Getting to the Commune Artiste Colony isn’t as difficult as it is interesting to watc
h the low-income residents of that area stare at whoever passes by to get to the Commune. The time on the invitation card stated 10pm, but as anyone residing in
Courtesy of Radio1 FM91, the event managed to generate quite a buzz with the who’s who of the entertainment industry in full attendance. From Ali Jafri and Salma Jafri to Ayesha Toor, Uns Mufti, Faizan Haq, Anoushey Ashraf, Laiqa Hasan, Umbreen Butt (who we discovered later was also an official part of the event), all were present.
Kudos need to be given to
From the moment that they quietly walked into the warehouse, seemingly unnoticed, to when they actually got on stage and began to perform, the band blew everyone away. They were loud, they were noisy, they were good eye candy and most importantly, musically they were very good. And they performed like it was nobody’s business.
They opened with an instrumental that had Sikandar mostly notably thumping away on his drum set, building the beat and setting the tone for the rest of the performance. The band started somewhat slowly and then coupled with Sikandar’s beats, Sameer’s bass, Omran’s lead and Hamza’s rhythm, they quickly built up the instrumental into a rock-inspired musical frenzy before launching into their second composition of the night, Co-VEN’s original song, Breakaway. Sameer Ahmed lent his backi
ng vocals to the song and the band soon had the crowd hey, hey-ing with them.
Perhaps the most memorable piece that they performed that night, which came as pleasant surprise to many, was their version of Misirlou by Dick Dale – made increasingly popular after it appeared in the soundtrack of the Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction. The warehouse loudly echoed with the sound of the band’s performance and the band members themselves seemed to be having a good time while performing.
Move over Aamir Zaki impersonators, we have a new maestro in town: Omran Shafique was, if anything, brilliant on lead. His masterful versatility on the guitar was not only visually appealing but was oddly exciting to listen to as well. And what was interesting to note was that he had a tendency of moving his body to the tune he played.
Hamza, who was centre stage, would go towards Sameer and they seemed to make a connection while playing till Hamza moved towards Omran and they collectively plucked their guitar strings in a way as if determined to make them sing new, undiscovered notes. Hamza then proceeded to what seemed to be an attempt to physically fuse his guitar into Omran’s. Omran, on the other hand, looked slightly amused and without missing a beat, continued playing despite Hamza’s attempts.
Hamza then jumped onto the platform for Sikandar’s drum set and with the band continuing playing their music, he thanked all those responsible for the event, timing each name to the beat of Sikandar’s drumming. He then let go of the neck of his guitar and proceeded to play with his left hand also towards the front side, higher up the fret-board, while continuing to strum with his right hand. Following that, he jumped off the platform and concluded the performance with one final roar into the microphone.
One must mention here that there was an odd energy on stage, without it being blatantly explicit. All in all Co-VEN’s performance was definitely the highlight of the evening with bits and pieces of it resonating in one’s ear till long after the performance had ended.
Following the band’s departure from the stage were three female models in jeans and incredibly large, button-down shirts. With Get Your Freak On by Missy Elliot blaring in the background, they proceeded to doff their T-shirts, under which they wore another, relatively smaller shirt which had the benefit of displaying their flat stomachs. The models then got off stage and one by one made their way through the crowd to the changing room.
Towards a blue arch there appeared another female model, who came and sat down with another male coming up to her. They seemed to give the impression that they held a mutual interest in each other. The male model left and another female model appeared, who got into a choreographed cat fight with the model that was already there after which they too, made their way through the crowd.
At that precise moment, VJ Faizan, who happened to be standing on the stage where Co-VEN had previously performed, attracted attention towards himself by waving to someone. Taking the cue, the crowd moved towards him only to discover that the ‘fashion show’ continued to unfold at the blue arches. Models came and shovelled some of the gravel that lay on the ground, a male model appeared from another corner, shirtless and seemingly covered in sweat. They all, at some point or the other, made their way through the crowd to wherever they had to go.
The choreography and the concept of the fashion show itself were definitely unique, in case of the first couple of models who appeared under the blue arches. It even followed a definite story-line. However, keeping the benefits of audience interactivity in mind, it would have helped to erect small platforms for the models to prance on, without which it became somewhat of a pain trying to peek over people’s shoulders in order to see what was going on and figuring out where it went next.
The end of the fashion show signalled the beginning of the party, for which almost no one stayed. Within an hour-and-a-half, everyone had gone home hence signalling an end to the event and to the misery of the residents outside the Commune who, with the noise the event had generated, would have found it difficult to sleep at those hours.
All in all, the 501 day celebration was a welcome step away from the norm that events in
photo credits: Madeeha Syed
Photos:
– Hamza Jafri (right) and Omran Shafique (left)
– Sameer Ahmed (bass)
–Sikandar Mufti (drums) and Hamza Jafri (rhythm)
First Published:
Images
May 6, 2007
