A few names from the music industry have been buzzing these last few months, thanks to Coke Studio Season 14. There’s Xulfi, the producer who reimagined the music platform this year; Hasan Raheem, who has seen super stardom amongst the Gen Z crowd (and millennials love him equally), and then there’s Abdullah Siddiqui.
Abdullah is a very prolific name, and one that comes up any time there’s a significant musical production involved. Meesha Shafi’s ‘Hot Mango Chutney Sauce’ had his production prowess; Atif Aslam and Aima Baig’s PSL anthem this year had Abdullah pulling the strings. It’s no wonder that Xulfi also trusted Siddiqui as a co-contributer to this year’s Coke Studio. The young singer/writer/producer was part of the “think tank” set up by Xulfi, and he was involved in the production process of several songs.
While Xulfi and Abdullah have briefly worked together for Abdullah’s debut in Nescafe Basement in 2018, this role required a closer partnership.
“Originally, Xulfi had decided at the get go to put together a think tank of four, five people, using us as an advisory team. He then called me and that role expanded.” Not only did Abdullah delve deep into the technical aspects of the collaboration, he also developed a close bond with Xulfi. “We were very very committed. This sort of partnership required us to get to know each other as friends, and we ended up learning about each other’s tendencies as producers.”
Abdullah says he ended up working on five or six songs where he was the primary producer but everything was done under Xulfi’s guidance. “I was very connected with all of them but definitely felt strongly about the songs that had more of an emotional component: Mehram, Tu Jhoom, Phir Milenge, and my own song. Go.”
Go was developed for Abdullah’s upcoming album (before CS), where he had a bit of the music developed. Initially, Maanu was working on it with Abdullah. “Once I had gotten CS, I played this for Xulfi. We decided to use the music for my track. Maanu came back to me and had written the chorus and I loved it. Because the song is complex with industrial sounds, the way to balance it was to add more of a folk element and bring someone who’s a crowd-pleaser. Then Atif Aslam came to mind, and when we introduced the song to him, he loved it.”
The first thing that comes to our mind is if Abdullah will be part of the next season as well, that too in the same role. But Abdullah remained tight-lipped and did not answer. Instead, he did share his vision for what he would do, if he were to return.
“I’d expand further and bring more innovation. Bring some more representation and a lot more new talent.”
It may be wishful thinking but we think this means that we might be seeing Xulfi and Abdullah returning to the Coke Studio season 14.
