Coca-Cola Pakistan has announced the launch of Season 8 of the most anticipated music show of the nation – Coke Studio. With a total of 7 exciting episodes featuring both the leading and emerging names of Pakistani music industry, the first session of the new season will be aired on 16th August, followed by a new episode every Sunday. After a successful run in the last season, Season 8 is also being produced by Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia of STRINGS. They bring forth a new season of live performances with a diverse line up of folk, pop, rock and Sufi artists from an array of versatile backgrounds, assisted by a reconvened house band, complemented by guest Pakistani musicians.
Speaking about Coke Studio Season 8, Rizwan U. Khan, General Manager, Coca-Cola Pakistan & Afghanistan said “In last 7 years, Coke Studio has made an undeniably positive mark on Pakistani music landscape. At Coca-Cola we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of new and dynamic innovations, and we can say with confidence that Coke Studio is precisely that. With this season, our aim is to reinvent the way music can capture the spirit of Pakistan”.
Featuring this season is a line-up of some of Pakistan’s most prolific mainstream, traditional and upcoming artists including: Ahsan Pervaiz Mehdi, Ali Azmat, Ali Haider, Ali Sethi, Ali Zafar, Alycia Dias, Anwar Maqsood, Arif Lohar, Asim Azhar, Atif Aslam, Bakshi Brothers (Shahrayar Khan, Anjum Bakshi, Aafi Bakshi, Yawar Khan), Farida Khanum, Fizza Javed, Gul Panrra, Hamid Ali Khan, Kaavish (Jaffer Ali Zaidi, Maaz Maudood), Karam Abbas, Malang Party (Zeeshan Mansoor, Ibrahim, Zain Ali), Mekaal Hasan Band (Mekaal Hasan, Gino Banks, Sheldon D’Silva, Sharmistha Chatterjee), Mulazim Hussain, Nabeel Shaukat Ali, Nafees Ahmed Khan (Sitar), Quratulain Balouch, Rizwan & Muazzam, Samra Khan, Sara Haider, Sara Raza, Shazia Manzoor, Siege (Junaid Younus, Muhammad Ahsan), Surriya Khanum and Umair Jaswal.
“Last Season was an incredible experience for us and we are extremely excited to be producing yet another season of Coke Studio, this season we take it to the next level with one of the most diverse artist line up in the history of the show. With a total of 31 featured artists, 13 musicians and 28 songs, Coke Studio is indeed The Sound of the Nation.” said STRINGS.
The house band this season includes: Aahad Nayani on drums, Babar Khanna on dholak and tablas, Haider Ali on keyboard and synth, Imran Akhoond on guitar, Jaffer Ali Zaidi on piano and keyboard, Kamran ‘Mannu’ Zafar on bass, Oman Shafique on guitar and Sikander Mufti on percussions along with Momin Durrani, Rachael Viccaji and Sara Haider as backing vocalists. Season 8’s guest musicians include: Abid Ali, Arsalan Rabbani, Sajid Ali, Shehroze Hussain and Tanveer Tafu.
The show released a promo video earlier today, their adaptation of the song Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhe giving a preview of the artist lineup this season.
