Pepsi Battle of the Bands is a Pakistani television series, originally based on the concept of Battle of the Bands, first aired in 2002 on PTV Home.[1] The show was revived in 2017.[2]
Pepsi Battle of the Bands: Season 1 aired in July 2002 on PTV Home.[3] The inaugural season was directed by Ahsan Rahim and Amena Khan, and produced by Nofil Naqvi. The winners were Aaroh,[4] who beat runners up Entity Paradigm by a narrow margin.[5] It also launched the success of many other bands who took part in the show, particularly Mekaal Hasan Band (which came in third) and Mizmaar.[6][7] 170 applications were sent to the show's website out of which 70 were registered. The top 20 were selected on the basis of vocals, music and arrangements which was then narrowed down to the top 10.
The following 10 bands were selected for season 1.
The following bands failed to make the top 10 for season 1.
The judges for season 1 included former members of the band Vital Signs and music producers Shahi Hasan and Rohail Hyatt as well as Pakistani fashion and music critic Fifi Haroon.
Episodes of Pepsi Battle of the Bands: Season 2 are available in broadcast syndication on television as well as put up online on Pepsi Pakistan's YouTube channel. Shortly after, the episode airs the full video performances are then put up online on Pepsi Pakistan's Facebook and YouTube while the full audios are put up on the website as well as on Patari.pk.
The return of the show and subsequent second season was revealed in early 2017.[8] It also marked the return of season 1 winners Aaroh to the music scene after 8 years - although they had released "Mera Pyar" in 2014 with vocalist Rizwan Anwar, it received little attention.[9] Season 2 also marks the return of Fawad Khan to music.
The promo video song was released on 22 July 2017.[10] It featured Atif Aslam, Meesha Shafi and Fawad Khan performing a tribute-mashup of Vital Signs' "Do Pal Ka Jeevan" and Alamgir's "Dekha Na Tha"; as well as Shahi Hasan on guitars with the trio. The video also showed many young people performing which is the show's main target audience.[11]
The Pakistani music streaming platform Patari.pk put up Entity Paradigm's debut album Irtiqa on its service along with creating "Best of Playlists" of S1 winners Aaroh as well as Mekaal Hasan Band and Mizmaar, both bands which went on to mainstream success because of S1.[12]
The judges of S2 included Fawad Khan, Meesha Shafi and Farooq Ahmed in the auditions round while Khan, Shafi, Atif Aslam and Shahi Hasan were the judges in the knockout round. Ayesha Omer was the host of the season.[13]
Episode 1 premiered on Sunday, 30 July 2017.[14] The bands that performed included:
The auditions round continued and the bands that performed included:[15]
The bands that were selected in the top 8 included in alphabetical order:
Positive was originally in the top 8 but were disqualified because they performed with a temporary member in the auditions round which was against the rules of the show.
The bands that were in the waiting list but did not get selected and their performance not being shown on TV or online included:
The episode ended with last season winners Aaroh performing Raag Neela with Kashan Admani, lead guitarist of the band Mizmaar on lead guitars.
The theme of the episode was favorite song. Each band had to perform their favourite song in front of the judges and the live studio audience. The episode started with Atif Aslam performing his new song titled "Yaad Tehari". The bands performed in the following order:[16]
The bands that ended up in the danger zone were Roots, Aura and Shajr. Aura and Shajr were eliminated leaving 6 bands in the show.
The knockout round continued with top 6. The episode started with musician Sara Haider performing her new song "Zindagi". The theme of this episode was that the each band had to perform an original song in front of the judges and the live studio audience. The bands performed in the following order:[17]
The bands that ended up in the danger zone were Roots, Darvesh and Madlock. Darvesh and Madlock were eliminated leaving 4 bands in the show.
Music Producer: Faisal Rafi
Exec. Producer: Ali Diwan
Music Director/Mentor/Composer: Ahsan Bari
Music Director/Mentor/Composer: Faisal Baig
Project Manager: Agha Fahad
Chief Recording Engineer/Sound Designer/Audio Post Supervisor: Kashif Ejaz at The C'Ion Collective Studios
Lyricist/Consultant: Asim Raza
Assistant Producer: Daniel Hayden
Assistant Producer: Haris Noor, Quaid Ahmed
Assistant Engineer: Zyad Ahmed Tariq
Mixing Engineers: Chris Bolster & Paul Pritchard at Abbey Road Studios
Mastered by: Alex Gordon and Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios
Live Sound Engineer: Obaid Haq
Chief Audio Tech: Nadeem Ducrrani & Saif Ullah
Following television channels aired the show:[a]
Season 2 has mostly received positive reviews. Maheen Sabeeh of The News said, "Whether the show manages to accomplish its mission statement to the letter remains to be seen but, having spoken to almost all major players in the production, it can be said with certainty that it has just the right motivation behind it and that matters more than we care to admit."[18] The Nation wrote, "With such an eclectic mix of sounds and energies, right from the get go - we are rooted to our televisions, waiting with bated breath till the second episode of the inevitably and justifiably iconic, biggest music battle in the country; Pepsi Battle of the Bands."[14] Vafa Batool of Pakistan Today wrote "The first episode showed how the judges focused on grossly distinct aspects of the performances. Fawad Khan preferred to acknowledge the raw live energy on stage while Meesha Shafi's focus remained largely on vocal quality. Farooq Ahmed offered technical help to the bands as a well-nuanced musician who was more concerned about improving the sounds further."[19] Dawn wrote "Looks like we're in for a great show"[20]
However, the second season has been criticized by some as well. Pakistani music, fashion critic and Season 1 judge Fifi Haroon on her Twitter called it "bland, listless". Speaking to Gulf News journalist Usman Ghafoor, Pakistani culture critic Nadeem Farooq Paracha said, "Pepsi is 10 years too late. When the last season went on air, the reality was quite different; we still had underground and mainstream music happening at the time. From mid-2000s on, the bands started to whittle away for all sorts of reasons — political, social, and security. Besides, today, we are talking about a different generation — not even the millennials but generation Z, the kids who were born in early 2000s or late 1990s. The dynamics of understanding and listening to music have changed all around the world. No one listens to albums or CDs now; they listen to singles and stream videos. BOTB, in my opinion, has failed to capture the imagination of this new generation."[21]
Some critics even compared the show with Coke Studio though the comparison has been rejected by those involved with the show.[22] Pakistani actor Shaan Shahid criticized the format of the show and said on his Facebook that Pepsi should stick to critic as Coke Studio owns the music scene.[23] His comments received a lot of criticism.[24]
The decision to not include some bands in the top eight particularly the band Khamaaj was criticized.[25]
Season 3 started in 2018 and Xarb and Bayaan fought for the title with the latter going to clinch the title.[26]
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