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SPOTLIGHT: Note from the underground
Recently, an article on Zakfest which took place at the Karachi Arts Council was published in Images. It must be said after going through it the piece presented an exceedingly opinionated viewpoint.
The writer should have done some research as to the precise manner in which the music underground works. Providing a platform for bands to surface to the spotlight is not a necessary function for the underground performers. The underground, as the name itself professes, stands more as an antidote to the mainstream, while in the process it may run parallel to it or may proceed to head off in an entirely different direction. It does not stand as any kind of extension to the essentially commercial mainstream, nor does it aim to serve it in any way. Genres like hardcore, punk, death metal, grunge and grind can in no way be held compatible to what our overwhelmingly complacent pop icons are doing in their music. The former has a totally different attitude, approach and treatment to it.
Noori was specifically mentioned as a well-to-do outcome of Coven, whereas it should be kept in mind that Coven had nothing in common with the current Noori outfit, when it comes to the style of music. Coven had a distinct alternative-grunge flavour to it, whereas Noori has pure pop inclinations. Ganda Banda, on the other hand, never did suffice for a real underground band for they were always more of a party band performing on various occasions in institutes and on college campuses, living on covers of Nazia and Zoheb. Euphoria isn’t even a Pakistani band. They belong to India. How they came to be mentioned here, one doesn’t know.
The underground, as the name itself professes, stands more as an antidote to the mainstream, while in the process it may run parallel to it or may proceed to head off in an entirely different direction
It is true that the fundamental drawback of the Zakfest 2003 was that no one had bothered with the soundcheck before the starting of the festival, plus the show began about four hours behind schedule. This contributed to the loss of performances by some of the good bands, among them Nocturnal Rust (who did not perform contrary to what the writer mentioned), Drift, Razm and Northern Alliance. Hollow Bodies (who even let them on stage?) were an utter disaster and disgrace to the show. It was just enough they even knew how to hold their instruments the right way. The organizers should have taken care to stick to the designated time which would have made the show run smoothly.
The blues outfit Strange Brew that appeared amid the line of rockers had good control of their sound and style. Wreckage was definitely a crowd favourite, getting a sizable part of the audience in a head-banging frenzy, creating a raging mosh pit right below the stage. This opened the way for one of the most eagerly awaited bands of the evening, Autopsy Gothic, literally giving a performance that stood out from the rest in its totality of sound and solidarity of style. Vocalist Kamran, kept a balanced and unfaltering growling pitch throughout with guitarist Yasir deftly backing up. One rarely sees bands like these who actually possess the potential to live up to the demanding standards of doing death metal.
Autopsy Gothic would surely have proved to be a head-on collision for Northern Alliance had they performed that night. They opened with a superb cover of Slayer’s South of Heaven, following with an original called Satan which the Zakfest writer termed blasphemous. Had he bothered to look up his sources properly, he would have realized that the lyrics of the song were based on Allama Iqbal’s Jibreel-o-Iblees (Gabriel and Satan) taken from the collection Baal-i-Jibreel. This was indeed quite a thought-provoking venture on the part of an underground death metal outfit.
Even after all the shortcomings Zakfest 2003 had to face, Outcry (a group that fosters the Karachi underground) must be credited with the effort they put in to bring about a show where practitioners of the non-commercial genres of rock and metal can give vent to their creative energies.
Performances and concerts of a similar nature are a change of scene in an atmosphere infested with the shallowness and pretensions of the current pop culture. It gives an opportunity to young musicians to at least try and do some serious music; music which has a point to it and addresses directly the problems, the unpleasantness and the issues which face us at an individual and societal level. Thanks to the Rockfest and Zakfest, the underground stands and speaks for itself.
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