raag | madhuvanti { my longings };

Duuur..... Duuuuuuuurrrrrrr.... I guess it was some 4 years back that I first heard this song. What an amazing track! I said to myself. I knew that vocals were very ordinary of less than ordinary,but still the orchestration , especially the guitar leads were just awesome. Few days later, I heard Anjaaane kyun.... wow! kool song again... okey this is a much simpler song as far as vocals are concerned... but the guitars are tooo tooo amazing... I just wished I could see the guys behind these songs...

I dint have to wait for long... MTV aired the anjaane video.. So, This is strings, a 2 member band from Pakistan. Okay there is Faisal Kapadia who sings and then there is Bilal Maqsood who can sing as well as play the guitar... Oh yes, he can play the guitar... I saw him play the anjaane lead on TV... The U2 styled riffs and signature leads... whattan amazing musician!I said to myself. I started idolizing Bilal and considered him one of the best guitarists from the Asia.

Ever heard of Shallum Asher Xavier? Well, Now you would have ,but definitelty not in 1999... Okay Shallum is currently the lead guitarist of the phenomenal pakistani band fuzon. Before that he was a session musician in Pakistan who played for recordings.. When the fuzon album came out and lissening to the guitar riffs and leads of fuzon songs, i was baffled... Bilal plays for Fuzon too? But fuzon insists its Shallum... Whats this new twist?? Finally, Finally.... Fuzon was selected as the artist of the month by MTV ASIA. The interviewer also had the same question to ask! Why do the guitar leads sound like that of Strings? I still remember Shallum's answer. "Our guitar leads sound like duur or anjaane 'coz it was also played by me!!!" Godddd! Shallum played for Strings... So wtf was Bilal doing?? Mono act? Mimicry? Mime?? Whatta shame!!!

I happend to attend the strings "LIVE" concert at IIM bangalore during Unmaad - The IIM Fest. That was the shittiest concert that I have ever seen in my life... Faisal cant sing one note correctly... Bilal cant even play one chord (lets sat C - Major) correctly and the supporting guitarist was am a**hole of the highest order. And know what? the entire show was sequenced and played out of the KORG Triton + MC58 kept hidden on stage and our lead performers were Miming away to glory - except for Bilal and Faisal... their far from melodious voices were truly adding to the cacophonic environment filled with "Music enthusiasts" who dint even have time to see if the electric guitar was plugged in to the jack!!!

The best part is that Strings was paid close to Rs 1,00,000 for "playing" in bangalore, where actually they did nothing more than playing their audio CD and mime on top of that! For that crap attitude that they threw, they should have been booed out of the country that evening! I agree that Strings songs are Okay to lissen to in an audio cassette or CD where what you spend is only Rs 100 for unlimited lissening... paying Rs 500 to watch the Bilal-Faisal Mime show is a bit too expensive an affair, I would prefer a pitcher of beer and a movie in PVR as a much better option.

Check out this link featuring an interview with Shallum Asher Xavier of Fuzon where he talks about Bilal and his extremely praiseworthy guitaring and even more notable crediting qualities.
On an audio cassette worth 50 bucks, Strings is just fine... when it comes to live shows where the stakes are high, they are a collossal disaster!!