|
|
|
|
ATIF ASLAM - Jal Pari
As much as the success of their debut single "Aadat" was instantaneous, the
break-up of the original line-up of the band Jal has been long drawn out and
quite sordid. There were public and rather brutal recriminations between Atif
and Gohar (the two members of the band) and their respective fans. Legal suits,
threats, a lot of heartburn and pointless mudslinging followed in the papers and
indeed all over the Net. In all of this, the band seems to have come out for the
worse and pretty much become a public joke - a punchline, sort of like the band
in Alan Parker's The Commitments which breaks up right at the verge of breaking
out. In all, one was almost convinced that the whole affair marked the death
knell for Jal, an epitaph for them as a one-hit wonder. So initially, it was
with some sense of relief that one saw the two members of the band perform
separately and premiere some new songs.
Notwithstanding rumours that "Aadat" owed more of its success to producer Mekaal
Hassan than the band itself, a couple of live performances certainly seemed to
indicate the presence of a fair bit of talent with each of the two members of
the band. Thereafter, when news surfaced that each of the two had started work
on full-fledged albums of their own, one was even interested to see what they
would come up with after all the petulance. Could they out of their demise give
us excellent albums like, say, the ones that resulted from Awaz falling apart?
In Jal's case, Atif Aslam the lead singer of the band seems to have stolen a
march on musician-in-chief Gohar who legally acquired the right to the Jal name
before Atif could and rushed his (that is Atif's) debut album "Jal Pari" into
the market. The album "Jal Pari," much as the name suggests and indeed as the
bitter liner notes confirm, is an album haunted by the ghost of Jal. Call it
canny marketing or an attempt to wind up Gohar but there are two versions of the
band's hit debut song "Aadat" here. The cover of the album even bears lyrics to
the song. Marketing aside, having listened to the two versions, it appears there
is one version too many on the album.
"Ab to Aadat Si Hai," the standard version of "Aadat," sounds somewhat
re-recorded and has already been played to death on most radio stations. It is
the one song that will make this album sell like hotcakes. The song itself is
interestingly put together and highlights Atif Aslam's powerful vocals - his
greatest asset - to quite a memorable effect: the melody, effective lyrics and
excellent music all gel to form the mega hit loved by many. However, it is
possibly tampering with this magic formula that lets the other version of the
song, the "Deep Blue Version," fall flat.
"Aadat (Said Song) Deep Blue Version" [sic] is a stripped and slowed down
version of the song. It so appears to have been done to make the song sound more
soulful and highlight Atif's vocals. Unfortunately, tampering with the song
kills it: the song loses momentum but somehow does not gain any pathos from
being slowed down. The mix, in fact, seems somewhat off. The vocals and
production of guitars (too bright) are just too clean for the moodier version to
work. Plus Atif is not as expressive as one would have expected on a stripped
down arrangement of the song.
As for the rest of the album, most of the songs therein appear to have been put
together in a rush. More crucially it feels like the album was pulled together
by a host of hired hands. The songs remind me of those 'by the number' colouring
books I used to play with as a kid. The pictures were already drawn out and
various portions of the pictures contained various numbers the corresponding
colours to which were supposed to be filled in. And no matter how well I
coloured in, at the end of the day, there was little or no scope for creativity.
That is possibly the amount of creativity Atif manages when singing on the
album.
Admittedly, there are a few good songs here. The best song here has got to be
"Mahi Ve." This is so, despite it being a faux-Punjabi number reminiscent of
"Dobara Phir Se" (Noori), only a bit more melodic. It starts off as a mid-tempo
acoustic guitar ballad but turns up-tempo after the first verse. It also shows
what a bit of drums can do to a song, in sharp contrast to the dismal "Aadat"
(Deep Blue version) which precedes it and dies due to lack of drums. "Mahi Ve"
itself gels together quite effectively and there is a fair bit of joy (despite
the lost-love lyrics) to the up tempo bits of it.
"Jal Pari," the title song is possibly the most ambitious song here and, in
fact, works well in parts too. It starts off moodily, with slowly strummed
guitars. Evocative singing over the top of this bed of guitars by Atif follows.
However, then the drums come in along with some tasteful guitar playing and the
song takes off in another direction. Farhad Humayun is the star here, much to
the extent of obscuring Atif. The influence of Pappu Saeen's collaboration with
Farhad certainly shines through and his tribal drumming overwhelms the song. The
guitar solos and fills are short and effective but it is Farhad's song by the
end with Atif singing his standard Aaaas" over the top. The song just ends too
abruptly for its own good (weak production and arrangement).
In fact Atif's vocals on "Jal Pari" point to one of the main problems with the
album. When Atif sings his alaaps and long sustained Aaaas, he is certainly
often in key (more than most others, at least) and he does have a great voice,
but he overdoes it. He uses his voice as almost another instrument which would
have been acceptable had he not just taken to singing similar and pointless
Aaaas in almost every other song. Several of the songs here are fatally wounded
midway through when Atif just takes to his standard Aaaa-ing just because. One
is aware that certain Jal fans who consider Atif's alaaps and such vocal styling
as extremely original, but in all actuality this is not much of a style. In the
very least, restraint is certainly advised.
Other songs on the album work mostly in parts to various different extents.
"Ehsaas" is mostly a successful song with clean production. It even has some
substance to it (is not only about love as with other songs). That being said,
lyrically most of what is being said here has lyrically been done before and
better. There are the Junoon keywords and the angst-ridden confusion of Noori or
EP here. Some good lines do slip in ("kabhi main amal hoon / kabhi bai amal
hoon"). The music in its better moments evokes KD Lang's "Constant Craving" or
REM's "Losing My Religion."
"Dil Haray" (or "Ankhon Se," as it is called here) is a song Atif has been
playing quite a bit live. It is a tad too slow and does not have the celebratory
feel of the live performances. Still it works, even if it is a bit too close to
the Jal formula. Gohar's Jal has a slightly better "Dil Haray" version of its
own out as well.
"Tehzeeb" has better lyrics than most of the others in the album. It sounds and
feels like a ghazal (only, Ahmed Jehanzeb does it better) but its moodiness is
just not carried along well enough. The bass, the drums do their own thing but
add nothing to the song. The lesser songs on the album are unfortunately
several. Most of them are lesser because they appear to be derivative or just do
not fit Atif's style. The prime among these is "Gall Sun Ja" which opens like a
heavy rock beat. The drum intro is straight out of EP, the guitars are great
(particularly the rhythm for verses and the earlier solo) and one's ears
immediately perk up until Atif comes in to ruin the song. Atif's vocal lines are
horrid in the song. The chorus turns into a lame Noori parody. "Andar jawan /
bahar jawan" is straight out of Junoon ("Na main aabi / na main khaki").
Ultimately this is a truly disjointed song in search for an identity, much like
most of this album and the way it ends with a sudden fade out indicates lack of
thought too.
And that perhaps is the main thing about this album. The unfortunate thing is
that "Jal Pari" really does have an incomplete feel to it. The songs are through
and through rush jobs. Songs don't fade out, they just end abruptly as if the
band ran out of ideas. It happens in "Jal Pari," it happens somewhat again on
"Bheegi Yadein." The weak production and arrangement is however most of all
obvious on "Gall Sun Ja," which heads towards a crescendo and then suddenly just
ends. No fadeout, no resolution, just a plain and simple cutout. Now if any of
the previous material had shown forethought, one would have imagined this to
have been a tongue-in-cheek irritant. What it actually is, is just irritating.
"Bheegi Yadein" sticks to formula. Farhad Humayun drums and the acoustic guitars
are out of "Aadat." There is little or no momentum here as with a lot of the
other songs. This is more so the case with the breaks in the middle of the song.
"Zindagi" is a funk-rock mess and shows up the limitations of Atif's singing.
The voice just does not gel with the urgent music.
"Yaqeen" might have been one of the better songs had it not gone back to the
standard Jal formula again. It starts as a Call/Creed song and turns into a
mid-tempo ballad following the formula which seems to have been: 'Aaaas' + some
'Hey hey' or 'Hmmm' + some acoustic rhythm guitar = song. Plus some more 'Aaaas'
or 'Hmmms' to impress fans. One song too many in the same mould perhaps. The
'Hmmm hmmm Aaaa Aaaa' followed by 'Ho Ho' are hilarious rather than soulful.
Lyrically as alluded as the earlier one there is nothing really new in this
album. The major theme of the album is love and more legendary love ("Jal Pari")
There is however a fair bit of poetic elegance to some of the lyrics (bits of
"Tehzeeb," "Aadat," etc.) and that is worth appreciating.
As mentioned earlier, the album is certainly a rush job, possibly an effort to
regain the momentum the band lost with failing to consolidate on the success of
"Aadat." All of this might have made commercial sense but the songs do suffer.
This is also reflected in the packaging of the album. The liner notes and lyric
sheet are both awkward. Song details are not given and certainly Gohar merited a
mention somewhere in the credits. The CD I picked from the market was not well
put together. Still, one must say it is unintentionally entertaining. The liner
notes are somewhat hilarious and laced with mistakes. Atif hilariously thanks
his fans for their unconditional love and 'hold up' [sic]. The bitterness is
certainly there with jibes at friend's past whose lack of faith 'pulled [Atif]
to explore [himself] in a meticulous fashion.'
Overall, there is little that is really memorable here. The "Aadat" magic has by
now worn thin. Some of the other songs are pleasant, some are passable, and some
not even that. All in all, "Jal Pari" is a disappointing album - much too rushed
a piece of work - from a talented singer whose singing voice may be there but
who has still some way to go before he find his voice as an artist and his feet
as a songwriter.
Mohammad A. Qayyum
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
