Shhhhh.... Let the music play!

Seems like Levis Original Pakistan has gotten hold of this new chick on the block Zoe Viccaji to do a series of non original songs. I mean .. come on! how can you run a campaign called Levis original by featuring all the non original songs. Currently, they have released "bichra yaar" of strings featuring Zoe Viccaji and strings and "Anjanay" featuring Bilal Khan and Zoe Viccaji.


I am sorry to say, it does not succeed to hit a chord. While I have no doubt that perhaps Zoe Viccaji might have more to offer than what she has showed in these two songs, but i am sorry to say, these two covers do not showcase her abilities at all. To begin with the cover arrangements are not good , in fact, they sound the same and do not give much singing margin to the singers. Zoe's vocal capacity at least in these two songs feels very limited.

If some one wants to learn how to do covers, i guess one of the best programs to watch for it is American Idol. It might be one of the biggest commercial successes but it surely brings a lot to the table. All the singers who generally do make it to the top 20 have huge range of vocal abilities to showcase while doing covers. Their challenge is not only to showcase their vocal abilities but also to bring some thing new to the song while doing the covers. Additionally, there is one thing that the judges and producers always talk about in the program which is "the WOW moment". Yes.. there is always a wow moment in the cover. Wow moment which showcases some thing special about the singers and wows others.

The above are few of the basic things which are missing from these two covers. It lacks some thing original cos the only change one truly feels is the change in tempo rather than change in arrangement. Secondly, they fail to showcase the vocal abilities of the singers and thirdly, they lack the wow factor. Song starts and ends as it started. Another thing that Zoe has not been able to incorporate in the song is to put feelings to the words, while she tries to change the way they originally sound, however, she fails to sing them with emotion.I heard her interview where she said Levis gave her artistic freedom while recording these song, i only wish she would have brought  to the table with the artistic freedom that she was given. Bilal still does a better job than Zoe, however, he has failed to impress as well.

As far as the video of Bichra Yaar is concerned, initial photography is nice, however, it loses the focus points after the first minute. With zoe's constant face doing pa pa ra is very distracting. The post production is good but the main problem is the focus point of the frames.

Peace out!

Ratings: 4.5/5

Switching between the radio stations while driving to work this morning, some thing familiar and beetle-ish caught my ear and I stopped to listen carefully. Ah! what a surprise!It was a major chart topper from the nineties "Lemon Tree" by Fools Garden.

Fools Garden is a German band formed in 1991.This band is popular for covering classic rock n roll songs in their live concerts. They take such inspiration from British classic rock that cover versions of The Beetle's Songs "Cry Baby Cry" and "Martha My Dear" are found in their studio rock album.

The song "Lemon Tree" was a part of the third album  "Dish of the Day" of this band released in 1995. It became a major international hit in 1996. The single reached number 26 in the UK charts and remained at number one for several weeks in Germany. It also reached number one on Ireland charts.

First thing that a person notices is that the beat and style of the song is very Beetlish. So, from the first few beats, it instantly creates a soft corner in our hearts because of our love for The Beetles style.However, the band has its own unique style and flavor to it which sets it apart from the epic band Beetles.

It has those pauses and hang moments which just puts you in wonder  along with the singer and then catchy beats come after the pauses which syncs you wonderfully right back to reality. Musically speaking, it has classic indie rock guitar style with raw feel to it. With lovability created for the guy whose story is being told in the song by singing sweet musical sounds like.. 

pap!.. teebi tapi taba ti pop pop! 

Lyrically speaking, it is a widely discussed song on the internet because of many symbolic references and abstract open endings in the lines. 

In the very first line, the singer describes the situation of the character that he is sitting in his room waiting and its a rainy day. Rainy day is commonly used interchangeably for a difficult day. The singer goes on to say that he is waiting for some change or some thing to happen which would help him to get out of his difficult situation. 

In the second phrase, the singer says that he is driving too fast towards something and he wants to change his point of view. The meaning of this part as understood by me is though he has a fast moving life where it seems that he has time for nothing, but still he feels that his life has no meaning and no direction. He goes on to say that he is lonely and he is waiting for you. You as per my opinion, he is referring to his lover than some sort of hope or change. Change which he talked about earlier was associated with his lover.

The irony of the songs hits us in the third stanza, where the poet says that his lover showed him dreams of good days and good times which is referred here by, " Blue Blue Sky". However, things did not go as she described him and he is in tough bad times which is signified here by "Yellow Lemon Tree". Lemons are sour and these are sour times  for him, however ,the color yellow of the tree perhaps still shows some hope for him. He is lost and trying to get out of this messy situation. 

The singer says that he misses his power, power to do as he please. He knows that rainy days would present him with heavy showers and in his heart he is becoming ready to face all his fears and all his problems. However, he is still scared at the moment and he has apprehensions and that is signified by the heavy clouds in his head. He does not have the will to face all that at the moment and want to just shut his eyes from it all. That is signified by putting himself into bed. Where he realizes that "nothing ever happens" and his bad situation doesn't change to any better.

He finally accepts and realizes that this isolation and wait for his lover's love and attention is not good for him. Musically speaking as well, this point in the song is the turning point and a wonderful change in tempo and holds the heart of the this song. 

He says that he is breaking free from this sadness and gonna find joy, he says its a desert to signify that its empty at the moment but he will sooner or later find another toy, which I believe he is talking about  finding another lover and things will start happening for him and turning for him and his ex- lover will see that he can be happy without her and he is no longer waiting for her love and attention. 

 It is a story of love lost and man's feelings through his depression and wait and his hope motivation in the end to find love again and  be happy again. The lead vocalist has sung this song wonderfully and it has defined the character and emotion of the man in his current situation.

Its a wonderful song which ends at a wonderful note. I have presented this song to you with my  own interpretation, but that is the beauty of good poetry  that every one interprets it as per their feelings and understanding. I hope you would all give a good listen to this song and find your own interpretation of it.

Musically and  lyrically, it is a superior song and the singing quality of the vocalist makes this an excellent listening.