. In that context, it provides a good comfort level.

Instep: What is your equation like with Ahsan Pervaiz?AN: Ahsan Pervaiz is technically and musically very up my alley. He’s someone I find very impressive and is a versatile musician, he’s very respectful of me and goes out of his way to accommodate me. And musically he’s extraordinary and the good part is that he has a pure heart; he’s not an insecure person. He’s a very good producer, arranger. He knows how to take a sound and manipulate it, just do the job that is necessary to make the song better and that’s a huge aid for me. I’ve never worked with other people before this and have done it by myself. Ahsan has really taken my load off.

Instep: Mandana Zaidi directed several Noori videos and has directed Strepsils music videos. How has your equation evolved, particularly since you’re married? Do you have a final say on the visual direction?

AN: I think we all try to figure out what is best for the music video but to be honest with you, being husband and wife, it’s a difficult equation and we fight over it. The equation has evolved over the years in the sense she knows where she’s supposed to take me seriously and where she’s not and she’s a super-woman. She’s a huge support, in fact, she’s been running things for the last two years and I’m damn lucky.

Instep: In our last interview, you spoke about doing your solo album. How is that coming along?

AN: Yeah, I’m going to start doing new songs. I’ve just been developing them in my head. Hopefully after Muharram, I will probably have a single out. Let’s see. Whatever six or seven tunes I want to build yes, I will start pursuing them, as singles probably.

Instep: What’s next for you as producer and as a solo artist?

AN: As a solo artist: make some videos and do some gigs. As a producer: I’m about to start work on BIY and finish the work I’ve been doing with other artists.

Instep: Will Noori (you and Ali Hamza primarily) make another record?

AN: Right now Noori is definitely on a hiatus because I want to pursue my own thing and Hamza has to take care of Coke Studio. I think we will probably focus on recording some new stuff but when the time is right, which essentially means when we’re done with all our jhamailas. Noori will not be pursued as a commercial venture anymore, that’s for sure. It’s not going to be bread and butter for either one of us. Whatever we’ll do in/as Noori will be for making pure music, developing newer ideas, focusing on the content and how to break ground together as artists based on our experiences as well as new wisdom that is coming to us based on our ventures and the phases of life we’re in.