Top Pakistani singers to rock the town tonight

Four internationally renowned Pakistani pop singers are excited to rock in Doha for the first time today at Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC). The PK Music Fest is organised by QTickets in association with Shop Qatar Festival from 7pm to 10pm. In line with the festival, the organisers held a press conference at the St. Regis Doha yesterday. The press conference was attended by members of the band Strings Bilal Maqsood and  Faisal Kapadia, along with Quratulain Balouch, also known as QB, and Ali Sethi.While Strings have an established fan following across South Asia, emerging talents QB and Ali Sethi have also earned a strong fan base for themselves with their powerful vocals. They are also regularly featured in the top-rated Pakistani television programme Coke Studio. Strings, on the other hand, are celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band. They are likely to entertain the audience with some of their biggest hits including Na Janay Kyun, Main Tou Dekhoonga, Chaye Chaye, Anjane, Mera Bichraa Yaar and Zinda. The performance will also feature Urr Jaoon and Sajni from their latest album 30, which celebrates three decades of the band’s journey.Speaking at the press conference, Faisal said: “We thank you all for extending warm welcome to us in Doha. Thirty years do not mean that we are too old [laughing]. But surprisingly, we are coming to such a beautiful country Doha for the first time to perform. I thank the organisers for providing the opportunity. We are very excited. People do get tired in 30 years. But somehow we are feeling very excited here and we as a band did not have such kind of excitement earlier in our career.“For past four years, we have been producing Cock Studio with these amazing artistes. We have been hungry to go back at the stage. We hope that we all will have a great time here.”Quratulain Balouch said: “Thank you to everyone who have pulled all of this together. We are going to perform at a very nice venue. I am pumped up and so excited not just to perform but also to listen to Strings and Ali Sethi. I think we are going to put the house down [laughs].”Ali said: “I am also very excited to be here. There is a long list saying why I am too excited. I am excited to perform alongside the people who I truly love, admire and respect. I grew up listening to Strings’ music. Faisal and Bilal gave me my first big break on Coke Studio. They gave me a real opportunity to show what I had. They had a belief in me when I did not have faith in myself. It is a very special moment for me. I always longed to be in Doha. It is really beautiful to be here. It is like a homecoming for me.”Responding to a question about what kind of music Strings will present at the concert, Faisal said: “I will sing more of our popular String songs and we will not focus much on our Coke Studio work. It is a great combination. We have an amazing set of artistes on the stage. We are really excited and hopefully the people will see the excitement on the stage also.Speaking about Strings’ journey so far, Bilal said: “We continue to learn something new every day. I think you also learn when you listen to other people. Working with Coke Studio for four years, we also learnt a lot. We have also learnt a lot in our life in general during all these years. We will be in front of you with our full force. We present on the stage whatever we have learnt in 30 years.“As the producers we also have the responsibility to inspire and appreciate other artistes as well. It has been a beautiful journey,” Faisal noted.Regarding their future plans, Faisal said: “Absolutely, we are looking forward to having more and more live performances. This year we are releasing our album 30. The album has six songs and we have already released the songs one by one. We have a huge hunger for performing on the sage.”About what she is going to offer for the music lovers, QB said: “I am going to offer my voice [laughs]. I have some cover songs that I really admire. I will sing some of my original songs and songs of some classical Pakistani signers. I think the people are going to enjoy my music.”