REVIEW
Review: The third coming
of Jal
E
ver since the emergence of Jal 2.0 (post Atif Aslamsplit), many of its songs have focused on a guitaroriented sound most evident in ‘Dil Haaray’ and ‘Panchi’.
Almost 10 years later and following another reformation
of the band; Gohar Mumtaz seems to have taken to that
sound once again with his latest release ‘Tere Bajoun’.
Despite having served as the vocalist on some of Jal’s
most iconic songs, such as ‘Dil Haaray’ and ‘Lamhe’,
Gohar has never really come to the fore as the group’s
lead vocalist. ‘Teray Bajoun’ is a welcome relief for fans
and listeners as it properly projects the singing side of
the terrific songwriter that Gohar is.Although he is not
a trained vocalist as such but often your weakness becomes your biggest strength and that is exactly why
‘Tere Bajaoun’ works. Much like Bilal Maqsood’s flat
yet fresh touch to ‘Mera Bichra Yaar’, Gohar manages
to arrange a catchy melody that would have otherwise
been ruined by a trained voice like that of Farhan Saeed.
Gohar’s monotone and raw vocals add the passion and
self assurance that oozed from every Jal track back in
the Indus Music days. It can be easily said that for the
first time since ‘Panchi’, you feel cherished listening to
a Jal song in Gohar’s voice.‘Tere Bajoun’ proves to be
the band’s most subtle release since their song, ‘Morey
Piya’. Although similar to that song in musicality it differs
in the sense that ‘Tere Bajoun’s’ grows on to your ears
with time and timely fades away into the drums and auto-tuned vocals of the singer. Yes, the auto-tune works
in this situation.Although not destined to be a smash hit,
the song will gradually grow upon listeners due to the
signature Punjabi ballad lyrics and musical richness if
given enough airplay.As far as the music video is concerned, it is not as impressive for a change. Directed
by Azaan Sami Khan, the video despite, having some
stylish shots, falls short of a clear narrative and fails to
prove anything more than a compilation of shots from
Karachi’s most photogenic locations.As is the case with
most Pakistani musicians, Gohar’s acting seems to be
ideally-suited to the medium where they are not required
to deliver many dialogues; a weakness which his previous stints in television seem to have highlighted.
15 | BOOM