When it comes to lending support for a noble cause, Karachiites come second to none, especially when the sentiment is accompanied with a night rocking to the likes of Ali Azmat, Mizmaar and Raeth. One such performance last week was organised by aCaus (A Collective Aspiration to Uplift Society) in order to raise funds to build a school in a needy area of Karachi.

While aCaus has held various charity events in the past, this was their first mega scale project, and they had high hopes to expect a crowd in excess of 2000. However, the attendance of die-hard music fanatics turned out to be on the lighter side of 1000; nevertheless, they were treated to over three hours of intense rock music, hard-core jamming and stunning live performances.

The event opened a full three-and-a-half hours late at midnight, with the arrival of Mizmaar on stage. While the band members were being blamed for the delay, truth be told, it was actually the notorious late comers in the audience who were the biggest culprits. And while security officials dealt unmercifully with the numerous gate-crashers, the agitated audience were mollified by recordings of Raeth and Jal music and the comfort of food stalls present at the premises.

A welcoming applause met Mizmaar as they ascended the wonderfully lit stage set with an aCaus backdrop; finally, it actually felt that the event is getting underway. A minute or two into Mizmaar’s jamming, someone realised that the band members have not been properly introduced as yet and the host for the night, Atif galloped on stage to do the honours and to say a few words about the fund raiser as well.

Initially, Mizmaar failed to get the crowd involved. Perhaps it was because they have been out of touch with live performances for so long (this was their first in over six months). Playing mostly from their upcoming album, vocalist Daniyal tried to involve the crowd with an added zest, aided aptly by Kashan on guitars and Mobi on keyboards and backing vocals. Their stint really kicked off when out of nowhere, they played the cover of Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life.

Mizmaar are due to release their second album Sitara in March, with a global launch that coincides with performances in US, UK, Middle East and India as well as locally. Judging by the samples aired from Sitara on the stage, Mizmaar might very well prove to be yet another rock hit produced on our very shores.

Following a much-needed break, the distant sounds of female screams and shouts marked the arrival of Raeth. The band had been invited to India to perform in Channel V’s 10th anniversary show and had landed in Karachi only a few hours prior to the performance.

Raeth, with a double platinum debut album in their pockets as well as the credit of being the youngest band ever to play on Channel V, comprises Hassan Farabi on guitars, Mustafa Asad on bass, Alfred D’mello on drums (who also plays drums for Mizmaar) alongside Wajhi Farouki on vocals. Starting with their most popular tune of 2006, Bhula Do, Raeth sent the crowd into an immediate frenzy. Showing no signs of weariness from their recent tours and mega performances, the boys went blazing.

It was rather unfortunate to see less than half an hour of Raeth (for reasons unknown), but Wajhi’s energetic acts of getting the crowd further involved, his jumps off a six feet high stage, near-trips and duets with the crowd really set the tone alight and showed how different Raeth on CD is to Raeth on stage.

“In India if you perform badly, the crowd will still cheer you on. In Karachi however, the crowd will murder you and that is why, with this being our very first commercial performance, we had to be good,” said Wajhi. And good they were. So good in fact that even while Ali Azmat was waiting to jump on stage, the crowd was still singing along to Bhula Do’s second dose.

But of course, the biggest cheer of the night (moving into the early hours of morning by now) was witnessed with the arrival of Ali Azmat. With Gumby suddenly appearing behind the drums, royalties were duly divided as shouts of “Ali!” were heard as loudly as “Gumby, solo!”

Much to the annoyance of the crowd though, it took the band more time to get the hardware sorted out and functioning. However, once Ali’s fingers rested on the guitar, all was forgiven and forgotten. It is seldom that vocals overshadow Gumby’s maniac drumming, but Ali Azmat carried out that task admirably. The playlist included Na Re Na, a rejuvenated version of Mahi (with an increased tempo, thunderous drumming and faint skirmishes of a saxophone) as well as an extended version of Garaj Baras that allowed for individual performances.

A fair bit into the act, Ali turned a deaf ear to the crowd’s encore requests and played a few tracks from his upcoming album, all in English. While this part of the performance did not go down well with the thinning crowd, it was still a pleasantly executed show. Ali Azmat concluded the event in the wee hours of Monday morning.

© Faras Ghani 2007
Published in Images (Dawn) 21st Jan 2007

A laugh to remember

Amidst all the dust and clatter created by various happenings including the inauguration of national train services, incomplete flyovers and unexpected temperature drops, there happened to be a Blackfish performance tucked away in one corner of the city as well. Sadly, it went past almost unnoticed.

Blackfish, our very own improvisational comedy troupe, welcomed a guest performance by Yasser Salehjee, a former member who ventured off to the warmth of Dubai after spending over three years with them. While one of their most recent recruits, Hadi Habib, performed well, absent from the stage was Olsen Almeida who was out of the country and was missed throughout the snotty scenes and goofy characters he seems to enact ever so well.

While the audience comprised a bunch of energetic youths who had endured a rather chilly evening to position themselves in the auditorium, the turnout was surprisingly low. According to Sami Shah, actor and coordinator of Blackfish, low turnout was expected and the wedding season was to be blamed for that: “Summer is always the best time for us as we can easily fill 300 to 350 people in the auditorium then.”

Sami added that they thought “the audience was great and as we always appreciate a higher turnout, getting the right kind of audience is also imperative towards the success of Blackfish’s performance.” Blackfish performs their games from a list of about a 100 they have chosen. They rotate their selections regularly, catering to the audience, the event backdrop and their current mood. Although they tend to repeat a few of the popular ones frequently, as happened in this very performance, the difference in topics and situations (due to audience involvement) makes them anything but boring.

The night opened with the Emotional Orchestra, where each member was assigned an emotion, as yelled out by the crowd, and they had to devise a sound that would aptly describe it. Sami, taking up the role of an orchestra coordinator, would randomly point at a member to illustrate that emotion with the sound. Things turned funnier when the audience was asked to join in, and as Sami acted out Karachi’s traffic police, waving his arms around with audible emotions flying all round, all were left in a thoroughly justified state of hysteria.

Blackfish’s history dates back to 2002 when Saad Haroon founded this group after realising that there exists a massive room for stand-up comedy in the country. Four years since and after witnessing numerous departures and fresh arrivals, Blackfish has still managed to perform regular Sunday shows for public as well as corporate events. They have also been chosen by the British Council to represent Pakistan in an international youth theater festival in ManchesterKarachi’s very first comedy festival to be held this week.

The troupe’s performance depends upon the nature of the audience which is probably why they make huge efforts to get the audience speaking and invite the crowd to hurl game topics at them. Sami Shah, who has recently cut down his involvement with the group due to other commitments, carries out the coordinator’s role competently. Moving about on-stage, he delivers regular shout-outs to the cast, explaining the games and constantly reminding the crowd of Blackfish’s PG nature and strictly no-adult-topic policy (in vain most of the times).

While the temporary void left by Olsen’s absence was unable to be filled, (Olsen was labelled as Blackfish’s best physical performer by Sami), Hadi’s second on-stage stint –– although received well by the crowd –– left him a bit wanting. His constant laughing at Faris’ and Cyrus’ quick-witted creativeness and on-the-spot jokes left his performance hanging as things became stagnant for a moment or two while everyone waited for Hadi’s act to follow. And as Yasser lent the experienced hand, Faris and Cyrus made improvisational comedy look simple.

Although inviting a young actor on-stage for a revamped version of Cluedo (guessing who was killed where and with what) was a mistake on Blackfish’s part, the efforts and improvisation while the game seemed a lost cause cast a wave of laughter amongst the on-lookers.

“In situations like these, we try spinning it as much as we can to make it as interesting as possible,” commented Sami in the aftermath. And “spin it” they did remarkably well, to round up another well-received and pleasing performance.

© Faras Ghani 2007

Published in Images (Dawn) 14th Jan 2007