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Punjabi Blues and Bhangra: Load Wedding’s music strikes the right chords

The Pakistani Cinema music scene is surely coming back with a bang slowly and steadily following the recent much awaited revival. One Guy to credit for the rejuvenation of movie soundtracks among others is Shani Arshad ; musician and playback singer behind Nabeel Fizza duo’s  hit soundtracks. His latest offering is yet another Fizza Nabeel Film ‘Load Wedding’  considering the memorable chart busters for each of his previous collaborations with Filmwala, the expectations from ‘Load Wedding’ were always on a higher side.

The movie a social-themed romantic comedy set in rural Punjab, has been largely successful to reflect  specific cultural milieu it is set in. Most of the soundtrack is in Punjabi, and the music arrangements and melodies are suitably sweet and rustic.

To kickstart the soundtrack is the harmonious “Rangeya”, a slow tempo romantic track with sufi undertones that evokes imagery of mustard fields and sufi shrines inexture to the song. Already featured extensively in the promos, the song while not chart-topper is sure to stay in your mind for some time.

“Kooch na Karin” is a qawaali-themed track sung by Azhar Abbas with lyrics aptly describing the depth of love and the pain of separation. The distinctive qawalli-styled tabla and harmonium is accentuated by Punjabi singing and mandolin strumming, making it a pleasant listen.

“Mundey Lahore De” A high-energy, cher-chaar wedding track, slightly reminiscent of “Laung Gawacha” marks singer Saima Jehan’s comeback to mainstream film songs also featuring Mohsin Abbas the Bhangra-based rhythms make heavy use of harmonium that give it the right ethnic flavor, however it is Jehan who leaves a strong impression with her full-throated Punjabi vocals. The song will probably end up being the film’s most popular track.

Asrar Shah’s vocals standout in Celebratory track “Good luck” and the song will make you dance to its beat.

The last track “Faqeera” by Shani himself is melodically the strongest number on the album. Shani has done a stellar job in creating perfect sufi themed melancholic ambiance. The vocals aptly complement the strong musical arrangement featuring some soothing flutes and tablas.

On the whole, Load Wedding is a likeable album featuring an interesting palette of musical textures from Punjab. The film attempts to break the mold of the stereotypical Punjabi-themed movie music with a soundtrack that is very mellow and mild in tempo and flavor and is surely a bonus in getting it noticed among the other high pitch Eid releases.

Written by Faisal Ali H

I work as an economist and maintain an active interest in Pakistani cinema.

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