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q&a
The
electronic wizard takes charge
Multi-talented man from up north, Zeeshan Parwez spills the
beans on Coke Studio, working with giants like Ali Zafar, Rahat
Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Azmat and Rohail Hyatt, the video he has up
his sleeve and a lot more…
By Savaiz Bokhari
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Instep:
Tell us about the Coke Studio experience.
Zeeshan Parwez: Coke Studio was a mind blowing experience. For me
it was like performing with Sajid throughout the way, only with free
Coke this time. I loved Coke Studio because Rohail Hyatt went out
of his way to make us all feel at home, like we were part of something
grand. He gave us enough space to try out anything we wanted to do.
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Ali
Azmat was great to work with because he would make you bring out
energy on stage. As for Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, I can still hear his
auto tuned shrieks in my ears, what a voice! Ali Zafar was fun and
the whole set went amazing; in fact, his set was my favourite one.
We didn't play with Strings because we felt their original setup
had more energy than what we could provide on their songs. But more
than working with prominent artists, my good times were with my
band mates. All my band mates were excellent people, one after the
other. Gumby has always been a dear friend and I would laugh every-time
he would say "I'm not going to be a drummer in the next life."
Omran and I shared moments
while watching clips of 'Tenacious D and the pick of Destiny'. The
studio was equipped with |
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a
pool table
that was always occupied by me, Mannu, Shezi and Babar. Excellent
guys. And how could I forget Saba and Selina... two wonderful girls
who kept everyone happy with their jokes and conversations. They blended
in perfectly well. So this is what you call the perfect mix. |
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But
it was also one of THE most tiring experiences as well. I was in Karachi
for a month. Since I was working closely with Rohail on programming
elements for songs, my timings would be something like 1:30 pm till
4:00 am in the morning.
But Coke Studio has been one of the best things I've ever done. I
sometimes get sad knowing that it's over.
Instep: Tell us about your new video for Ali Azmat. Rumour has it
that you've chosen Claymation (Clay Model-Motion) medium for the video.
When will it be finished?
ZP: Well, it's not exactly all claymation-based. 'Gallan' was made
using different methods to create different feels in every portion
of the song. 40 per cent of it is motion using scanned printouts of
Ali and the characters, 30 per cent of it is real footage and the
remaining 30 per cent is a mixture of organic clay plus aluminum foil
animation. Except for three shots, all the backgrounds in the video
were self constructed through miniature sets.
As for the medium, I was chatting with Roha
il Hyatt one evening at his studio and he was just sharing an idea
about paper being integrated as images on video. That hit me. When
Coke Studio finished I went back home, twisted the idea a bit, experimented
over it and it worked. I drafted the concept for one of the songs
from Ali's album and introduced a couple of new things in it as well.
I explained the whole process to Ali. He was like "eh?"
in the beginning, but when got the grasp of it, he was interested
in it more than I was. So hence, the idea for a raw, dirt treated
video where an ant and a praying mantis battle in the end was born.
It was one damn hard video to make, as equal as MHB's 'Waris Shah'
which took five months to produce. This video took three months and
it's ready.
Instep:
How has the recent situation been with militancy in Peshawar and the
effect it has had on music there?
ZP: Life in general has been greatly affected, let alone the music
scene, if there is any left anymore. I think there are many things
that have caused unrest here; poverty, major load shedding, unaffordable
expenses for the common man, the law and order situation and to top
this all, militancy is at Peshawar's doorsteps. Never have I seen
a time like this in my limited life where people have been so insecure
and so depressed. It's as if people are wondering nowadays what our
fate is going to be after a year. These feelings helped me make 'Waris
Shah' video for the Mekaal Hasan Band. I hope to God everything better
and Peshawar remains the same place I grew up in.
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Instep:
Ever since you've entered the music direction scene, you have attempted
to promote bands 'with lesser means than most'. Bands like Visaal,
Irtaash and Saturn for instance. Do you make a conscious effort to
promote young artists or is it coincidental?
ZP: I wish I could do more to help all the people I've worked and
will work with Inshallah because I strictly believe that first of
all, there should be no such thing as the director/client relationship
when it comes to music videos. If there is, throw it out. It should
be more like a mutual thing just as it would be between two good friends.
But the artist has to leave everything to the director blindly and
at that point, trust him totally with the vision he is presenting
for them.
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On the other hand, it's
the right of the director to hear the band out if they wants to
convey something, anything it all. There should be no stiffness.
I stress more on underground bands because they need the projection
and help in anyway possible. So it's not just me helping them out
in getting their videos to different channels. I figure its more
important to just take some time out, do a meeting or do and be
a part of an integral force that decides what should be done alongside
the video, how do we push it forward and etc. So I find it best
that I make them feel responsible in the whole scenario as well.
It has to be a double sided effort, otherwise it doesn't work at
all. I thank God that till now I haven't come across a single person
(who has worked with me) who wasn't cooperative.
Instep: You're
one of the first people who introduced animated music video to the
music scene. Tell us something about that.
ZP: Well, it was more like a solid decision that I took after I
tried experimentations with how I would be able to rotoscope pre-shot
images and treat them as layers of art. I had no knowledge whatsoever
about photoshop nor any animation programme at that time, so you
can pretty much figure out that most of the artwork done on the
video is quite raw, pixilated at times and unpolished. This kept
bugging me for sometime, because I wanted to do better but I couldn't.
It was taking a lot of my time. Imagine a 9 to 5 job, music production
responsibilities on the side, throw in some family time there too
and then this. I was a wreck, I had a kidney problem by the time
I was over with this. But then I said to myself, that maybe my satisfaction
lies inside the fact that I stop being a perfectionist and leave
it the way it is. If there are flaws, let them be. That, for me,
became a thing of beauty, to let go of things sometimes and just
constructing whatever came to you, even though you were limited
in terms of execution at that point.
Instep: Is it easier to direct performance videos than
ones with a storyboard?
ZP: Performance based videos are sometimes really hard to execute
and post-producion is difficult as well. First of all, a lot of
hard work is put in from the director's side to make sure that all
the necessary dynamics of musicians are captured and understood
properly. Then, you make sure that you avoid repetition as much
as possible while designing takes and in the editing process. You
give what is needed necessary to add a bit of punch to the final
product. By nature, performance based videos are usually suitable
for songs that contain either a lot of energy or they're unusually
slow. As an example, MHB's 'Jhok Ranjhan' had more than three dozen
full length takes of all the band members and about 15 minor takes.
In that small recording room, all things (lights, reflectors, tracks,
dolly grips) would be changing positions after each take was done.
And the edit alone was done, in about 40 days.
Instep: How has your experience been of working with Sajid Ghafoor?
ZP: Sajid is the first ever person I collaborated with. In a word,
it is phenomenal. I can give you loads of reasons why I love working
with the guy. Sajid is a whiz at structure and song writing, he
gives me the kind of space I want in designing tracks for both of
us, he makes the best tea (even in the Teabag category), I love
his corny jokes and the most important of all, we understand each
other completely, they way we want to work, the way we should deal
with things and etc.
Instep: How did your music evolve into the electronic style
that we hear today?
ZP: The sound of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers always
fascinated me. My parents saw my fascination for keyboards. My family
got me different keyboards on an occasion. My elder brother Salman
was very much into music in those days, so watching him work at
nights was amazing. I wanted to have that sort of dedication as
well. I was about to embark on a journey of synthesis but got held
up because of my father's death in the middle. So for quite a few
years I gave up on music and sketching. That was a dark period,
till a moment came that I realized that it's high time I get back.
There was a lot of time wasted. You see, with electronica, you have
to be tuned with the latest technology, the gear and also, I must
confess what other people are doing, so you get inspired and proceed
on in your own direction. So I started learning production work,
the internet was introduced at that time, it opened up a lot of
doors for me. Slowly and gradually, I started setting up a small
studio for myself. Now I'm grateful to God I have a setup that lets
me experiment and produce sounds the way I would want in a track.
Instep: On a final note, what is cooking in your studio
these days?
ZP: Well, nowadays what's keeping me busy is our (mine and Sajid's)
sophomore album, we're just a couple of tracks away and I'm excited
about it even more than before. On the videos, I've wrapped Ali
Azmat's 'Gallan' and Mekaal Hasan Band's 'Warish Shah'. There's
one for Mauj that I'm supposed to be working one and our Sajid and
Zeeshan videos from the new album.
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