Garmi On – Urban Life & the Underground.

9 Nov 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X-Zqv5hc0

This is Garmi On (the heat is on), a single by underground band Moen Jo Daro (named after Pakistan’s famous ancient ruins). Ironically, considering the name, the song itself is about Pakistan’s modern love for ancient times, load shedding and all.

The song is unbelievably promising. The first thing you think about of course, is the lyrics, which aren’t the best piece of writing you’ll ever see, will be flicked away by traditionalist Urdu speakers but are relevant, and anything about load shedding is bound to strike a chord. Reminds you of the Junoon days, where anti establishment rants were chic, now they’re just sort of cliched, kind of like the soon to be ‘we-must-fix-things-ourselves’ patriotic vibe.

The lyrics are a great glimpse into Pakistani urban life today. From references of the UPS (backup power supply), of electricity coming back on the hour (power cuts occur on a timetable), and then the language. The title itself, Garmi On, is a glimpse of how minglish (or Urdish) as we call it, Urdu mingled with English is the urban language spoken today. This has traditionally been looked down upon by traditional Urdu speakers, and is continued evidence of Urdu’s weakening as a language. Recently however, scholars have come to the defense of minglish, with linguist Tariq Rahman talking at TEDxLahore 2010 about how this is a natural process that we must grow with. The entire talk is embedded after the break.

Musically the song is catchy, it’s mixed well, which is a nice change for underground bands. The guitar riff in the beginning is very interesting, it’s going for the whole wall of sound effect, but with fast fret work intertwined with it, which gets you intrigues as you begin listening. The bass riff is catchy, clearly supportive to the guitar but nothing groundbreaking there. The entire sound is reminiscent of the freedom of not having a drummer in the band, kind of like the Vital Signs days, when you’d have to make do with a metronomic electronic beat and make your music on top of it, which sparked a lot of creativity sonically. I’m not sure if Moen Jo Daro have a drummer, this song is the last I heard of them until I tried researching for this post, to which I found some bad recordings of live cover performances. I hope they keep playing though. The only disappointment, somewhat so, is the vocals in the song, which just seem a bit too heavy for the music. Perhaps if the band were to do another recording that would fix itself, but as of now it just doesn’t let the song flow.

But for the many who are crying that Pakistani music has gone too commercial, Garmi On, is a really interesting sign.

Download the audio here. (Via Koolmuzone)

A translation of the lyrics if you click below.

Lyrics (Translated):

The heat is on,

Keep paying, again and again,
Those debts worth lacs.

Keep dreaming all night,
About going to the moon.

So why not have a little smoke?
So why not have a little fun?

You keep changing repeatedly,
The channels on the TV.

You’re worried, there’s little time left,
Till the hour.

So why not have a little smoke?
So why not have a little fun?

Power gone, UPS too, The heat is on man, the heat is on.
Power gone, UPS too, The heat is on man, the heat is on.

The candles too, have gone out,
Will have to get new ones.

Even the shopkeepers are surprised,
That all of them sold.

Now what do we do? In this darkness.
How much do we think?

Maybe this is a test.
Oh wait, there goes the flashlight.

So why not have a little smoke?
So why not have a little fun?

Power gone, UPS too, The heat is on man, the heat is on.
Power gone, UPS too, The heat is on man, the heat is on.

Tariq Rahman’s talk at TEDxLahore 2010: Collective Genius