instep
interview
Of musical masterminds and mammoth undertakings....
Coke Studio, the reinvention of our favourite songs, a project that pairs rockers and pop giants with eastern purists and puts a new spin on ‘fusion’ music, has finally arrived. Instep takes an inside look in the creation of Coke Studio through the eyes of Rohail Hyatt, the man behind this mammoth project.

By Maheen Sabeeh and
Saba Sartaj K

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan bringing in an Eastern flavour to the rocking ‘Garaj Baras’ of Ali Azmat, ‘Duur’ being revamped with Faisal Kapadia and Ustaad Hussain Gullo Buksh to a level that was inconceivable, Ali Zafar showcasing vocal skills on ‘Allah Hoo’ with Tufail and matching him and so much more.

It is rare for one to be able to pinpoint a historic moment in music. But here it was easy. Coke Studio is where history was made. This was more than Junoon jamming with Abida Parveen or Hari Haran doing a duet with Strings. Coke Studio brought together the three main strains of Pakistani music: classical, folk and pop to jam together as one. And the as yet unsurpassed scale of the undertaking laid bare the incredible musical ambitions of the ever-reclusive Rohail Hyatt. Coke Studio was a zone where Charkha met Dil Dil Pakistan and spun around in ecstasy.

And so we meet…
“The original concept was very different, kind of like a talent hunt show. This was about two years ago. Coke Studio was a dream. It probably happened when I was two. I now know why I had a production house once so I could edit this show today. So everything has a story. If you analyse it, it comes into picture very clearly. The first step you took was leading to this moment. So here we are,” says Rohail as he offers us some tea.

Sitting in a black tee shirt and board shorts, with his long hair falling onto his face and those warm, welcoming eyes, Rohail Hyatt is without a doubt the most laidback producers around. But that is not to say he’s lazy. Rather he’s calm and watchful and has a go with the flow kind of energy, which is precisely why he could bring so many big stars onto one platform united in a higher purpose: making new music out of old songs that are embedded in our minds.

The man who spearheaded one of the biggest pop bands for over a decade, Vital Signs, reinvented Rahat Fateh Ali Khan from just another Bollywood playback singer vis-à-vis Charkha, created the tripped-out background score of Khuda Kay Liye and is now wrapping up Coke Studio, has no airs about himself.
From Pink Floyd to A. R Rahman, Klapa Nostalgija to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Junaid Jamshed’s Jalwa-e-Jannan and Nur Jehan, Rohail’s taste in music,like his personality is eclectic.

He is also a man who loves to discover. Whether through books that range from the complete works of Khalil Gibran to Bhagavad Gita or through simply observing people, it is this constant hunger of discovery that perhaps has made him the experimental musician he is today.

We are inside Rohail’s haven, where he retires into for days on end working on some experimental piece or other, researching everything from ancient languages to the kalams written centuries ago to creating jingles. And here it must be said, the brain behind the dynamic and novel Coke Studio has a fabulous studio in the backyard of his home. Touted as one of the best music studios in the country, it is evident why.

With subtle lighting, leather couches, huge computer screens, music mixing equipment, keyboards, music mixing equipment, the studio is professional yet cozy and very easy on the eyes. From the studio, we land in the kitchen, which too has a computer in it. In this studio kitchen Rohail is editing (or should we say cooking up) Coke Studio.

‘Baba’ as he is called by fellow musicians and all who know him, has a warmth about him, which makes one instantly feel right at home in his presence. He is known to take good care of all those working for and with him. And yet, he is not really known far and wide, because he has a shy quality and refrains from putting himself out there. It’s important for him to keep it real and media he perceives as the ultimate illusion. So while you will see Coke Studio on television, chances are you will only catch a glimpse of Rohail. He manned the controls and left it to musicians to get on with the show. And what a trip it was.

The concept and creation
“I was on a trip, you know when you’re on some trip or the other so it was one of those things,” laughs Rohail, and continues, “And I said to myself that I won’t do commercial work. I’ll do a puppet show or something for kids. I was on this spiritual high. Then Coke came along and I read about the brand and their philosophy and it made sense to me. They initially gave us a briefing. They had come to me because I was a consultant for them.”

The idea was in fact to launch a project, similar to the lines of Battle of the Bands that took place in 2001 and brought bands like the now-defunct EP, Aaroh, Mizmaar and Mekaal Hasan Band in the limelight.
“My heart was not in it,” admits Rohail honestly.

Back then Rohail was working and interacting with Eastern musicians. “I was totally into the classical music side and I was just stunned by the conditions our musicians were in. What a beautiful, rich deep heritage we have inherited and we don’t even know about it. With Coke, I saw a wonderful opportunity. That whole classical trip I was on and with the brand that had this ideology to take this forward led to the creation of Coke Studio,” he sums it up.

And so the musical marriage of tradition and modernity formed the genesis of Coke Studio. Classical music fused beautifully and masterfully with modern pop and rock music in a studio in front of a live audience. It is a sight we have rarely seen before and a sound we have definitely never heard before.
“It’s not a mere fusion of genres but the merger of both,” says Rohail, who has a thorough understanding of both having been a part of the Vital Signs and then going on to work with ustads like Naseeruddin Sami sahab and with Rahat as a producer.

“Modern and traditional can learn from each other. We are too confined in modern music. This many minutes, this many beats. It’s not from the heart but from the mind. It’s very mechanical. In eastern music, you can never know what an ustaad will do. He will play something one day and the next day when he plays it, it will be very different. But ask a band to play a song and they’ll play the exact same thing today and again tomorrow. It’s a mechanical structure.”

Despite his love for eastern music, which is palpable when he speaks about it, Rohail is smart enough to pick out flaws on this musical front as well.

“Traditional has stayed in the past. The problem is adaptation. Adaptation is critical. Who has time to leave the world and listen to an hour and a half raag? It’s beautiful if you have time but who has the time? Pick up a fifties movie and you’re like ‘holy hell’ because there is this one scene and it goes on and on.
Pick up a movie now and you’re like, ‘Holy hell’. It’s like thak thak thak and bang. So the effort was to take the original art form and condense it into a capsule palatable by the younger people.”

The philosophy of Rohail Hyatt
It is his past as a pop musician and the experience of working with classical greats such as Farid Ayaz and Brothers, Ustaad Naseeruddin Sami and various others, the research that he has done that makes him the perfect man to envision and have the know how to execute such a project.

Rohail’s approach to life in general and music in particular, the notions of reason, science versus creation stem from more than just a mere philosophy, coming from a book.

His spearheading of Pyramid Productions, working with Ali Azmat (on ‘Teri Parchaiyaan’), Ali Zafar (on a cellular phone commercial) and with Strings and many others, paired with the years with Vital Signs gives him an understanding of the power of pop and how it works.

But over the years, Rohail’s fascination, which has led to an increase in his interaction with Eastern musicians, makes him the man he is. Rohail refuses to take credit for Coke Studio even though it may not have happened without his vision and support.

“Don’t give me the credit. The project was done with honesty. Kisi kay saath ziyadti nahie kee. And that is why it turned out well. If you have ill intentions, things don’t go well. But otherwise, they take care of themselves,” emphasizes Rohail.

This is not the attitude one normally finds in rock stars or pop musicians. But one conversation with someone like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan or Ustaad Naseeruddin Sami will reflect the same humility.
Unlike pop stars who understand boardroom tactics, the power of marketing and brands, celebrity culture and the age of technology, Eastern musicians are ones who remain grateful to those who listen to them and always remain grounded.

Soft-spoken, often shy, they never gloat or even accept their achievements, be it as a vocalist or an eastern instrumentalist. These are great voices who make our tradition and culture shine and yet they remain in the background.

And this is where Rohail Hyatt’s metaphors come alive. His philosophies are not random musings. In fact, these are reflections of the influence that man like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Saeeen Zahoor have left on him.
Working with someone like Saeen Zahoor (on Khuda Kay Liye soundtrack) as well as everyone from Ustaad Hussain Buksh Gullo to the creation of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s Charkha, has been a journey for Rohail and he is still traveling.

The thing about Eastern musicians is, despite their power and magic, they remain humble.
Take for instance All Pakistan Music Conference that takes place annually. Not only do these greats explain their raags to all those in the audience, but they will speak with anyone who wants to talk to them without claiming to be a huge Ustaad. And Rohail Hyatt, sits in the APMC audience, year after year, in the front row, even as youngsters hush and point him out amongst themselves, watching and learning from these men and it is these learnings that have armed him with the knowledge to bridge the gap between the modern and the traditional, the known and the unknown.

Rohail is that rare breed of person who is equally at home with ustads as he is with pop musicians and the icing on the cake is that we’re guessing he is even impressive in the board room. After all, we are talking about ‘Coke’ Studio.

The structure
What makes Coke Studio unique is the fact that it led to an understanding between the traditionalists and the modernists. The marvelous ability to incorporate each other’s routines and bringing it together in a oneness hardly witnessed on the local music frontier, now that was magic.

Explaining the structure of the sound, Rohail elaborates and says, “I would just watch and see what everyone was doing naturally. It was about giving them space to experiment and seeing what someone wanted to do. And then going to them (all the musicians involved with Coke Studio) and saying that this sounded interesting or that beat sounded good.”

And it was this open-mind, and the willingness to experiment that has led to the reinvention of our all-time favourites from the world of local pop and rock.

“It is old music done in a new way. ‘Sar Kiye Ye Pahar’ and ‘Duur’ are not new songs. But what would a Balochi rhythm section do on ‘Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar’? Those were the experiments.”

Ask him why he got Omran Shafique and all the others, Rohail Hyatt plays out a simple philosophy that explains why Rohail is so easy to work with.

“I don’t even know why I went for Omran and not Assad Ahmed. I love Omran. He’s the man. All these guys were amazing. I won’t single anyone out because that is unfair.”

Rock stars versus Eastern giants
As fascinating the sound was, the fact is that there are really very few instances when one gets to see some of our rock and pop giants united on a single front.

From Ali Azmat to Gumby, Mauj and Sajid and Zeeshan, Strings and Ali Zafar, these are massive stars and stars often come with strings attached.

But the environment at Coke Studio was different. Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia in conversation with Ustaad Hussain Gullo Buksh or Ali Azmat hugging Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and referring to him as my brother, these were genuine moments that changed the outlook of how we look at our musicians.
“The experience was fantastic working with everyone. There were no tantrums. People from outside had scared me more. Someone will ask for more money or won’t show up but nothing of that sort ever happened. We cried when Coke Studio ended. No one wanted it to end,” explains Rohail.

And there are a variety of reasons why Coke Studio didn’t turn into a competition.

For one thing, everyone was treated as an equal. “Nobody is shown down. For instance there is Ali Azmat on pure popularity, talking to the crowd and the other is Rahat, with a knowledge that he has carried as legacy from hundreds of years and that is magic.

Even the modern musicians could hold their own and never looked bad. Creativity was ready to be ignited. It was about giving them the environment.

Another huge factor was that Rohail Hyatt never took away from the effort that everyone else had put into this project and magnanimously hands the credit to everyone involved.

The real fusion
Some might call Coke Studio just another fusion project. But it is hardly just that.

Fusion between modern and traditional form of music is slowly picking up pace in Pakistan.
Whether it was Junoon and their usage of Bullay Shah’s poetry, matkas and tablas fused with electric guitars or Fuzon (the original) and the raag ‘Khamaj’ with Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan’s traditional heritage paired off with Shallum’s powerful guitars, fusion has been around for a while.

What separates Coke Studio from other fusion projects is its basic nature. Most of the songs we hear, whether it is Ali Azmat or Strings or Ali Zafar, are old. They have been around for some time now such as ‘Channo’ or ‘Deewana’ or ‘Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar’.

But while the melody remains the same, the entire structure is changed.
First there are the vocals.

“What you see right now with Rahat singing in ‘Garaj Baras’ is not some random uttering,” points out Rohail and explains, “It is a raag that he has incorporated. This is not just some alaap but an actually sargam.” And that is just the point.

Second is the sound. What we hear mostly in our pop music scene is either poetry from a sufi saint with guitars and bass and that becomes fusion.

Here matching the drums are the Balochi lewa dhols that reflects the culture of Makran Coast. With the guitars and turntables, there are matkas that reflect softness often lost with the loudness of a guitar.
Most importantly through this live venture, the constant interaction between different musicians, has led to an understanding of the various style of music.

Every musician in Coke Studio had his expertise. Be it the singer or guitarist or the Balochi lewa men. What this project has done is that it has merged this expertise together in one, complete unique sound, which can be digested and enjoyed by the young and maybe even understood by the old guard.

And even as we try and grasp the beauty of this inimitable sound, this is just the beginning.

“Coke Studio is a step in the right direction. But it is not the ultimate end as far as I can see it. Now whether this music takes some shape of its own or goes forward through Coke Studio remains to be seen but it will bear its fruit within the industry,” says Rohail, looking at the future.

And even though it is a milestone for Pakistani music, traditional and modern, for Rohail Hyatt, the possibilities are endless. “We have to find more traditional people. See what they do and what is their tradition and why don’t they have the Telenors and Mobilinks of the world,” asks Rohail.

But here’s what we do know. With Rohail around, Coke Studio it seems is just the beginning to a much larger end.

– The first session of Coke Studio featuring Ali Azmat, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Mauj airs tonight at 10 pm on music and entertainment channels.