The Mekaal Hasan Band's preview concert in Lahore of numbers from their soon-to-be-launched album -- Sampooran -- a blend of Eastern Classical Vocals/ Western Jazz and Rock, was promising.

The auditorium filled out pretty quickly. The crowd had come in droves and had braved vast pools of water in the car park and an imminent threat of rain. Their enthusiasm and the sheer number that actually showed up was amazing as the night before an EP-Fuzon outdoor double-bill, also hampered by the rains, had only managed to attract three hundred people. Plus, this concert was an exclusive one, by invitation only. Yet it appeared that all persons had showed up. By show-time Alhamra Hall no. 1 was abuzz in anticipation of the first Mekaal Hasan Band (MHB) concert in a long while. For the last several months Mekaal had been tinkering away, finalizing his long-awaited debut Eastern Classical Vocals/ Western Jazz and Rock fusion album and this was the first time he was venturing out on stage ever since. Apparently everyone who was anyone was there that night, all eager to see him preview the finalized compositions.

The stage set-up was simple and effective. The lighting was tasteful and moody. Tamasha Productions which organized the event need to be given credit for getting it just right. A light blue banner spanned the whole of the background boldly proclaiming 'Mekaal Hasan Band' and 'Sampooran' (the name of the upcoming album) and carried an impressive-looking band-logo.

The concert started acceptably late and with an introduction of the band by Ahmad Ali Butt of EP and Jutt & Bond fame. Entertaining and poised as ever, Ahmad was an effective MC for the night. He even managed to quite effectively cover up the mess-up with the projection unit because of which advertisements for the sponsors could not be displayed on cue (Nestle, Chaudhry Dairies and Hang Ten were the sponsors for the night). The high spirits of the crowd were immediately on show as they waited for the ads to be displayed and then gamely clapped along to the Candia milk ad. Ahmed quickly and rather respectfully gave a brief history of the band: that it was formed three years ago and has been ruling the serious fusion roost ever since. Yet there was perhaps a jibe thrown in there as well as Ahmad mentioned the Pepsi Battle of the Bands performance of the Mekaal Hassan Band, a performance, I imagine, is best left forgotten by Mekaal: it was one of the rare occasions that Mekaal gave in to commercialism. And that plus the painful fact that MHB had lost, least of all to Ahmad's EP, Aaroh and several others.

That faux pas aside, Ahmed's appreciation seemed genuine and when he announced that Mekaal's album Sampooran will be out in India and Pakistan this September, a roar of appreciation went all around. The crowd cheered even louder as he introduced the band and Mekaal and company sauntered onstage, well-turned out for the occasion.

It was startling to see that almost all of the old hands of the Mekaal Hasan Band were missing. There were still two guitars, a bass, a flute, keyboards, drums and a vocalist on display but more than half of the band was new. Actually, only Mekaal Hassan and Mohammad Ahsan Pappu on flute were the only old hands leftover from the band's earlier incarnation. Salman Albert from EP sat in on drums, Jamal (Jamie) Mustafa came in on rhythm guitars, Sameer (Sammy) Ahmad was on bass and Farhan 'brother o' Salman' Albert was on keyboards. Fahad Khan on drums, Zahid-ur-Rehman on bass and Mekaal's co-songwriter Javed Akhtar on keyboard were all missing. Most crucially Ustaad Riaz Ali Khan on vocals had been replaced and in his place one was introduced to a youthful looking Javed Bashir.

For a moment one was taken aback. Without much ado they band launched straight into 'Ya Ali' and one was immediately taken in by the power of the performance. They sounded awesome. The band came together as if it had been playing together for ages and the powerful guitar and bass riffs really hit home. Javed with his husky voice immediately fitted in. His first vocal solo drew the first spontaneous bit of applause from the crowd. Salman on drums was the live-wire of the band and contributed immensely to the epic treatment of the song. The crowd for its own part contributed to the experience as they appreciated the performers time and again with bursts of applause.

'Sanwal', the song with the video on television, followed. Familiarity with the song apparently bred appreciation in the audience and once more the performance was powerful and driven. The new Mekaal Hassan Band was now two for two. Two songs played: two hit home with the audience.

It was with the third song that the band hit a snag. As they started to play 'Rabba', for my money their best and most soulful song, they possibly blotted their copybook: the song demands subtlety and great expression from the singer with refrains of 'Rabba Meray Haal Da Mehram Tu' repeated time and again. Javed, admittedly in his first public performance with the band, displayed a lack expressiveness and dynamic control in the song. He sang powerfully, huskily and without variation. While most in the audience did not seem to notice (they clapped on in appreciation of his skill), Javed or for that matter most of the band did not seem to connect with the material. The real meaning in the song seemed lost: MHB played the song more as a powerhouse than with the subtle touch the song cried out for and had been the hallmark of the previous lineup. I was once made a fan of the MHB by Ustaad Riaz's sensitive and heart-rending singing on 'Rabba'. The same was missing here. Only Pappu with his soulful flute playing - a joy - introduced subtlety and feeling to the song. Subtlety aside, Mekaal's final solo with its goose bump inducing power, though inappropriate, was utterly memorable.

After the three songs, Sameer took the mike and talked for a bit. He introduced the band to all. The painfully stage-shy Mekaal (his guitar certainly does talk though) apparently had abdicated the between song banter to Sammy. 'Jhok Panjan', a new number, was introduced as the next song, a song Mekaal has written with newcomer Javed. It was more accessible than most of the other MHB material: perhaps it is down to Javed's influence. One thing however was noticeable by now. It was all beginning to sound a tad similar-sounding. The instrumental interplay was apparently now following the same pattern: exposition and then solos. Moreover, with all the power in the performance, the lack of tonal colour was becoming apparent. A lot of the songs generally sounded the same: especially now that all of them were being played in a pile-driving fashion. Perhaps a little variety in instrumentation with new tonal colour being added by bringing in an acoustic guitar was called for. The music was getting a bit heavy on the ear.

Apparently the band clued in to this as well as a break was announced after the next song 'Dreamscape' (from Mekaal's instrumental Square One album). Fahad Khan was asked onstage to feature on the drums and the versatile Salman Albert moved rhythm guitar. While Javed sauntered offstage (it was a purely instrumental piece), Mekaal seemed intent on going to the break on a high. Apparently, Fahad Khan was even more intent on proving a point and both of them gave an intensely vigorous performance. Though Fahad Khan was on drums for only one song, he proved that he is a star through and through with his monstrously loud and adept drumming. It probably won't be long before Fahad is snapped up by a major band if he indeed, as rumoured, has left the MHB.

The break was restful and welcome. And soon the band was back onstage. The softer instrumental 'Lake Moon' set the mood for a return from the break. The playing was sensitive and Salman Albert was back on the drums. 'Lake Moon' followed by 'Sajjan De' had the rest of the band coming back. The highlight of this song was once more Mekaal's solo, which had a nice tone to it, a cross between a country twang and tasteful Mark Knopfler/ Dire Straitsy sound. The introduction of a little tonal colour was really welcome.

'Kinarey', yet another new song, was thereafter previewed. It did not go down well. It killed all momentum already built by the band as it just plodded along and though the keyboard riff was catchy, the song certainly was not. Javed's husky timbre seemed unsuited to the song and slowed it down even more.

It took the mighty 'Seven' or 'Sampooran' as it has now been retitled (the title track of the upcoming album incidentally) to set things going again. The instrumental interaction and the exciting time changes made the song go down well with the audience. Mekaal's searing solo on the night left everyone asking for an encore of the song. 'Challi Re', the latest new song was the last song. It was an unusual one for Mekaal as it was immediately accessible with a moving chug-along feel to it. It was built around keyboard and drums interaction (Salman and Farhan take a bow) and the number is surely the most directly commercial number written by Mekaal, almost Fuzon-like in its accessibility. Anyway, with its tap-along, clap-along, sing-along feel, the song broke all of Mekaal's standard rules of don'ts and it even had a totally rock ending. It was however, certainly crowd-pleasing and the concert ended on a true high.

Overall, the night spotlighted the power of the band's playing and the excellence of the compositions of Mekaal's songs. There were a few problems, but they were minor ones, especially for a new line-up: the lack of subtlety has already been pointed out. Two, for all the excellent sound quality - this really was the best sounding performance I have heard in Hall no. 1 - mixing suffered a little bit from not amplifying the soloists properly in their solo spots. Other than that the execution of the concert was quite flawless on part of the band. As regards the new material, attempts at catchiness notwithstanding, it will take some time to grow on the listeners. How the new compositions develop really remains to be seen.

The performance really made one thing clear: MHB is now well and truly Mekaal's band. His solos all night long were masterful and the highlights of each song. Previously, Mekaal shared the limelight with two stars: the mild mannered Javed Akhtar who co-wrote most of the songs with Mekaal and Ustad Riaz, who, his grandstanding notwithstanding was the most brilliant soloist. The problem it seems was that Riaz possibly knew it too and unsurprisingly has been eased out. Now with the two gone, it is well and truly his band. The omissions to a certain extent on first viewing are somewhat to the performance's detriment, but this line-up is new and with the sheer raw talent on display one is hopeful they will soon enough gel into an utterly irresistible unit.

One thing the new line-up has going for it is that they seem into playing music. It was fun to see the band interact and appear to enjoy their music. So often bands seem to be going through the motions. Not the MHB, as all players tapped away with their feet (often out of necessity and Mekaal's complex and time-shifting composition require it) and exuded interest. Sammy on bass more than anyone else grooved along laying down some really mean low ends.

Cecil Chaudhry's Tamasha Productions once again bear special mention for setting up an enjoyable evening. The only qualm that can be raised is that they did not handle the flood situation too well: there was a need for something more than a few bricks to be placed in the huge pools of water at the entrance of the Complex to allow the audience to safely negotiate the same. The previous night a bridge had been made up for the EP and Fuzon concert. That might have been advisable in this case.

Lastly, a nod for the enjoyable evening must go to the audience which had much to do with making the night a success; the listeners were enthusiastic and did not hold back their appreciation. To a great extent the crowd was much more discerning than what is the norm at Lahore concerts.

All in all, this was pretty much the perfect concert, perfectly arranged, and the few minor quibbles aside, perfectly executed. What is more so, like all great performances, it was provocative: parts of it appealed to everyone and certain others left some scratching their heads. Some questions were posed: Will Javed grow into a great vocalist and out of Riaz's shadow? Will the more sophisticated MHB material catch on with the masses that adore Fuzon? Will the new commercial direction click? One has been left to wonder and more promisingly, irresistibly hungry for more.

Source: The News on Sunday

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