Coke Studio is due to return in September with its new season produced by renowned Pakistani rock band, Strings.
So far Asrar, Jimmy Khan, Rahma Ali, Naseer & Shahab and Usman Riaz have been confirmed as new acts for the upcoming season, while the full line up is due to be announced on August 26 in a news conference in Lahore.
After the abrupt end of Season 6, audiences are eagerly anticipating the return of the popular music platform to see whether it will reinvent itself, or tank without Rohail Hyatt on board.
Season 7 will be the first produced by Strings. The band stepped in as producers after Hyatt, who had produced all previous seasons, stepped down earlier this year.
“We’re extremely excited about producing Coke Studio,” said Bilal in a previous interview with Dawn.
“We’re going to stay true to the CS feel and continue to merge elements of folk with modern music. There are so many untapped musical treasures in Pakistan and we’re looking forward to exploring into them. At the same time, we’re hoping to bring back the oomph that has been missing from the show during the past few years. Coke Studio was spectacular up till Season 3 but after that, it lost out on its element of surprise. We plan to bring it back.”
Also read: Coke Studio — minus the secret ingredient
The band's duo, Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia revealed that the season took three months to produce and they have worked hard on each song in the hopes that none get cut.