“We are Pakistanis and we can change the whole game” - Inteha

interview: music mix

Lahore-based band Inteha does its bit for the musical side of the Cricket World Cup season

   

Every four years, as the ICC World Cup returns to our television screens, our musicians busy themselves, churning out tunes which suggest that this time we’re surely taking home the trophy. This year is no exception. Jumping on that bandwagon is Lahore-based pop rock group Inteha, comprising of the vocalist-guitarist duo Naukhez and Nausher Javed, who recently released the video for their song ‘Jeetein Gaey’. In a chat with Instep, the duo tells us about the message behind the song and why they chose to release the video to coincide with this tournament.

Instep: World Cup season is when every other band wants to send a musical shout-out to the team. What made you turn your track into a cricket song – are you ardent fans of the sport or capitalising on the national craze?

Naukhez: ‘Jeetein Gaey’ was one of my favourite tracks from our second album Inteha-e-Rock. Keeping up with the World Cup fever amongst the masses, we thought to release the video of the song before the World Cup to boost the morale of our team and the nation, as we felt this was much needed.

Nausher: Our nation is emotionally distressed these days. Due to this negative frame of mind, we were also discouraging the Pakistani cricket team, saying that it is impossible for us to win, that our players aren’t fit to play internationally, and so on. So keeping that in mind, we decided to release a World Cup song, ‘Jeetein Gaey’ in order to encourage our team and uplift our nation. We are Pakistanis and we can change the whole game.

Instep: How did you go about conceiving ‘Jeetein Gaey’?

Naukhez: ‘Jeetein Gaey’ is a motivational track which revolves around catchy verses from Iqbal’s poetry and other famous quotes (such as “himmat-e-mardaan, madad-e-Khuda”). The key message of the song is that there are no limits for us and we can make everything possible for Pakistan. The song bucks up the cricket team through messages from the masses across all age brackets and walks of life. The track is a blend of strong verses with strong guitar riffs, which is the strength of our band. You may have seen the same trend in our earlier tracks, ‘Anjaana’ and ‘Dastaan’.

Instep: How was the experience of shooting the ‘Jeetein Gaey’ video?

Naukhez: The shooting day was full of energy and excitement. We fired off just one message on Facebook announcing the shoot plan, and the turnout was unbelievable. We had people from all age brackets and walks of life. This response made the shoot all the more fun and we continued the shoot for three days with all the fans around us.

Instep: What did you think of the World cup anthems released this year?

Naukhez: The quality of this year’s World Cup songs is awful, but I still think that every musician has talent and the ability to create something successful. My least favourite is the song currently on PTV Sports by Desi Brits.

Nausher: I personally didn’t like any songs that have been released. I found all of them more focused on non-serious content in an effort to go viral, and this compromises the motivational aspect and patriotic essence, which we used to have before, in songs by the likes of Madam Noor Jehan, Junoon, and Vital Signs; Inteha takes inspiration from these music gurus.

Instep: You also released an anti-drug song titled ‘Ranjhanna’ recently; is drug abuse an issue close to your band’s heart?

Nausher: There’s no doubt that drug abuse is an important issue, which needs to be addressed in a number of ways. Our youth is drawn to drugs and I strongly feel there is a need to communicate the consequences of addiction, especially in a way that the youth will understand. Hence the video was directed specifically with this message in mind. Once a fan asked if I got high before composing my music and I thought it’s really important to change such perceptions. It’s the loudest message ever given by any rock band in our industry, and has been praised by ANP locally.

Instep: Which song(s)/video(s) are you planning to release next?

Nausher: We shall be releasing videos from (our latest album) Inteha-e-Rock and two videos from the Tribute to the Legends project. And we are also collaborating with some international artistes.

Naukhez: I am working on a few soundtracks for TV drama serials. Also a couple of Indian movie songs are in the pipeline. Plus, our India tour will start in April this year. After that, we will travel to the US and UK in the summer for concerts.

- By Sameen Amer

Instep Today, The News - 20th March, 2015 *