How Coke Studio took Pakistan’s music to Coachella and collaborated with Quick Style

This focus on genuineness and hybridity is intrinsic to Coke Studio’s DNA. The platform was conceived with the idea to showcase the region’s cultural diversity and population, featuring artists of all ages, at various levels of their careers and who work in all sorts of musical genres. The original Coke Studio launched in Brazil in 2007, and the concept was adapted by the Marketing Head of Coco-Cola Company Pakistan, Nadeem Zamanan, who created the local version of the show with Rohail Hyatt, a former member of popular Pakistani pop-rock band Vital Signs. It was aired on TV and later YouTube with a fixed live-recorded format, featuring the artists jamming in a recording studio, highlighting the collaborative nature of their creative process. Coke Studio Pakistan’s inaugural season was successful, and established the deep impact that it now has on South Asia’s music scene. 

The platform created a unique space at the time. It had wide reach and resonated strongly in Pakistan’s neighbouring countries—India and Bangladesh. Coke Studio followed suit by developing local iterations in both nations. 

Khan grew up and was working during a time when “Pakistan was carving its own identity musically, with melodies that had elements of western pop music but also those that were somewhat South Asian.” Between the 1980s and ’90s, pop and disco were widely enjoyed in Pakistan. Then, in the 2000s, rock music, especially Sufi rock, was all the rage. Bands like Vital Signs and Strings ruled the charts. Khan, who listened to a wide range of music from Sindhi folk music to Nirvana and Metallica, played guitar. He said he became a rock artist in his mind, but also emphasised that “it wasn’t necessarily a time when every kind of musical form was encouraged”, a condition that he sought to change. “The struggle goes to the past, where layers of our identities are not embraced because they’re not expressed and not told. You don’t know what you can be.”  

Another song from Coke Studio Pakistan’s 15th season, Turri Jandi, was inspired by a conversation with the producer’s mother, who remembered the Pakistan of the ’50s and ’60s, a post-independence era when nation-building was the most important item on the agenda. Yet, the country’s cultural creators were flourishing through international collaborations. “The stories she would tell me were of global tourism, collaborations, African, Latin, pop, disco—all kinds of music were popular. I wanted to recreate that sense of globalism.” Featuring the vocals of young rapper Hasan Raheem along with legendary vocalist Shahzia Mansour, Turri Jandi is characterised by nostalgic overtones and retro flair, transporting listeners and viewers to a time that was somewhere between a familiar past and a reimagined future.

After Khan was able to showcase Pakistan’s cultural and demographic diversity through a fresh lens, he now wants to propel it to new heights. “Pakistan is about so many things, but somehow there are other factors that govern what should propagate and what shouldn’t be in mainstream culture, which is why for me it’s about really pushing this diversity through.” 

For a country inhabited by several ethnic groups that speak more than 70 languages, Khan felt that Pakistan wasn’t fully represented internationally or domestically. And at home, mainstream pop culture overlooked much of that variety. The producer scours the country—even its remotest corners—to bring his concept of diversity into reality. The last song of season 15, Mehmaan, or “guest”, features the unique voice of Nazim Torwali, a young shepherd from the remote Swat region in Northwest Pakistan who sings in Torwali, a language spoken by only approximately 150,000 people.

In season 14 he featured breakout artist Kaifi Khalil, who is of Balochi heritage. The artist also participated in season 15 in a collaboration with Norwegian rap duo Karpe, alongside Norwegian Iranian singer Amanda Delara, in the song Piya Piya Calling. By commissioning Norwegian dance group Quick Style to direct the movement and choreography for all the songs in the latest season, Khan’s ambitions to go global are evident.

“I always saw them as artists,” says Khan of Quick Style. He was introduced to them when founder Suleman Malik tagged the producer in an Instagram post showing the group dancing to season 14’s Kana Yaari. “And then, they shared Karpe’s music. I heard PAF.no, and for me that was the moment—I felt as if I had been transported elsewhere. It was like a feeling that hasn’t happened to me for so long. I felt like I had found my favourite band, and now that bridge was made.” 

Wholesome messages of acceptance and togetherness are the dominating sentiments that Khan says underlie his intentions. “These differences [between us, cultures] can become toxic battles in so many places around the world. When there’s acceptance, you understand each other’s differences as diversity, and you understand there’s beauty in that. If I can visually or sonically convey these messages, then of course I will.”

Khan has realised his vision for Coke Studio, filling a cultural vacuum in South Asia. As he continues to shape the programme, different types of artists come together to collaborate, reflecting the multiplicity in Pakistan's creative community.

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