In the 2000s, Indus Music used to air a show called IM On The Fringe. It was one of the most popular television shows in the channel. The show was hosted by Pakistani music journalist and host Fasi Zaka. It followed a single camera format. The show was produced and directed by Pakistani musician Zeeshan Parwez.
The show was a first of its kind in Pakistan. It interviewed people related to Pakistan’s music industry which included musicians, music producers, music journalists as well as their friends and families.
The first episode aired in the early 2000s. It was entirely shot in Peshawar. The first episode featured Peshawar based English Musician Jehangir Aziz Hayat. In the episode, the host Zaka asks him a lot of questions regarding his music. He also does ask him some political and social based questions. For example he questions over performing grunge songs which is reserved for the lower class. To which he responded that it was simply because he was inspired by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. There was no deep meaning behind his grunge songs.
You can watch the first episode featuring Jehangir Aziz Hayat here:
Another episode featured the alternative rock Entity Paradigm (EP). The episode features EP lead vocalist Fawad Khan,lead guitarist Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Xulfi) and drummer and rhythm guitarist Salman Ahmed. They talk about a lot of things in the episode.
They discussed Fawad’s mood. Salman criticized Noori’s performances. The band members also talked about how rock was better than pop. Rock stays true to its roots and they have acult following whereas Pop in Pakistan is quite commercial. At the end of the episode the band plays one of their popular songs titled Waqt. The episode concludes with Xulfi agreeing to produce Atif Aslam’s next album. The episode ends with Call playing at a concert in Lahore. The concert was attended by Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar and Strings.
You can watch the part here:
You can listen to EPs Waqt here:
Call performed a cover of Creed’s With Their Arms Wide Open. Although that performance is not available anywhere, you can watch Call performing their hit song Jilawatan here:
Another section featured the band Overload. Zaka went to Lahore for that show. He talked about how KFC, McDonald’s and Café Zouk started in the city. In the section Farhad Humayun talks about how he started drumming. He originally started from playing the guitar and then moved on to the drums. The drums had become an important part of his life. Overload since then has been known as a drumming oriented sound.
You can watch the section here:
You can check out Overload’s Dhamaal here:
It is sad to see that original shows like IM On The Fringe do not exist anymore.
Sangeet Site Blog 