Music: King Of Self

Artists: Zeeshan & SajidSajidZeeshan

Whenever I manage to end up going all quiet in the awkward cold comfort of cynicism, some act or the other suddenly emerges as if out of nowhere to give me the excuse to give the local pop scene “one last shot.” In 1989 it was the Vital Signs, in 1993 it was Junoon, in the late ‘90s the Vee-Jay team and now two guys called Zeeshan Pervez and Sajid Ghafoor.
Working together as a project, the Peshawar duo lit up the country’s music channels and FM spots with a sparkling little pop-rock number called “King Of Self.”
Even though I’m pretty allergic to local acts singing in English (as I would be about English acts singing in Urdu!), “King Of Self” was a huge surprise indeed.
I have never heard a more convincing and promising example of a local act singing in English. And the tune’s not all that bad either. It’s like a cross between later-day Clapton and post-Police Sting, and the lyrics are pretty good too.
In fact who would have thought that it would take two totally unassuming and delightfully understated guys from Peshawar to be the first in the scene to not only address the whole problem and phenomenon of amoral corporate sponsorship in the local pop scene, and do it so intelligently and creatively. And what’s more, the self-directed video of the song is equally solid. No ghostly models being chased by puffed pop daddies in and around some god forsaken ancient ruins, no cheesy impersonations of cheesier Bollywood and Hollywood epics.
The video of “King Of Self” is way out there, a far cry from what is usually expected from almost any Pakistani pop act or video director. G’one.