QZA Rocks Café Fumée

Amidst the norm of the music underground of not playing tunes that they can carry, not having original compositions to offer at shows, and a seemingly unfailing custom of putting a foot in the cover-songs being attempted, the show held on December 16th at Le Café De Fumée came as a breath of fresh air. The group that held the modest but impressive gig has come to be called the Qaiser Zain-ul-Abedine Project.
It is led by a drummer who has been around since 1998 when an underground outfit ‘Autopsy Gothic’ used to prowl a few select venues in Karachi catering to the sensibilities of those whose cup of tea were foreign groups like ‘Six Feet Under’, ‘At The Gates’, ‘Sepultura’ etc. This drummer started out as an underground musician playing styles of rock that stood out on the edges of the spectrum of the popular music market. He played at several functions and for a circuit of friends to learn the rudiments of professional drum-playing schedule and to get on the circuit. Gradually he had the good fortune of playing in the mainstream market and can now brag a splendid portfolio that includes famous Pakistani artists like Ali Azmat, Strings, Noori, Fuzon, Aaroh, Karavan, Atif Aslam, Junoon, Jal, Najam Sheraz etc.
After having had this project on his mind for five years, Qaiser finally began work on it two years ago with the first gig having been dished out last month. This second gig came to feature talents of some undiscovered artistes who should reach the limelight sometime. The ‘Project’s’ house-band currently comprises of guitarist Sean Arnaz, Adeel Mirza on keyboards and electric bass guitar by Bradley D’Souza who is the son of Russell D’Souza; one of the most prominent names Karachi has managed to produce on the bass-playing circuit.
The curtain-raiser of the evening came with the currently popular chart-number by Hoobastank’s ‘The Reason’ done by Adeel on keyboards followed by Sean’s rendition of ‘Afterglow’ by INXS. This paved the way for the V-Sell Band to perform an original called ‘Mera Sapna’ and a medley of two 1980’s Indian songs- Ajit Singh’s ‘Woh Beete Din’ and Kishore Kumar’s ‘Inteha Hogayi Intezaar Ki’. A commendable job was done in bringing out the Rock n’ Roll and Rhythm n’ Blues elements compositionally inherent in these songs.
Faisal Ali Khan also sang an Indian classic ‘Tu Hi Ray’ and one of his originals, ‘Sohni Meri’, whose video is to hit airwaves soon. During his act another female vocalist Heidi Dean was called upon to sing the currently popular Indian number ‘Aj Ki Raat’.
Heidi also proficiently sang ‘Genie in a Bottle’ by Christina Aguilera. One found it incredulous that an Aguilera tune could sound so stirring but that is just how Heidi put it across. ‘Bolo Na’ of Indian pop singer Sona came next as did the legendary Nazia Hasan’s ‘Boom Boom’ and had the crowd in full swing.
Azal another new act did remarkably well with two of their originals ‘Zehar’ and ‘Aisi Taisi’. Both of the latter sections encased Qaiser’s unmistakably piercing beats along lines of Thrash-Metal and Hardcore-Punk. Justice was done too, to Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali’s ‘Sun Charkhay Di’.
Heavy metal music lovers also got songs to sink their teeth into. But a certain Salman Rasheed failed to impress by singing Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ for someone who aims to have vocals of the likes of Ian Gillan. However, he did much better with The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’.
The show took a surprising drift as Qaiser Zain-ul-Abedine took hold of the microphone to sing an original composition ‘Khirkiyan’ with Heidi Dean, which showcased his compositional skills besides his technical prowess. Adeel Mirza brought back old memories when he gave a solo performance of ‘Yeh Shaam’ of the Vital Signs right after.
The star of the evening was Tanseer Ahmed Daar whose arrival had impatiently been awaited by some hardcore rock fans amongst the audience. His arrival marked the frenzy that the QZA Project had been waiting to build all evening. The covers he sang were executed on far better lines than one is used to hearing at underground gigs. He performed the U2 number ‘Is Just a Dime a Dozen’, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’. However, U2’s work has been stereotyped after having been played at numerous underground gigs. The crowd grew restless and started to shout for the band to play the Karavan song ‘Gardish’.
Farsaad Ahmed Khan sang an unplugged version of his original song ‘Soona Dil’ which proved to be something of a calm after the storm. Sean Arnaz gave a convincing performance of the Foo Fighters number ‘Everlong’. The sound-construction within the moderately sized venue slipped the design that would have fit and sounded right in that space, but the group’s own inter-playing finely managed to gell enough to compensate that lack.
Since Qaiser’s name has run ropes through the mainstream music circles in the country, this QZA Project can be a platform for current as well as future musicians to develop their professional and artistic aptitude.
The show also deviated from the norm that underground artists opt to work only on material that comes from western rock music.
However, artists need to understand that not taking up local music should not be the way to become better musicians as most seldom pay attention to developing basic R n’ B playing skills that are the key to playing rock music right.