Falling in tune with the rising culture of EDM all over the world, the Solis Music and Art Festival was held in Karachi this weekend and headlining the evening were a range of artists including Clean Bandit, Kill the Buzz, Oceanvs Orientalis, French duo FDVM, Turhan James, Neha Khan, Maleo and Hussain Dosa.
The ‘Festival’, which may actually grow to festival status in a couple of years if it manages to take place consistently, began with a yoga session, which didn’t make much sense but then led to the concert and the lineup of anticipated artists. I must confess I missed the first few performers and walked in to experience the Turham James mix; the artist successfully got the crowd’s energy up, especially when he played his most popular track, LA. Turhan was good and he was followed by Turkish DJ Oceanvs Orientalis, who was equally engaging. By now the crowd was raving and ready for the night to reach its crescendo with FDVM, the most popular spot in the schedule. Some people may think that Clean Bandit was the most popular spot but I feel FDVM, with their previous trips to Pakistan and their Nazia Hasan tribute, are definitely a notch above here.
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FDVM got the crowd going crazier by the beat, especially when they performed a mix of Bibi Shireeni and then Disco Diwane. The real surprise and eye opener, however, was Ayesha Omar who performed with the FDVM boys; Ayesha appeared to have found her true calling. She’s got the raspy vocals to fit in and she effortlessly moved between English and Urdu to perform this original composition that sounded really, really good when live. Ayesha had apparently prepared this track in three days, composed and written herself. FDVM, she says, had given her an empty track to work on and this is what she came up with, with the help of Zahid from Tamasha the band. Titled Belong, this could be the beginning of DJ Ayesha Omar!
