Concerts were never my
thing. To me, it was pretty much annoying
to see people going gaga over their favorite band or musician when they spot
them live. However, it is universally believed that opposite attracts, my fiancé loves going to gigs and he had been to a number of live
concerts. Sadly, he could not make it to his favorite musician,
Ali Sethi’s live show in London two months back since he was traveling to
Pakistan. Lucky him, he got to know about the concert of Ali Sethi to be held in SZABIST
Karachi on 3rd December through a friend. He was super excited
unlike me. I was reluctant to go there; conversely, he somehow managed to get tickets
for the show.
Hesitant, yet I along with
my fiancé and his friends went to the campus. Also, this was Ali
Sethi’s first live show in Karachi which was organized by the Students’ council
of SZABIST. The show was thought to be started by 8 p.m (as mentioned on the
tickets), but Ali Sethi kept the crowd waiting forlornly till 10 p.m (by then the
show was supposed to be over LOL). To my utmost surprise, it was worth waiting.
As he showed up, the crowd was all geared up.
Ali Sethi, live in SZABIST, Photo
credits: Rawish Mandhan
The dusky, tall singer kept
the crowd entertained with his vigorous performance and the occasional funny clever
remarks. Ali performed some of his best-loved songs, including
his most recent Coke Studio hits. And as if that weren't enough, he shared
stories about his creative journey, his romance with the musical heritage of
South Asia, and his view on what it means to be an artist in contemporary Pakistan.
The most enthusiastic crowd, Photo
credits: Rawish Mandhan
He noticed the students wanted to party and classical music was not what they wanted to listen, he stood up and made the remark, 'I know y'all want to party, I am your slave for tonight. Lets dance !''. He kept the crowd lingering and dancing until the
very end. What I most
enjoyed about watching him was the pleasure that he took in his own performance.
In short, it was a good clean fun, we could not think of a
better way to spend a Saturday evening. Thank you SZABIST for arranging such a
great show. I hope they will continue to do so to revive the concert
scene in the city.
Lovely !
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