5 ms·
Writer and musician Ali Sethi has created an unconventional hit with “Pasoori”
- asadlionpk 4y agoAs a fan of Sethi, Xulfi, huge Pakistani music fan, I say clickbait. I invite you to listen to Coke Studio btw, the older songs are amazing!
- polar 4y agoMusic video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eqb_-j3FDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eqb_-j3FDA
- bonoboTP 4y agoHm. All this uniting, love etc. is nested under Coca-Cola.
- LightG 4y agoThat's the spirit ... /s ... pun un/intended ... I'd rather embrace something I hope for, despite a possible bitter taste, rather than roll my eyes which seems to be your preference ...
- bonoboTP 4y agoI didn't tell you what to think about it. Just notice the logo and reflect on its place in our collective consciousness. It's your prerogative to embrace it.
- imwillofficial 4y agoIsn’t it always?
- robinsoh 4y ago> Coca-Cola Conde Nast. Vanguard. Black Rock. And journalists that write click-bait titles and little substance that provides content reflecting the title. The real question is why are we seeing this here on HN?
- nonrandomstring 4y agoMaybe hackers appreciate the power of music. "Anybody practicing the fine art of composing music, no matter how cynical or greedy or scared, still can't help serving all humanity. Music makes practically everybody fonder of life than he or she would be without it. Even military bands, although I am a pacifist, always cheer me up. - Kurt Vonnegut" Coca Cola and other junk-food corporations latch on to art and artists like flies, hoping to infuse some authenticity and meaning by association. When I worked in that business it was Coke and Pepsi behind every awards ceremony, and they were highly influential over the record labels.
- OJFord 4y agoThis is just a puff piece though, an ad for a song and its corporate backers. I agree we'd find a 'united' India & Pakistan very interesting and newsworthy, and especially anything that credited music or anything else superficially surprising with it; but that hasn't happened and that isn't what this ad is.
- planarhobbit 4y ago
- mbg721 4y agoNext they'll be wanting to teach the world to sing (in perfect harmony).
- malshe 4y agoNice song but why is this on HN? It’s not like it’s the first Pakistani song that’s a huge hit in India.
- crate_barre 4y agoBollywood was/is basically Urdu too.
- Kalanos 4y agojust seems like another radio song to me. not much emotion in it, so it's not really believable. glad it's bringing some unity tho.
- LightG 4y agoTend to agree ... it's seems to be just ok. But I'll take the unity stuff ... on the surface, that bit reads like rubbish but reading loads of comments bringing peeps together. I'll take it.
- howinteresting 4y agoI'm not an expert here, but my understanding is that South Asian pop music tends to be (primarily) based on non-Western music theories like Hindustani classical music. These theories have different ideas of which emotions are associated with which keys or scales. Assuming you're not familiar with Hindustani classical music, it's quite possible you're just not picking up on some of it, while many South Asians who grew up on it do understand it (even if they haven't had formal training.)
- sampo 4y agoThis google ad was also somewhat popular 9 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech-news/googles-india-pak-reunion-ad-strikes-emotional-chord/articleshow/25753015.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech-news/googles-india-...
- bonoboTP 4y agoShould Google have an opinion on the "India-Pakistan partition in 1947"? Is that their role?
- dncornholio 4y agoThis is nothing but marketing
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dpsych 4y ago
- chamanbuga 4y agoTitle is click bait. Coke Studio has done this several times. Mainstream Pakistani songs are quite different from Indian songs, however, both populations can understand what is being sung. Mixing the two together results in incredible music. Pakistan and India still hate each other. No music is about to unite them after 1000s years of history and polar opposite religions.
- sampo 4y ago> Coke Studio has done this several times. This is the first time in 5 years that they have hit over 100M views in Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/c/cokestudio/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid https://www.youtube.com/c/cokestudio/videos?view=0&sort=p&fl...
- deskamess 4y agoI wonder if this from 2016 was the previous 100M hitter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw4tT7SCmaY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw4tT7SCmaY
- LightG 4y agoI have Indian and Pakistani friends and, I promise you, music unites them/us. Sorry to dissappoint.
- lagolinguini 4y agoExactly. See my other comment explaining the nuances.
- bakul 4y agoBoth Indians and Pakistanis realize just how much they have in common once they leave their respective countries. Just don't let religions or politics divide people! Not a fan of this song but there are other Coke Studio songs that I love. For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjaH2iuoYWE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjaH2iuoYWE
- lagolinguini 4y ago
- Benlights 4y ago
- madmax108 4y agoNo offence to the author, but to give a song that was part of Coke Studio Pakistan the credit of uniting India and Pakistan is quite silly. Coke Studio is almost exclusively listened to only by the urban-ites in India, and Coke Studio Pakistan has even smaller listening audience in India [1]. A quick check of Youtube to see the current trending songs shows a lot of national and regional music, but no mention of this song anywhere in the Top 100 trending songs[2]. Mark this as just a publicity piece. [1]: Yes, there's a Coke Studio India as well, and an eternal raging debate about which version of Coke Studio is better. I gotta admit though, the Pakistan version has a lot more memorable tunes. :D [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaqVXuWO9o&list=PL4fGSI1pDJn4pTWyM3t61lOyZ6_4jcNOw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffaqVXuWO9o&list=PL4fGSI1pDJ...
- rossdavidh 4y agoWell it does have 100M+ views, so somebody is watching it.
- noneeeed 4y agoTrue, but in the context of the populations of India and Pakistan (about 1.38 billion and 220 million respectively), 100m views is not that many. Although I assume people are listening to it through other means too?
- lagolinguini 4y agoIt's also important to understand that less than half of India speaks hindi/urdu as a native language, and less than a 10th of the country speaks/understands punjabi (which this song is in). There are more speakers of Punjabi in Pakistan than there are in India.
- paxys 4y agoIndian/Pakistani music videos routinely have several hundred million or a billion+ views. Many of the largest YouTube channels are Indian record labels. So yes, people are listening to them, but using that to create some larger narrative of "unity" or whatever else is weird.
- ali_zafar 4y ago[flagged]
- bsedlm 4y agoIndia and Pakistan are the same people and the same culture. as far as I understand, and from my own far away position (combined with "nearsightedness"), it seems to me like the India-Pakistan division was made up when the english pulled out of there. I sense something similar to Korean culture being broken up into north and south. of course in all cases there's a local power helping... but the real drive for the split are foreign powers
- naruvimama 4y ago
- rocqua 4y agoThe division was made by the British on the basis of religion.
- ryzvonusef 4y agoIn India, they have a vibrant Entertainment Industry, and it has a strong cultural tradition, which means that music attracts a lot more people, and they have a pathway to make it a career.... But since Bollywood is the heavyweight, it therefore creates a gravitational effect, where successful musicians tend to gravitate towards the type of music that would better fit Bollywood's needs, instead of taking risks. And Bollywood in turn heavily promote the music, which tends to drown out all the competition. This means that for the average Indian, despite having a diverse set of musicians, the usual youtube/spotify recommendations tend to become the "same old". ---- Meanwhile, In Pakistan, the more conservative/religious background meant that there was far less cultural acceptance for a career in music. Ofcourse, the old great musical lineages still exist, but the industry has stagnated some what. Cinemas have started to close, and there isn't much a film industry anymore. Most singers were of the safe "pop" variety that could be played on state owned TV. Any chance of making a fanbase by concerts vanished when terrorists started threatening to attack venues post 9/11. Singers changed industry to either acting in TV dramas, or left it altogether of other ventures. ( You can find Pakistani Rock stars running a dollar store in Scranton or running a radio Channel in Houston) This mean that there is more risk taking, since most people making music are doing it out of passion, not because they believe this could lead to a career. And they take to social media, and have an equal chance of getting on your recommended list as some one who is already established. This means that Indians looking for some "fresh" music are getting some interesting choices from across the border, since these tend to not be drowned out by music labels. Also, now Brands are using the social media scene to make their own channels. Coke, Pepsi, Nescafe, Walls ice cream, heck even Strepsils have their own small music scene, just make a small music studio, hire a house band and invite singers to jam and essentially create a musical ad I feel that these new programs have now also devolved into a same old routine where singers are now, instead of creating new music and taking risks, are just taking old popular songs and covering them with a new twist, the title of the old song providing an incentive to click. ++++ Still, Pasoori was a good song, it was not just a cover of an old song and it was not just a jam session with the house band, so good for Coke Studio to encourage some thing beyond the routine