The tenth season of the

Pakistani music The Music of Pakistan ( ur, , lit=pákistáni mosíqi) includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple ...

television series ''Coke Studio'' premiered on 11 August 2017, and ended on 21 September 2017.

Strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

and

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...

emceed the show as executive producers, while the show returned with the previous year's format of music directors leading and producing their own songs under Strings' supervision, despite the decision of not adopting this format for next year. The season featured 7 episodes, each having 4 tracks, plus one promo and one full song (hence two season openers); making it a total of 32 songs. It turned out to be the Strings' last ''Coke Studio'' production.

Artists

Featured artists

* Ali Sethi *

Aima Baig Aima Noor-ul Ain Baig (, ; born 10 March 1995) is a Pakistani singer. She started her career in 2014 when she uploaded her songs onto SoundCloud, through which she was approached by different people. She is known for her appearances on Dunya Ne ...

*Danyal Zafar *

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan ( Punjabi, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Singer, primarily of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the biggest and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kha ...

* Abrar-ul-Haq *

Ali Zafar Ali Zafar ( pa, ; born 18 May 1980) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, model, actor, producer, screenwriter and painter. Zafar started out on Pakistani television before becoming a popular musician. He later also established a career in Bo ...

Ayesha Omar Ayesha Omar (born 12 October 1981) is a Pakistani actress and YouTuber. Considered as a style icon in her home country, Omar is one of the most popular and highest-paid actresses of Pakistan. In 2012, she released her first singles "Chalte C ...

Atif Aslam Atif Aslam is a Pakistani playback singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He has recorded many songs in both Pakistan and India, and is known for his vocal belting technique. Aslam predominantly sings in Urdu, but has also sung in Hindi, ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

Bilal Saeed Bilal Saeed ( born 12 December 1988) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, music producer and composer. He is best known for his singles "12 Saal" , "Adhi Adhi raat " and 'Teri khair mangdi" . The latter was also used in the Bollywood film Baar Ba ...

Meesha Shafi Meesha Shafi ( ur, ) is a Pakistani-born Canadian singer, actress and model.Mehwish Hayat Mehwish Hayat (born 6 January 1988) is an Pakistani actress who primarily works in Urdu films and former television. She made her debut in film with comedy ''Jawani Phir Nahi Ani'' (2015) and later went on to ''Actor in Law'' (2016). Hayat is ...

Jabar Abbas Jabar Abbas is a Pakistani singer-songwriter and musician who started his career in 1997 as child artist. He gained notability during his presidential tenure of Nazir Ahmed Musical Society at Government College University, Lahore from 20032007. ...

Momina Mustehsan Momina Mustehsan (; born 5 September 1992) is a Pakistani singer, musician, and social activist. In 2017, BBC named her one of the 100 Women (BBC), 100 most influential women, and the following year, ''Forbes'' featured her among its "30 Under ...

*Waqar Ehsin *

Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi Attaullah Khan Niazi, SI PP (Urdu, Pashto: ) (born 19 August 1951), known professionally as Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi also known as Lala (meaning "elder brother" in Pashto and Punjabi), is a Pakistani musician from Isakhel, Mianwali, Punjab. ...

*Sanwal Khan Esakhelvi *

Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch Quratulain Balouch ( ur, ) is a Pakistani American singer-songwriter. Also known as QB or the Humsafar Girl, she became popular for her title track " Woh Humsafar Tha" in Hum TV's serial '' Humsafar''. Career Balouch has no formal music educa ...

Sahir Ali Bagga Sahir Ali Bagga (born 10 April 1980) is a Pakistani singer, music director and composer from Lahore, who composes music for Lollywood and other independent singers.Asim Azhar Asim Azhar (; born 29 October 1996) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, musician and an actor. He started his career as a singer on YouTube, covering contemporary Western songs before he became a public figure. Career Asim Azhar was born o ...

Uzair Jaswal Uzair Jaswal is a Pakistani singer-songwriter and actor. Career Uzair started his career at the age of 14. At 16, he wrote his first song and was the lead singer of a band called Scar which performed alternative-rock covers. Some of his p ...

*Hina Nasrullah *

Ali Hamza H, or h, is the eighth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''aitch'' (pronounced , plural ''aitches''), or region ...

Nabeel Shaukat Ali Nabeel Shaukat Ali (; born 29 August 1989) is a Pakistani singer. He was the winner of '' Sur Kshetra'', a singing talent show – the musical battle between teams of two neighboring countries: Pakistan and India aired simulcast on Geo TV, Sa ...

Faraz Anwar Faraz Anwar (Urdu: فراز انور; b.15 July 1976) is a Pakistani musician, composer, singer-songwriter, bandleader, and a guitarist who founded the ''Mizraab'', a heavy metal music and hard rock genre band based in Pakistan. His musical act ...

*Faiza Mujahid *

Ahmed Jahanzeb Ahmed Jahanzeb Usmani ( ur, ; born 28 May 1978) is a Pakistani pop singer and composer.Sajjad Ali Sajjad Ali (born 1962) is a Pakistani semi-classical, pop and rock singer, poet, actor, film director as well as a film producer from Karachi, Pakistan.Waqar Ali Waqar Ali (Urdu: وقار علی) is a Pakistani musician and singer working mostly in Pakistan. Ali has produced many albums and singles for the Pakistan film industry. His father is the classical singer Shafqat Hussein, and Waqar Ali often ...

Jawad Ahmed Jawad Ahmed is a Pakistani pop singer and musician. Jawad Ahmed is currently chairman of Barabri Party Pakistan. Early life and career Jawad Ahmad was born into a Kashmiri family who immigrated to Pakistan after independence. Both his parents ...

Shiraz Uppal Shiraz Uppal ( ur, شیراز اپل; born 29 January 1975) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter and music producer. His popular songs are “ Tu Kuja Man Kuja”, “Tera Te Mera”, "Raanjhanaa",“Mann Ja Ve”, “Roya Re”, Rabba", “Saiyan ...

Nirmal Roy Nirmal Roy (in Urdu نرمل رائے) (born August 6, 1996) is a Pakistani singer. Born in Lahore, she started her career at the age of twelve. Roy has performed and won many music competitions on national level, including the '' Voice of Kinnai ...

Umair Jaswal Umair Jaswal is a Pakistani actor, singer-songwriter and music producer from Islamabad. He was also lead vocalist of the rock band ''Qayaas''. Umair is the brother of singers Yasir Jaswal and Uzair Jaswal. Personal life Jaswal, whose fa ...

Farhan Saeed Farhan Saeed Butt is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, actor, music video director, and entrepreneur. Saeed is the former lead vocalist of the Pakistani band Jal and owns the restaurant ''Cafe Rock'' in Lahore. He sings in Urdu and Punjabi. Perso ...

*Akbar Ali *

Rachel Viccaji ''Coke Studio'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani television programme and international music franchise which features studio-recorded music performances by established and emerging artists. It is the longest-running annual television music show in Pakis ...

Shuja Haider Shuja ( ar, شجاع‎, ur, شجاع‎, bn, সুজা) is a surname and male given name. Notable people with this name include: * Shuja al-Khwarazmi, was the mother of Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) * Ahmad Shuja Pasha (born ...

Jaffer Zaidi Jaffer Zaidi ( ur, ) is a Pakistani musician, singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of semiclassical band Kaavish. Propelled to success with the release of three singles "Bachpan", "Choti Khushiyaan", "T ...

Humaira Channa Humaira Channa, also known as Humera Channa (born on 22 Jun 1970 at Lahore), is a 6 Nigar Award winning film playback singer from Pakistan. She has won 3rd most Nigar Awards in history, ranked only after Noor Jehan and Mehnaz. Early life and c ...

*Mekaal Hasan *

Salman Ahmad Salman Ahmad ( ur, , born 12 December 1963) is a Pakistani born-American musician, rock guitarist, physician, activist, occasional actor and professor at the City University of New York. He earned nationwide popularity in 1998 for his uni ...

Shani Arshad Shani Arshad is a Pakistani film music director, songwriter, TV jingle composer, playback singer and record producer. He has composed music for various television serials and films including ''Actor in Law'', '' Na Maloom Afraad'', ''Load Wed ...

*Arieb Azhar *Ali Noor * Irteassh *

Humera Arshad Humaira Arshad or Humera Arshad (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani pop singer from Lahore born in 1975. Career She started her career as an actress in PTV Home's television series Ainak Wala Jin (a PTV Home, PTV show for childre ...

*Kaavish *Amanat Ali *

Natasha Khan Natasha (russian: Наташа) is a name of Slavic origin. The Slavic name is the diminutive form of Natalia. Notable people * Natasha, the subject of '' Natasha's Story'', a 1994 nonfiction book * Natasha Aguilar (1970–2016), Costa Rican s ...

Javed Bashir Javed Bashir ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 8 August 1973) is a Pakistani playback singer who mainly sings classical songs. Javed has sung songs for many Bollywood movies including ''Cocktail'', ''Kahaani'', ''Rush'', ''Bombay Talkies'', ''Bhaa ...

Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan ( ur, ; ; born 26 February 1965) is a Pakistani pop and classical singer, songwriter, and composer belonging to the Patiala Gharana tradition of music. He was the lead vocalist of the Pakistani pop rock band Fuzön ...

Music directors

Shuja Haider, Shani Arshad, and Jaffer Zaidi returned to the show; while Ali Hamza (

Noori Noori ( ) is a Pakistani rock band from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, formed in 1996. The group was formed by songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist, Ali Noor, along with his younger brother Ali Hamza, who were soon joined by bassist Muhammad A ...

), Sajjad Ali, Mekaal Hasan (

Mekaal Hasan Band Mekaal Hasan Band (, sometimes shortened to MHB) is an international sufi rock band formed in Lahore, Pakistan in 2000 by composer, singer-songwriter and guitarist Meekal Hasan. The band members have roots in different genres, including Pop mus ...

), Sahir Ali Bagga and Salman Ahmad made their ''Coke Studio'' debut as directors. Each director produced individual performances too; all under the supervision of Strings. There was at least one tribute song by each of them too.

Musicians

Production

Format

On 27 February 2017, Rafay Mahmood of ''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the ''Interna ...

'' stated, "the biggest challenge for the show is to bridge the gap between the indie scene and the mainstream musicians". Earlier, it was also rumoured that the show was a ten-year deal to begin with, and after Strings' third,

Rohail Hyatt Rohail Hyatt (Urdu: روحیل حیات) is a Pakistani record producer, Synthesizer, keyboardist, and Music composer, composer. As record producer, Hyatt is largely credited with pioneering Pakistani pop rock music by incorporating western Ro ...

will come back in season 10 to give a farewell. However, the multiple-producers format was a hit previous year and it made the show to be returned with the same format, despite Strings' claim that the show will follow the original format. The show had been promoted in media by the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

#CokeStudio10. In launching ceremony on 11 August, Strings shared that the process of making songs has three stages: the first is when it is decided by December what song to feature; the second is when the artistes construct and reconstruct the songs in the jamming room; and the third is recording phase when they bring their own special vibe to the tracks. The performance version for release is recorded in one take, with 21 cameras shooting simultaneously.

Debutants

made her ''Coke Studio'' debut with this season, she exclusively told ''DAWN Images'', "There are no music releasing companies and under such circumstances I think ''Coke Studio'' is doing a great job".

DAWN Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

'' reported on 23 July 2017, "

's son Sherjan Ahmad will play the acoustic guitar to his father's vocals, classical singer

's brother Akbar Ali will be in the limelight and house band member violinist Javed Iqbal is excited to share the stage with his son Ghulam Muhammad on the cello this year." Co-producer

Bilal Maqsood Bilal Maqsood (Urdu: بلال مقصود) is a Pakistani guitarist, composer, and a founding member of Strings. He has also directed a number of music videos. For Bilal and his band Strings, success came in 1992 after the launch of the song ''S ...

said, "All of these young musicians are actually very good at what they do." "It was just by chance that Season 10 will end up featuring so many of them", he continued revealing names of some young talent featuring in the show including Sanwal Khan Esakhelvi;

's son; who was approached to him by his father

Anwar Maqsood Anwar Maqsood Hameedi (born 7 September 1939, Urdu:), popularly known as Anwar Maqsood, is a Pakistani scriptwriter, television presenter, satirist, humorist, and infrequent actor. He was well known for his drama write-ups for PTV in the late ...

. Young Esakhelvi said on his show debut, "''Coke Studio'' is exciting for me because my father and I will be singing a mash-up together that has mostly been composed by him with some additions by me."

Sajjad Ali Sajjad Ali (born 1962) is a Pakistani semi-classical, pop and rock singer, poet, actor, film director as well as a film producer from Karachi, Pakistan.Ali Zafar Ali Zafar ( pa, ; born 18 May 1980) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, model, actor, producer, screenwriter and painter. Zafar started out on Pakistani television before becoming a popular musician. He later also established a career in Bo ...

commented on the career debut of his youngest brother Danyal Zafar, "I feel that the struggle is very important and Danyal needs to experience it in order to move ahead." Danyal Zafar said, "I always dreamt of a debut that could best help me express myself as an artist in such a way that my music could also connect with people." Aima Baig said in launching ceremony on her show debut, "As a new artiste to have a platform where you can perform whatever you want is like dream comes true and I feel proud to get this opportunity."

Strings' farewell

On 29 October, the Strings announced the farewell from the show. They said that season 10 would be their last production, "It has been a fantastic journey for us over the course of 4 seasons and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to learn and share our work". They further said, "2018 will mark 30 years of Strings and we are super excited to celebrate with all of you".

Release

Each episode went on-air on Saturday in

broadcast syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

, a day after each track was released online. Each episode was aired in one-hour timeslot, with each track preceded by its behind the scenes short clip. By the day, BTS too releases online. Only episode 7 was released and aired on Thursday, 21 September 2017, to respect the holy month of

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after R ...

Promo song

The season was introduced by the collaborative rendition of "

Qaumi Taranah The "" ( ur, , ; "National Anthem"), also known as "" ( ur, , ; "Thy Sacred Land"), is the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and formerly the Dominion of Pakistan. It was written by Hafeez Jalandhari in 1952 and the music ...

" by the featured artistes. Released on 4 August, the anthem has been recomposed by Strings, "We hope to rekindle the spirit of patriotism and social consciousness in the heart of every Pakistani. This is more significant now than ever, as we are marking seventy years of our independence."

Episodes

The launching ceremony was held on Friday, 11 August 2017, where tracks from the first episode were screened after the "Qaumi Taranah".

Broadcast

Television

Following

television channels A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

air the episodes in Pakistan;

Radio

Following

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-b ...

air the songs in Pakistan;

Reception

The show has been critically viewed for not producing new songs. Rafay Mahmood of ''The Express Tribune'' said that the lack of original music "has become a chronic problem with ''Coke Studio''. With almost every passing season the title cover studio is becoming more relevant to the show than anything else." After the season's artiste line up was revealed on 4 July, ''The News'' criticized the incomplete revealment while noting that

Mooroo Taimoor Salahuddin () better known by his online alias Mooroo, is a Pakistani YouTuber, Writer, Internet personality, Filmmaker , Actor and musician. Known primarily for his comedic YouTube sketches and vlogs, he is regarded as one of the pi ...

, Abid Brohi, SomeWhatSuper,

Khumariyaan Khumariyaan (, ) is a Pashto music band from Khyber Pakthunwka province of Pakistan that also plays other styles. The band has represented their Culture abroad in Ireland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Kenya and elsewhere. Members A ...

and

Sounds of Kolachi Sounds of Kolachi ( ur, ), also spelled Sounds-of Ko Laa Chi, is a musical ensemble from Karachi. Sounds of Kolachi is a 10-piece group of vocalists and instrumentalists which blends raga and Western harmony, counterpoint and South Asian genres ...

should have been included in the show. Asif Nawaz of ''The Express Tribune'' commented, "While it's only time that will tell how the latest season unfolds, the urge to indulge in presenting our two cents about it seems too tempting to resist." For the promo song; the recreated version of "Qaumi Taranah"; Umnia Shahid of ''The Express Tribune'' praised only Ali Zafar's performance and said, "The rest were simply wax figures executing a song – any song – any random song. Except, it wasn't just any random song." ''DAWN Images'' praised only Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi but said, "Overall, the song, the video, everything seems to be forgettable". This rendition seemed of "dull and lack emotions" to Asfia Fazal of ''

Business Recorder ''Business Recorder'' is a financial daily newspaper in Pakistan which was founded by M.A. Zuberi. The publication is owned by the Business Recorder Group.

''. It felt "disjointed" to Maheen Sabeeh of '' The News'', "not inspiring or motivating at all" to Shafiq Ul Hasan, and "no goose bumps" to Imane Babar Wahedi; latter both of ''The Express Tribune''.

Extra notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control #Season10 2017 Pakistani television seasons