The Nolakha Jaswal Brothers

I still remember it was my last exam of seventh semester and I was sitting at the back of my van exhausted and spent. To my dismay I forgot my mp3 player at home so my only option to calm my nerves was to tune into radio station which I was not quite into. However, I did and liked it. There was some track playing that I thought must be Coke Studio’s production from its odd but soothing combination of tabla, drum and guitar fused with the lyrics completely foreign to my ears. I recognized the vocals are Atif Aslam’s but the other one I was not quite sure of. When the song reached its peak the other guy to my surprise went completely way off base and fused this classic piece with hard-rock. I thought it must be Noori because they were quite into the stuff.

                The very next day I tried to search up the song and could not find anything relevant as I didn’t even remember the lyrics. All I knew they were as rich as honey. Eventually, I altered the key words a bit and found out it’s from the latest Season of Coke Studio and the guy I thought to be Ali Noor is actually Umair Jaswal, lead singer of band Qayaas. And the song itself is Charkha Nolakha; The Priceless Spindle. After reading the English translation of the lyrics I realized how deep and profound they are. The song is heavily loaded with the passionate feelings of the lover who yearns for his beloved’s return. It gets an intense poignant touch as the lover explains that with every spin of the spindle his sorrow doubles.  Where Atif Aslam spins that spindle smoothly without a glitch, there Umair Jaswal also adds soul to the song with his unique vocals and takes this beautiful piece to another level when he raises his pitch and sings the part:

 ‘Yaar Mile Lajpal Mile Tad Yari Lawan Chas Hai’.

Finding the friend, the protector, makes friendship worth it.

                Just when I thought that’s it that’s the best of Coke Studio ever, the other Jaswal brother Uzair came into the limelight with his Nindiya Ke Paar and stole the show away. Until I read the article ‘Third Time’s a Charm’ in Dawn Images, I got the two brother confused as the same person. The overnight success of Charkha Nolakha and Nindiya Ke Paar are evident that this young talent will revolutionize our music industry with their innovative works. These mesmerizing performances of jaw-dropping Jaswals set the scene for some more good to come from the young talented and gifted artists. Let me clear this, I was not a huge fan of Coke Studio until Nolakha track came and went deeper into the soul. In fact, I’m looking forward to more of such splendid performances from Nolakha Jaswals and Coke Studio too.

PS: I may sound biased beyond credibility but I couldn’t help being intoxicated by their vocals. Can you? ;)

Author - E.B