#nescafe basement

I fear, I fear meeting you . Well THAT'S something new!! Will you just hold on for a sec? Its something I’ve told just a few Okay, lets see It's a fear. A fear reminding me Of my thirst, of what I want to be A thirst to improve, a thirst to run A thirst to season myself in thy scorching sun A thirst to mould, a thirst to play A thirst to express my unique clay

NO! I’m not complaining It’s something that I adore It thrills me to a point That everything else seems a leur

Yet I fear, I fear meeting you What If its a false hue Just a wrong construe

Well I be damned as I have before fearing the ones who made me sore

Even then I had the same thought Ended up killing my thirst, just leaving myself deeply overwrought

But this thirst is too cheap to lose Thus I fear, I fear meeting you

So I install a glass door Retaining the thirst with which I run

Some mock it a cage But, I laugh upon how could it be? When it’s the only time I truly run free!

Closed door, open sky Running wild, soaring high I season myself, I shape my clay Polishing the glass, a step closer to mirror everyday

I know,only then I would be at ease When this thirst would be as eternal as a fresh breeze

This is an amazing Urdu track performed under Nescafe Basement by the Soch band and Nadiya Hashmi

Nadiya is an 8 year old female musical prodigy whose beautiful voice is guaranteed to shake your soul

No, I didn’t notice it. I’ve been too busy noticing the diversity in the studio which is full of men, women, and kids of all shapes and sizes making magical music together.

You do know that it was Nescafe Basement only that had featured an all-woman band called “All Girls Band” last season? It was in also season four where a female vocalist was given the entire floor to shine all by herself with only a keyboard? If there is one mainstream music platform that shouldn’t be criticized on lack of representation it is Nescafe Basement only. Yes, so far there hasn’t been any female vocalist featured in the episode but I think you are forgetting that this season their major motivation is to shine light on the talented kids of Surtaal Academy and help renovate it. Hence, most focus is on the kids. And it has JUST been three episodes? Isn’t it too early to judge about whether or not NB has failed on the female representation front? 

NB is doing great by making sure in every episode there are females in the studio. Being a singer/vocalist is the most mainstream and safest option for any woman wanting to pursue music. But NB features women with keyboards and violins and tablas and sitars and drums and guitars and bass all to make a statement ke women are equally great with instruments as they are with vocals and that they CAN pursue perfecting an instrument and not just vocals. Are the number of women less than men? Yes, they are. But I don’t see it as a problem. Because like every other field music is also a predominantly male field. But despite that, NB has always made sure to not fill the basement with just men (the way CS has been doing ever since its inception). Each year the number of women in the basement increases and that’s a good thing. You can’t expect a commercial music platform to single handedly destroy the 70+ years old patriarchy of a nation. NB deserves to be lauded for at least taking the step in the right direction. With the way they have been featuring women I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next couple of seasons the basement will have equal number of men and women jamming together.