STRINGS ARTICLES
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Beirut in News Sunday
The world is going through strange turmoil. Wars make are making headlines with the lynch pin being the War on Terror. Under this banner, America attacked first Afghanistan and then Iraq and then Israel followed this year by bombing Lebanon. The myriad news channels, both foreign and homegrown, cover the real politick behind such decisions. In times like these, it often seems like Pakistani art is functioning within a rosy bubble of romance and froth.
In such drastic times, it was surprisingly pop sensation Strings who decided to make a simple yet effective song to portray the face of the new world. It is called 'Beirut' and it has touched both hearts and minds in Pakistan. With the country following the war so closely, it is a song that everyone can identify with. With a video that focuses on images from the war and taglines that give information on how many have died and how many others rendered homeless, 'Beirut' makes one think even as one is humming along to it.
Instep caught up with Strings frontman Faisal Kapadia to find out more about the achingly beautiful song called 'Beirut' that hits home and hits hard.

Instep: Tell us about 'Beirut' - how did the song happen.

Faisal Kapadia: One morning, Bilal (Maqsood) called me up and said that we should do something regarding the situation in Beirut. When you hear the word Beirut, the imagery that comes to mind is that of a war zone. Beirut has always been somewhat of a war zone. 
Only until a few years ago, the city got stable. But now, things have worsened again. So, the two us decided to do something about it. Plus, Ramazan is the one month of the year where all of us stop thinking about ourselves and start focusing on others. People think about others and their problems. We thought this was the right time to make a video of this sort.

Instep: Is it important for bands to make such statements?

FK: It is not about a band or an artist. The point is to create some form of awareness. The idea is to make others realise where we're going. The world is divided. In spite of living comfortably in our homes, we cannot say that the world is a safe place for our children to grow up in. Look at the world around us. Wars are increasing with every passing day. We never realise the extent of an event and its consequences until it hits us directly. When the earthquake happened, Pakistan came together on one single platform. It felt great seeing that. We may be living in peace but in reality, we're not. So yes, it is important to make such statements.

Instep: What do you hope to achieve from this video?

FK: It is not about achieving something. If it makes someone think about the repercussions of war, specifically the happening in Beirut and generally, everything that is taking place globally, we will think that we did something. We don't know what it will achieve and neither achieving something was ever the point of this video.

Instep: Strings are always involved in their videos. Who did this video and how were you guys involved?

FK: Yes, we did have a say in the concept but Omair and Shehryar of Mystic Media did the video. They are from Islamabad. We shot it in Karachi. We told them that we wanted to keep it simple. Usually, videos have a certain element of glamour and style to them. But we wanted to avoid it. Because this video was not about looking good. It was about showing things for what they are. We wanted to send out a message without being glamourous.

Instep: What are you guys up to these days?

FK: We're flying off to India and USA soon. We're going to round up the Zinda tour and then get back to studios for our next album.

--Faisal Kapadia was talking to Maheen Sabeeh