Amjad Sabri’s Coke Studio Debut

The untimely death of Amjad Sabri has left many of his fans and contemporaries heartbroken and shattered.

Only a few weeks before he was gunned down in broad daylight, the Sabri scion had prepared for his fans what has now become his parting gift: a much-anticipated Coke Studio debut.

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In what will now most likely be dedicated to his loving memory, the collaboration will see him team up with another renowned qawwal and playback singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. In the show, Amjad will be seen singing the famous qawwali Aj Rang Hai, which has been previously performed by Hadiqa Kiani on the show’s Rohail Hyatt-produced fifth season in 2012.

A Coke Studio 9 production crew member said, “Both Amjad Sabri and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan have collaborated on a qawwali.”

As Strings experiment with a multiple-producer approach this year, the qawwali has been produced by Shani Arshad. According to the source, the duo of Rahat and Amjad had lengthy meetings with the producer prior to the recording for the show. “Unlike majority of the artistes, Amjad and Rahat did not require multiple takes to nail the track. They recorded the song in one go instead.”

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Although Amjad Sabri did not feature in previous seasons of Coke Studio, Tajdar e Haram was performed in Season 8 last year by Atif Aslam, as a tribute to the original performers, Ghulam Farid Sabri and Maqbool Ahmed Sabri. Amjad Sabri had also helped Coke Studio on this rendition. The rendition gained worldwide fame with over 33 million views on digital media. Speaking about his kalaam during the recording in May, the late Amjad Sabri had stated, “About 40 years ago, my father and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan read this kalaam at a dargah in Karachi and 40 years later, Rahat and I are reading it again (on Coke Studio Season 9).”

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Even the house band underwent slight changes for the song with the qawwal parties of both the vocalists replacing majority of the show’s session musicians. “Rahat and Amjad both had two to three people from their qawwal parties alongside them whereas the tabla player also belonged to Amjad’s group,” stated the crew member.

The vast talent on the music direction and production side will be matched in Season 9 by a dazzling array of artists, many of whom have performed in previous Coke Studio seasons, as well as several upcoming and talented singers performing for the first time in Coke Studio. While national icons who have performed previously include the likes of Abida Parveen, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sanam Marvi, Umair Jaswal, QB, Saieen Zahoor, Ali Azmat, Noori, Zeb Bangash, Faakhir and Meesha Shafi to name a few, the new artists include Shilpa Rao, Mehwish Hayat, Momina Mustehsan, Natasha Khan, Ali Khan, Rizwan Butt, Basit, Rachel Viccaji, Nirmal Roy and of course the maestro of qawwali, Amjad Sabri.

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