Coke Studio has completed ten years of creating honeyed melodies for Pakistanis. In fact, it has established itself as the biggest music franchise in Pakistan and has been acclaimed both locally and globally. Founded by Rohail Hayat in 2008, it aspired to refurbish the pop-saturated Pakistani music industry. Today, it has over one billion views and counting. More importantly, it has created innumerable melodies, which combine the past and the present aspects of the Pakistani identity.
To celebrate the enchanting trajectory, it published a coffee table book entitled “Sound of the Nation: Celebrating 10 Glorious Years” in collaboration with Markings, a three-time Gourmand Award winning publishing house. The manuscript aims to document the culturally diverse past of this musical platform. In this regard, the book compiles essays from Nadeem Farooq Paracha, Fifi Haroon, Rakae Jamil and Sultan Arshad Khan. These essays discuss the Coke Studio’s achievements in revamping indigenous folklore, qawwalis and ghazals. Simultaneously, it features mesmerizing photography by Adeela Badshah, Insiya Syed, Kohi Marri, Rizwan-ul-Haq, Amna Zuberi and Shahrukh Khurshid. Glossy pages foreground passionate musicians fully engrossed in artistry along with touching odes.
It delineates Coke Studio’s aspirations to cherish diversity in harmony. Like all art, music has the capacity to bridge cultural, linguistic, temporal and geographical divides. This paradigm yokes folk and modern, sufi poetry and electric guitar, to educate and entertain at once.
In short, “Sound of the Nation” presents a narrative of amalgamation. Coke Studio, in its ten artistically productive years, has managed to make textured and layered music accessible for the masses. It has combined eastern with western and traditional with experimental. It has also connected Pakistanis to their cultural roots while stringing its diverse community to a national symphony.
Nimra Ishfaq
Life’s a Catch-22
