On 1st December 2020, Coca-Cola Company Pakistan released song promos for the first episode of Coke Studio 2020. The premiering episode will feature three songs performed by a mix of emerging artists and industry veterans.
In concurrence with rest of the season, the episode will showcase all original songs including an all-female anthem on women’s empowerment, Na Tutteya Ve featuring Meesha Shafi, Fariha Pervez, Sehar Gul Khan, Sanam Marvi, Wajiha Naqvi, and Zara Madani. Interestingly, this will be the first time ever in Coke Studio history that all the female artists of the season will be singing together, although each artist was recorded separately. In addition this, the episode features two more original tracks including, Dil Khirki, written and composed by the emerging indie artist and CS debutant, Mehdi Maloof, and Jaag Rahi featuring veteran artists Fariha Pervez and Ali Noor in classical thumri.
Coke Studio 2020 also marks the return of the houseband, with Asad Ahmed on electric guitar, Kamran ‘Mannu’ Zafar on bass, Babar Khanna on eastern percussions, Shehroze Hussain on sitar, Nawazish Nasri on rubab, and Abier ‘Veeru’ Shaan on percussions. An international artist, Volkan Öktem, has also joined the houseband this season featuring on drums. Finally, Coke Studio 2020 also features Nimra Rafiq, Wajiha Naqvi, Kumail Jaffery, Shahab Hussain, and Zara Madani on backing vocals.
Indeed, this season’s Coke Studio, produced by Rohail Hyatt, was administered under a careful management and maintenance of COVID-19 SOPs which resulted in both singers and musicians being recorded separately. Yet despite these challenges, Coke Studio was committed to releasing a season as an opportunity to keep hope alive amidst difficult times, especially keeping in mind the artist and musician community that has suffered the most due to COVID-19.
Given the extraordinary circumstances under which this year’s season has been produced, it will be deliberately referred to as Coke Studio 2020 and not Coke Studio Season 13. The core values of the Coke Studio platform have always been to explore, experiment and share the unique music of Pakistan and the sub-continent with the rest of the world. Hence, with this evolving discovery of the Pakistani identity also continues the journey of Coke Studio and its music.
The first episode of Coke Studio 2020 is set to air on December 4th, 2020.
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