Instep Today
Sun, 12, 20
Rohail Hyatt produced an all-original yet shorter version of Coke Studio in lieu of Covid-19 with urban artists only and a crisper house-band.
“We’re beaten and blown by the wind/Trampled in dust/I’ll show you a place/High on the desert plain, yeah/Where the streets have no name.”
- ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ - U2
The passing year has been a strange one and not just for music. The way we live, travel and work along with our consumption of music, has changed.
2020 emerged as the year of Covid-19, a global pandemic that made working from home and staying indoors the new normal. It also meant musicians worked digitally as technology became a necessity to be embraced. In some ways, it pushed artists out of their comfort zone irrespective of the challenges that lay ahead, leading to unexpectedly stunning new music. In other ways, it provided novel vantage points from which to look at the future of music with.
December 20, 2020
The growth of independent record labels, several EPs, music videos, singles and the resurrection of electro-pop in mainstream music via Velo Sound Station (VSS) and a dissimilar version of Coke Studio 2020…these were some of music’s defining moments in what has been a difficult year.
Meesha Shafi has made three appearances on Coke Studio, with two on Velo Sound Station and an independent single with Abdullah Siddiqui, making this a very successful year musically speaking. – Photo by Ali Shah.
“We’re beaten and blown by the wind/Trampled in dust/I’ll show you a place/High on the desert plain, yeah/Where the streets have no name.”