LIGHTING UP THE STAGE

noori: The best kept secret in town

 

 

The net is abuzz with queries and comments on Ali Noor and his band noori. Ali Azmat has sung on their tracks Ooncha and 1947 making them noori the only Pakistani band whose tracks feature the Junoon frontman outside of Junoon. Those in-the-know all want a piece of them. Yet, to the common listening public they remain an unknown quantity. This, however, is now slowly but surely changing.

 

Only recently Ali Noor has tested the waters with a solo single Manwa Re. He never released the single commercially, choosing instead to hold onto it for the upcoming noori album. (A rough  version of the song is however available at noori's web page at http://www.noori.homestead.com/main.html.) Nevertheless, the song which can only be otherwise heard in its video form on television, has been in heavy rotation on Indus Vision, etc. and recently went to number one in its charts. The quality of the song is such that it with its memorable melody, and lyrics and tasteful, understated video alone makes the noori album one of the most anticipated albums this year.

 

So, when, in addition to all this buzz, a low key by-invite only noori concert was announced by Aptech in Lahore, the music circles came alive with anticipation and there was a rush for the invites.

 

Held at Hall no. 2 of the Alhamra Art Centre on the Mall, the concert was a must-attend event. The crowd demographic on the night was a fascinating mix: the trendy LUMS crowd (which knows his music and has given Ali Noor huge support throughout his varied career) and the general masses which know him only from the atypical noori song, Manwa Re, all oured in and very early on the hall was filled to capacity with people practically squeezing into the aisles to catch the band.

 

Sadly, though the night opened disappointingly as we found out that Aptech was more or less using the program as a promotional event for their institute and in fact had a boring and pointless presentation before noori came onstage (if the teaching standard is as bad as the presentation on the night, Aptech is in serious trouble). An opening act featuring a female vocalist who for her own sake shall remain nameless, also came on that night but after a few songs was well and truly booed off stage by restless noori fans.

 

And then the wait was over. noori was on. The core of the band comprises of a trio of Ali Noor (formerly of Coven), Mohammad Ali Jafri (also formerly of Coven) on bass and Salman Albert (formerly of Eastern Boys and Entity) on drums. However, for performance, on the night, the group grew to six with Farhan Albert (Salman’s brother) being added on Keyboards and Additional Vocals, Raakay on backing vocals and Edris Khan on second guitar.

 

Their first song Mainn was a clear announcement of intent, a song with a message (as are all other noori songs). Main, the song is based around an infuriaratingly catchy synth riff and is high energy and uplifting being miles apart from the mellow sounds of Manwa Re. The LUMS crow instantly loved it, the others were somewhat resistant to it: This was not what they were expecting. However such was the energy to the song that by the song’s end most were converted and moving to the beat.

 

By the time, the band launched into Suno Kai Main Hoon Jawan all resistance has subsided. The song opens with a call to arms,  with Ali Noor sneering into the mic: 'Suno Ko Main Hoon Jawaaaaan...'. With populist slogans like ‘Khulla hai sara aasman/ Undar Tarapti Bijli’ littered throughout the song, Suno has all the makings of a youth anthem. This was amply demonstrated by the youths dancing in the aisles. The song also demonstrated that tightness of the band and how well-rehearsed they were: the song has several Stop and go parts and the band easily nailed them.

 

Khalla was next and is a graphic song (with an equally graphic and disturbing video which true to noori's record was banned on TV [Manwa Re was also banned from PTV for including scenes of Hira Mandi in it]). In the video version of the song, the song has a spare drums and bass groove, which musically seems to signify that its message: the space or Khalla that seems to grown up between people. In its electrified live incarnation, it sounded dense and menacing. Salman Albert's drums took center stage and showed why he is one of the most in-demand drummer in Lahore.

 

Ooncha (on record featuring Ali Azmat) is an achingly tender ballad with a subversively uplifting chorus. For most part it is soft and is underpinned by the throbbing bassline and little else, narrating the life of an man striving to be ‘Ooncha’ in this world.  Its catchy chorus however is completely singalong but each of its line is a slap in the face of the Ooncha class. ‘Ooonchai hain log / oonchai makan/ magar / nicha hai dil / nicha iman / aur us par oonchi yeh shaaaaan.’

 

If there is a number, I did not like, it has to be Jaana tha Hum Nain. The crowds seemed moved by it, particularly the jungle intro that made Salman Albert an instant hit ; however I was not so moved. The song is much too similar in content and feel to other noori numbers (Gana no. 1 perhaps) and, in my opinion, is not all that good.

 

Saari Raat Jaaga which followed it up, however is downright excellent. It is an atmospheric number to be featured on the soundtrack of Aks Kada, an upcoming local television horror-plays production. Ali Noor's vocals comprised more of gutteral growls than singing and in the context of the song it worked really well. One could only make out certain lyrics which pointedly indicated that if there ever was a political song written addressed to the apolitical, this is one. With lyrics like 'Teray Ghar ko Aag Lag Jayae / Aur tujhai Jaag na Aayae....' it is a call to arms to all those sleeping through Pakistan's various and varied political crises.

 

Manwa Re remained the song everyone was there to hear. So Ali Noor did not announce it. Rather, he played coy with the crowd, and finally left it up to the crowd to figure out which song he had launched into. As recognition dawned on the crowd, the roar they let out was massive. All sang along. In fact there was a moment in the song when Ali Noor stopped singing it and the crowd sang it back to him note-perfect.

 

The night closed with Gana No. 1, a song which has, it is said, been so named because the band believes it was an instant number one. It was an excellent closer with a massively catchy singalong ending on Oasis-like proportions. The song was unfamiliar to all, yet everyone was singing along on its lalalalla outro.

 

And with that the festivities for the night were over. The crowd milled around asking for more, but there were no encores.

 

Overall, it was a remarkable night’s work by noori. The songs presented were spectacular, the presentation even more so. Lighting was handled by Ali Hamza (Ali Noor’s brother) and it was simply brilliant, changing with almost every other song. The mellower songs had suitably mellow lighting, the explosive ones had a lot of strobe and glaring lights. Noori not only plays with the audio dynamics, but also with the video. It was nice to notice that the band was shooting the concert with a number of video cameras. A most professional outfit overall.

 

As for individual performances, the core of the group was stunning. Ali Noor is well and truly the focus of the band and the livewire off of whom everyone seems to feed off. The songs suit him. This was the most relaxed I have ever seen him on stage and he exudes a sense of joy in performance that is rather rare among singers. His rapport with the audience was fun at most times. Sometimes thought it was not and betrayed a sense of nerveousness on Ali Noor's part. Mohammad Ali's throbbing bass formed the bridge that links Noor's lead guitar to Salman Albert's drumming. He is, it seems, the John Enstwhile (of 'The Who') of noori, the calm center with all action around him. Salman Albert on the night’s evidence is good enough to give Gumby a run for the title of best drummer in Lahore.

 

One critical observation though needs to be made: While the sheer abandon with which Ali Noor threw himself into the performance was commendable, since he did not pace himself, by the end of concert his voice was well and truly shredded. It affected his performance at moments and he seemed to miss certain notes in songs. Something for Ali Noor to keep in mind for the future.

 

In conclusion, the performance on the night was superlative and the way the songs on their first viewing engaged that crowd, makes one feel that noori's album remains an album worth looking forward to. When it shall be released is anybody’s guess (all Ali Noor would cryptically say is that it is titled IDCB.) In the meanwhile, noori fans will just have to make do with live performances, which Noori informs me there are going to be many.

(Mohammad A. Qayyum)