Pepsi Battle of The Bands: Soulful Mashups Set up A Tight Finale
Bayaan and Xarb battled it out for the bragging rights of calling themselves as Pakistan's best band
(WebDesk) - The penultimate episode of the Pepsi Battle of The Bands threw a fair bit of surprises in our way as the top two bands, Bayaan and Xarb battled it out for attaining the bragging rights of claiming themselves as the best band in the country.
The episode not only produced two of the most soulful performances of the season thus far but also allowed the two bands to show off their versatility. Since the theme of the episode was mashups, not only was the tightness of the two bands greatly tested, but also their song structure and compositional skills were put to the test.
When it comes to mashups, a band has to carefully choose and select songs whose lyrics not only make sense when put together but also gel well structurally
Hence, it can be said that pulling off a mashup whether an original or a new rendition is one hell of a task. After seeing and analyzing the two mashups put forth by the Bayaan and Xarb, one can easily understand as to why the two have made it to the finals.
Bayaan’s mashup lit up the finals of the Pepsi Battle of The Bands. Photo: Pepsi
Bayaan kicked things off with ‘Bazaar’, their extremely soulful mashup consisting of two completely opposite songs; ‘Aaj Bazaar Mein’ sung originally by the great Nayyara Noor and Ali Azmat’s ‘Na Re Na’.
On paper, the songs are totally different both structurally and in terms of composition but how Bayaan made them soothingly cohesive was an example of the band’s class
The vocals were so apt and strong that they stirred great emotion amongst the judges. One could easily see the judges, especially Bilal Maqsood, really enjoying the new rendition. As expected, the judges had nothing negative to say about the performance rather they remained awestruck and sung praises of the hair-raising performance.
‘Aaj Bazaar Mein’ is an extremely difficult song to cover and just attempting to sing it especially in a final is beyond daring. I don’t think I have heard anyone cover it since Nayyara Noor performed it back in the day and especially the way you’ve performed, I could really feel the emotions hit me” – Bilal Maqsood
If people thought that the party was over after such a soulful performance, oh boy were they wrong! Next in line was Xarb who set the stage on fire with a mashup titled ‘Raqs e Wujood’ consisting of the ever classic ‘Manam Mehve’ of Ustaadh Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Perveen’s ‘Main Naraye’.
Xarb casted a spell like they had been doing so since the very start of the season, leaving both the judges and the Pakistani audience enchanted with yet another intoxicatingly soulful performance
All praises were for Qamar Parvi as his vocal depth suited the mashup perfectly.
.jpeg)
Xarb impressed the judges with yet another strong performance. Photo: Pepsi
What amazed the judges the most was how Qamar performed the Farsi parts so effortlessly, since the language is very difficult to speak let alone sing in. The melody in itself was raving and the song selection made it clear that Xarb was not just going to stay in their comfort zone because they were in it to win it big time.
Also Read: Scintillating Xarb emerge as finalists of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands
“I’ll be very honest with you guys, in the first round I did see you guys amongst the top 3 of the competition but I didn’t think you had it in you to make it to the finals but thank God you guys proved me wrong.” – Faisal Kapadia
Both the bands justice to their place in the finals and made their judges, whom all the band members consider as their mentors, extremely proud with their performances. Thankfully, for the judges however, they did not have the burdensome task of choosing the winners as the decision, like last season, has been left to the people of Pakistan who have the opportunity to vote for their favorite band.
The voting ends on Thursday the 30th of August when the last episode will be aired. Vote for your favorite band by messaging ‘B’ for Bayaan and ‘X’ for Xarb on 8042 or log on to the official website www.pepsibattleofthebands.com to cast your vote.
By: Raacikh Asghar
