No offence to the author, but to give a song that was part of Coke Studio Pakistan the credit of uniting India and Pakistan is quite silly. Coke Studio is almost exclusively listened to only by the urban-ites in India, and Coke Studio Pakistan has even smaller listening audience in India [1]. A quick check of Youtube to see the current trending songs shows a lot of national and regional music, but no mention of this song anywhere in the Top 100 trending songs[2]. Mark this as just a publicity piece.
[1]: Yes, there's a Coke Studio India as well, and an eternal raging debate about which version of Coke Studio is better. I gotta admit though, the Pakistan version has a lot more memorable tunes. :D
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaqVXuWO9o&list=PL4fGSI1pDJ...
It's also important to understand that less than half of India speaks hindi/urdu as a native language, and less than a 10th of the country speaks/understands punjabi (which this song is in).
Indian/Pakistani music videos routinely have several hundred million or a billion+ views. Many of the largest YouTube channels are Indian record labels. So yes, people are listening to them, but using that to create some larger narrative of "unity" or whatever else is weird.
It's also important to understand that less than half of India speaks hindi/urdu as a native language, and less than a 10th of the country speaks/understands punjabi (which this song is in). There are more speakers of Punjabi in Pakistan than there are in India.
Title is click bait. Coke Studio has done this several times. Mainstream Pakistani songs are quite different from Indian songs, however, both populations can understand what is being sung. Mixing the two together results in incredible music. Pakistan and India still hate each other. No music is about to unite them after 1000s years of history and polar opposite religions.
This is a false understanding of the differences between the two countries (actually 3, Bangladesh is also part of this shared culture). It's not 1000s of years of history being opposed to each other but 1000 years of shared history and culture. The differences have only arisen in the last 100 years or so.
Pakistanis share common languages with only a part of India, the main languages being Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi. India also has roughly the same number of muslims as there are people in Pakistan. People outside of the Hindi belt in India might not speak Hindi/Urdu or Punjabi, regardless of their religious identity. Historically speaking, people of the subcontinent have identified more with their ethno-linguistic identity than with their religious identity, no matter what the politics of these countries as well as the talking points of the politicians of these countries might make you feel. Evidence of this fact can be seen in the reasons for the existence of Bangladesh as a country. They separated from West Pakistan on the basis of their Bengali Identity. Similarly in India today, there is a strong movement in South India against the imposition of the Hindi language.
When it comes to music, there are two broad schools of classical music, Hindustani Classical that is from the North of India and now Pakistan, and Carnatic music that is predominantly from the South of India. Hindustani Classical music has always had a shared contribution from Pakistani and Indian signers. Many Pakistani singers (such as Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, and Atif Aslam) have contributed significantly to this school, as well as to modern Bollywood music, and there are many such artists in India as well (such as Zakir Hussein). Many Indian lyricists write Hindi/Urdu songs for Bollywood as well (such as Gulzar).
Arguably music and arts have always unified the two countries while other factors have caused rifts.
> They separated from West Pakistan on the basis of their Bengali Identity
This is not true. People in the Indian state of West Bengal also speak Bengali and have a Bengali identity. The split of Bengal into West Bengal and Bangladesh was based on religion.
I am talking about the split between West Pakistan and East Pakistan (Bangladesh). My point is that the Idea that Pakistan could be a united country based on a common religion failed based on the fact that the Bengalis found their Bengali identity more important than their religious identity.
That's not why it failed. It failed because we had an extremely stupid military dictator with racist tendencies that carried out brutal massacres there.
Both Indians and Pakistanis realize just how much they have in common once they leave their respective countries. Just don't let religions or politics divide people!
"Anybody practicing the fine art of composing music, no matter how
cynical or greedy or scared, still can't help serving all
humanity. Music makes practically everybody fonder of life than he or
she would be without it. Even military bands, although I am a
pacifist, always cheer me up. - Kurt Vonnegut"
Coca Cola and other junk-food corporations latch on to art and artists
like flies, hoping to infuse some authenticity and meaning by
association. When I worked in that business it was Coke and Pepsi
behind every awards ceremony, and they were highly influential
over the record labels.
This is just a puff piece though, an ad for a song and its corporate backers.
I agree we'd find a 'united' India & Pakistan very interesting and newsworthy, and especially anything that credited music or anything else superficially surprising with it; but that hasn't happened and that isn't what this ad is.
I didn't tell you what to think about it. Just notice the logo and reflect on its place in our collective consciousness. It's your prerogative to embrace it.
India and Pakistan are the same people and the same culture. as far as I understand, and from my own far away position (combined with "nearsightedness"), it seems to me like the India-Pakistan division was made up when the english pulled out of there.
I sense something similar to Korean culture being broken up into north and south. of course in all cases there's a local power helping... but the real drive for the split are foreign powers
In India, they have a vibrant Entertainment Industry, and it has a strong cultural tradition, which means that music attracts a lot more people, and they have a pathway to make it a career....
But since Bollywood is the heavyweight, it therefore creates a gravitational effect, where successful musicians tend to gravitate towards the type of music that would better fit Bollywood's needs, instead of taking risks.
And Bollywood in turn heavily promote the music, which tends to drown out all the competition.
This means that for the average Indian, despite having a diverse set of musicians, the usual youtube/spotify recommendations tend to become the "same old".
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Meanwhile, In Pakistan, the more conservative/religious background meant that there was far less cultural acceptance for a career in music. Ofcourse, the old great musical lineages still exist, but the industry has stagnated some what. Cinemas have started to close, and there isn't much a film industry anymore.
Most singers were of the safe "pop" variety that could be played on state owned TV. Any chance of making a fanbase by concerts vanished when terrorists started threatening to attack venues post 9/11. Singers changed industry to either acting in TV dramas, or left it altogether of other ventures. ( You can find Pakistani Rock stars running a dollar store in Scranton or running a radio Channel in Houston)
This mean that there is more risk taking, since most people making music are doing it out of passion, not because they believe this could lead to a career. And they take to social media, and have an equal chance of getting on your recommended list as some one who is already established.
This means that Indians looking for some "fresh" music are getting some interesting choices from across the border, since these tend to not be drowned out by music labels.
Also, now Brands are using the social media scene to make their own channels. Coke, Pepsi, Nescafe, Walls ice cream, heck even Strepsils have their own small music scene, just make a small music studio, hire a house band and invite singers to jam and essentially create a musical ad
I feel that these new programs have now also devolved into a same old routine where singers are now, instead of creating new music and taking risks, are just taking old popular songs and covering them with a new twist, the title of the old song providing an incentive to click.
++++
Still, Pasoori was a good song, it was not just a cover of an old song and it was not just a jam session with the house band, so good for Coke Studio to encourage some thing beyond the routine
I'm not an expert here, but my understanding is that South Asian pop music tends to be (primarily) based on non-Western music theories like Hindustani classical music. These theories have different ideas of which emotions are associated with which keys or scales.
Assuming you're not familiar with Hindustani classical music, it's quite possible you're just not picking up on some of it, while many South Asians who grew up on it do understand it (even if they haven't had formal training.)
Tend to agree ... it's seems to be just ok. But I'll take the unity stuff ... on the surface, that bit reads like rubbish but reading loads of comments bringing peeps together. I'll take it.
[1]: Yes, there's a Coke Studio India as well, and an eternal raging debate about which version of Coke Studio is better. I gotta admit though, the Pakistan version has a lot more memorable tunes. :D [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaqVXuWO9o&list=PL4fGSI1pDJ...