Pakistani band Strings want to be ambassadors for peace

What happened on November 26 in Mumbai last year forced them to cancel their shows in India but Pakistani musical duo of Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood better known as 'Strings' want to put the bad memories behind and become ambassadors for peace through their music. "Music is one thing that binds everybody. Our participation is an initiative to strengthen our ties again so that all bad memories can get washed away. The huge crowd today shows that our music is still craved for," the duo who were in the capital to perform at the South Asian Bands Festivalu00a0said in an interview. The band which entered the Indian musical arena in 2000 with its album 'Duur' feels that the concert organised by ICCR and NGO Seher has turned out to be an ice breaker as they had not performed in the country for the past one year. They had to back out from one of their concerts in Pune last December, right after the attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

"We are honoured to be performing here. Indian concert season starts in September, hopefully we will come back often," Faisal said. The poster boys of the Gen-Y of Pakistan, the group's last album's title video for the single, 'Koi Aanay Wala Hai' featured Bollywood heartthrob, John Abraham. Strings also lend their music to two Bollywood films, 'Zinda' and 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' with the songs, 'Aakhri Alvida' and 'Zinda Hoon' becoming instant chartbusters. "We had not met Sanjay Dutt before and were told to record for Zinda in the studio with him. To our surprise, he came to the studio, hugged us and said,'Guys I love your music'," Faisal said.

"Bollywood will happen now, in the past year due to the political situation no one was in a mood to entertain us but now everyone has moved on," he added. The duo is also planning to visit the country more often to enthrall their fans and want to focus on Bollywood in the near future. "We are always open to Bollywood but Faisal can't sing with any composer so we prefer to do our own songs. We are focussing on Bollywood for the next 2-3 years as we have no plans to to release an album soon," Bilal said. The duo also feel that to bridge the gaps between the two countries, the exchange of artists across the border is an important initiative. "Lot of artists have come to Pakistan. In the past year there haven't been many exchanges but people love their favourite Indian filmstars and singers and it should continue," Faisal said.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels