The No-‘Strings’ Attached Interview

South Asian pop band Strings have released their latest album ‘Koi Aanay Wala Hai’ after a gap of four years. The fans- from India to the US- are ready to lap up their latest offering of good, earthy tunes. The sensational duo of Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood told Shashank Chouhan of Zeenews.com they would wait with baited breath for response on their latest ‘baby.’ Excerpts from an interview given with no strings attached: You guys seem to take a lot of sabbaticals from making albums? Is it deliberate- a creative requirement- or what? The first time when we went on a 8 year sabbatical, we were too young. All of us were around 17 and we unanimously wanted to pursue further studies. This time around, after the release of Dhaani, we were touring all over the world for more than three and a half years. Tell us about your latest offering. What are the songs and music about? Why did you take such a long time to record and release it? We have ten songs in our latest album Koi Aanay Wala Hai which releases this week. We have been very particular in selecting the songs. From the day we started working on this album it took us two and a half years and 30 songs to come up with these 10 songs. The album has a very positive and uplifting feel to it. Your belting out ‘saare jahan se accha…’ in Dec SAARC festival has created a bit of controversy back home. What is your reaction? Through our music we try to bridge the gap between the two countries. Our intentions are good and we are proud of it. The guy who wrote negatively about it was the only one who was bothered. No one paid attention to it. Whom did you like best working with in India- from amongst the composers, singers and directors? Why? We enjoyed working with Sanjay Gupta. He is extremely passionate about his work and our music :) In singers, it has also been a pleasure working with Hariharan. As far as composers are concerned we haven’t worked with any so far. Who is your favourite South Asia and international music act? In Asia it has to be undoubtedly R.D. Burman and Kishore Kumar. We love U2 and Beatles. We have grown up listening to their songs. What was the turning point or the big milestone in your careers? The big turning point was when our song “Na Jaane Kyon” was selected for Spiderman 2 soundtrack. How did Bollywood happen? Mr.Sanjay Gupta got in touch with us for Zinda. He gave us the brief for the soundtrack and a fantastic narration. He also gave us the complete creative satisfaction to compose our own songs. Some Bollywood singers seem not happy at having singers from outside sing in Indian films. What do you have to say to them? They are unhappy with indian producers as to why they take Pakistani artists. No one has shown displeasure in working with us. In fact, whenever we meet Indian artists they are very cordial and warm to us. Hence, we refuse to believe that Bollywood singers are not happy with us singing in India. How was it working with Sanjay Dutt, John Abraham and Sanjay Gupta for Zinda? A wonderful experience!! Sanjay Dutt is an institution in himself, but he was so down to earth and made us feel so comfortable. We have got along very well with John and this extends to him presenting our album Koi Aanay Wala Hai and acting in our lead video. Touchwood, we have had an amazing working relation with Indian artists. Any particular incidence/experience that has stayed with you (from Zinda work)? No particular experience, but one interesting thing is that John and Dutt sahib were never together on the set. Day one was John and day two was with Dutt sahib. Any other Bollywood project lined up? We are in talks with many Bollywood projects but right now we are concentrating on our new baby “Koi Aanay Wala Hai.” Is singing for films diferent from recording a pvt album? Singing for films is definitely different from recording a private album. But for us, we found no difference, because we have never worked with any other composer. Even if we had to sing for a film, we composed the song ourselves. This ensured we got complete creative satisfaction. The only difference is that we get a brief for the song from the director and we compose the song accordingly. What do you make of the youth of India and Pakistan in your live wire concerts? Is there hatred, love or what between the two? Lots of love. It’s a kind of chemistry which cannot be explained, its more than love. What have you come to like the most- live concerts, recording for an album or recording for a film? Each is a different experience. Live concerts is good fun, because there is lot of energy, you get a different high watching the audience humming to your tunes and having a good time. Recording an album is a strenuous but satisfying experience. You get the complete creative satisfaction when you compose your own album and see it striking a chord with the audience.

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