Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Har Jagah Hai JAL

Amidst soaring crowds and roaring loudspeakers, braving the cold and withstanding the cacophony of some RJ-cum-Anchor-cum-Nonsense, stood I, waiting anxiously for the musical journey to begin. The wait was almost killing me, but i knew that it was soon going to happen. Something that i had always waited for, something that turned out far, FAR more mesmerizing than i had thought. Here I was, living my dream, attending my first ever 'JAL' - Live In Concert!

For those who don't know (i hope there are'nt be many), Jal is a Pakistani Soft-Rock Pop Band and the entity behind the two biggest campus anthems in the Indian Subcontinent - Aadat and Woh Lamhey. Apart from these two, they have produced gems like Bikhra Hoon Main, Teri Yaad, Panchi and Dil Haarey. They hit the jackpot when Aadat leaked via the Internet and found fans from around the globe. And when they released their first album Aadat(named after the song Aadat only) in 2004, it became a rage overnight. After a long hiatus, they are back with their new album. the 2nd one, called Boondh - A Drop of Jal. And believe me, they are all set to recreate history.

The concert, held at NSIT New Delhi, began with the immensely melodious and lyrical ballad - Teri Yaad, one of my personal favourites. They then went on to sing Woh Lamhey which got the crowd swinging in flashback mode. All the memories, of old friends and of lost love became reminiscent. Not letting the tranquilizing feeling stay for long, swoosh came the hard-core rock number - Rangon Mein, which all of a sudden transformed the environs into a radioactive chamber oozing out tons of contagious energy which left no one ungripped. Vigourous headbanging and unrelentingly loud vocalizing didnt seem to tax even a wee bit on the seemingly inexhaustible amount of energy that had got infused in the crowd. The roller-coaster never deaccelerated from then on. The crowd went mad and the management, haywire, when
Goher (the Lead Guitarist and Co-Vocalist), came into his own and performed Dil Haarey. He bowled the crowd over with his histrionics with the guitar and won hearts with his sugar-coated voice.
The evening assumed boiling point as the band obliged the crowd, incessantly shouting-'Aadat' 'Aadat'! The Lead Vocalist,
Farhan, beautifully took over and hypnotized the audience with the depth in his voice as he crooned the haunting track - the last for the evening.
Alas! It all had to come to an end. And even with people disregarding their paining throats and helplessly shouting 'Once More', the band bid adieu to the audience. Ahh! No grudges. That one and a half hour made my day, and week, and month! And if i get to attend one more such event, it'll make my year!

The hangover is still there, two days past the golden night. And i still can be found crooning 'Dil haarey pukaarey tujhe.... Man jaa rey manale mujhe' in the college, during a class, in the loo, on the roads, in the cab, mid-way during sleep, and everywhere elsewhere!

24th February 2008 was surely a night I'll cherish for a long long time!


Watch the video of a part of their performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwhDzMxvOTE

Know more about Jal :
http://www.jaltheband.com
You can download audio and video clips of their songs from the website. Do check out their new song 'Sajni' from the new album, also availible on the site.


P.S : For the unawares, 'Har Jagah Hai Jal' is an awsome track from their first album Aadat.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

:) guess u really had a rocking time...hav heard aadat of Jal band...though would like to hear the other songs after reading ur article :)

Anonymous said...

I envy you is all I can say

de trop said...

wow yaar.... i am crazy bout jal...but then atif hi nahi raha.... anyways they still rock!!!

de trop said...

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Pranay said...

thnx gurls for ur comments...

Karthik said...

All live performances are either in Delhi or Bangalore. We here in Chennai hardly get anything. Lucky you!

Anonymous said...

I read somewhere in Biology book dat 70% of human body is water...but i dont think dats d same in ur case,U seems to be 100% made of JAL
Kudos to ur whole-hearted devotion towards this band...

vanilla sky said...

yeah, waiting for almost all band performances becomes damn boring as they take too much time for warming up!
but what follows is worth the wait!
is the hangover still there !?

Pranay said...

@kartik..
well we are'nt that lucky... bangalore, mumbai and even hyderabad get most of the live performers.. but yes, we may be slightly luckier than chennai-ites!

@ankur
woo! u really are a true JAL fan!

@vanilla sky
well.. the hangover has almost faded, but u know, theres this renewed interest in their old songs which i had ceased to listen to...

Vivek Menon said...

Heard Atif live in concert in Pune last year...Man he rocked...

Pranay said...

@vivek...
sure.. he would have..
but he's not a part of Jal in case u are thinking so..
atif used to be a member of Jal, but left the band even before the first album, Aadat released..