Strings has a unique sound that still reverberates in theears of the early 90’s generation. Having made an instant mark in the popscenario, the Pakistani band took a shocking eight year break before thestudios beckoned them once more.
One of the biggest elements in the bands comeback was theirbeing asked to be a part of the soundtrack of Spiderman 2. When asked how theoffer came about, the band responds, “We were all set to release our fourthalbum, Dhaani, when Sony BMG called, and they said that Columbia Tristar wantedus to write a song for the South Asian film release. That was a huge momentthat most people only dream of. We didn’t believe it until the video wasreleased.”
Yet, it took eight years for the band to return to thespotlight with ‘Duur’ in 2000. The band explains their absence from stage andstudio by saying, “In 1992, we released our second album. We were still incollege finishing school, and we realised that education was important. Wewanted to make an earlier comeback, but somehow it took us longer thanexpected. But we are glad to be back.”
Indian classical music has played an important part in thebands upbringing, with Ustad Amir Khan being one of the favourites. This isevident in their Urdu. The question that arises for international fans istherefore, does the band have any plans to work outside of Urdu and perhapsventure into English? Kapadia cuts ahead of Maqsood to say, “We never thoughtabout it because honestly, when we started, the concept of Hindi or Urdu popbarely existed. It was never a mainstream concept. Today, people worldwide “Indian and Pakistani are fans of the genre, so I think I can speak for us bothwhen I say that we would want to concentrate on our forte.”
Strings is a band whose core lies in family beingsupportive. When asked whether lyricist Anwar Maqsood was responsible for allof the bands hits, his son, and founder-member Bilal responds, “Anwar Maqsoodhas written most of our lyrics. He started writing for us when we worked onDuur. Prior to that, we used to write our own lyrics. He composed all our laterwork, except for Dhaani which was written by Zehra Nigah. We really can’t thinkof making music without him. At the end of the day, this band is about being afamily affair.”
