Despite going big on YouTube with its first attempt on political satire Aalu Anday, Beygairat Brigade’s lead singer Ali Aftab Saeed was unsure if his latest take on the military establishment of Pakistan will ever be able to make it to television screens.
“I spoke with media managers, but it’s becoming very difficult for them to play this song,” says Saeed, about the politically incorrect number that touches upon the power of the armed forces. “I expected the mainstream media not to play this song, so we really had to think about the release. We are still apprehensive.”
The song, which was released last week via the internet, has quickly become a hit. The release coincided with former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s arrest. Saeed says that that the political enigma of Musharraf has created an interesting drama that centres on the general’s ego. “We wanted to keep the song very ‘up to date’. It was actually written when the Nato supply routes were closed down, but various constraints had delayed the release. The lyrics were altered a bit and after Musharraf was taken into custody, we released the song,” he said. He added that the band had plans to release an election song earlier.
“No studio wallahs were producing the song; they would tell us that we are talking about influential people, hence we cannot record the song,” explained Saeed, adding that the studio owners told the band that it was ‘okay’ to do a parody on politicians, as they did for Aalu Anday, but not the military. The singer added that the band finally came across a person who was “kind enough” to record Dhinak Dhinak. The studio’s name, however, has not been mentioned in the credits in order to avoid any controversy.
The song has a simple composition and melody, but lyrically it is very clever. It makes jibes at the political scenario of Pakistan and mocks people who assume power. Talking about the composition, Saeed said that percussionist Daniyal Malik wanted to compose something that everyone could hum along too.
The scathing critique of ‘strategic depth’ in the song underscores the band’s strategy of writing lyrics that are critical of political actors. When asked about the lyrics, Saeed said, “There is a crisis in Pakistan surrounding Musharraf’s trial. If the trial does occur, it will open a Pandora’s Box. But, in case he is not tried, social media and our song will question why.”
Although the song has quickly garnered hits on YouTube and Vimeo alike, Saeed downplays the influence of social media. “Social media is a very tricky medium; Musharaf’s Facebook page has thousands of likes, but when he landed at Karachi airport, not even a hundred people turned up to receive him. So, even if this song may get a lot of hits, it doesn’t provide any security; it’s hard to determine what the social media can or cannot do,” he said.
The video, directed by film-maker Farhan Adeel, shows two different situations — a qawwali night and a mehendi. Adeel was fearful of how the video would be received. “There was a lot of resistance from audio producers; they were unwilling to produce anything controversial. People have also tried to play down the band strategy, by assuming that it’s just a ploy to get rich,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.
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