The Zeest

No sutta without fire INTERVIEW WITH MID DAY MAGAZINE here is a link for the interview of `Zeest' which was conducted And Published on Janurary 15th, 2006 By Mid Day Daily (Mumbai) Bhainchod sutta, sutta na mila… a hummable song with some unmentionable lyrics. It might not top any music charts, but it is definitely on the top of everyone’s mind. Composed and written by Zeest (an underground Pakistani band made up of founder, composer, guitarist, lyricist and lead vocalist Skip, Raheel on conga, tabla, and drums. The B C Sutta song is all the rage in Mumbai right now. And not only in our city. As far as numbers go, the Sutta song has had 7,600 downloads in 21 days several months back. Like a cigarette passed from one tobacco-stained hand to another, the Sutta song has been covertly sneaked across the borders, download networks and bypassed moral censors to become the anthem for “all smokers and dopers.” Through a fan forum, we got hold of the band to talk about the song they have dedicated all the losers in this world. How did the Sutta song come about? Skip: I guess the real creator of the B C Sutta phrase is my dad, Abdullah Bhai. In the good old college days, I remember bunking classes and smoking with my friends all night long. When my father came to know what I had been upto he’d often say, “B%*&^%! sutta peeta hai inn lafungo kay saath. (read lyrics)” I created this satirical, comical, slang song just for fun, but I always wanted to compose a song that could reflect my life story and that of other optimistic losers too. The song is so popular only because every average “tapori bachcha” can relate to it. What does your song stand for? Skip: Basically the philosophy of this song for us is not only the love of sutta (a smoke) but also a song dedicated to all the aims that haven’t been fulfilled and all the things in the world that have gone against our will. The lyrics of your song are both defiant and rebellious, yet the B C word is not really meant as an expletive in our everyday language. How important do you think bad words are in our day-to-day language? Why? Skip: B C Sutta has brought about a revolution among the younger generation. The West is very open, they show whatever they do in their social and street life, they use bad words in their movies, novels, songs etc. But we Indo-Pakis are too afraid to portray our real culture and ourselves in front of the world. Well bad words are part of every society. The F-word can be found in the new Oxford Dictionary and even swear words like BC and MC are seen in books like Ferozsons Urdu dictionary. These words are an important part of our language and literature. If we don’t use them, who will? What is the other stuff you guys are working on? Skip: Currently, we are working on the video of B C Sutta. There are some other songs up our sleeves, which will be released very soon. Basically the focus of every composition of Zeest emphasizes on social and youth issues that have been neglected so far. Seeing that we are a band without proper instruments, infrastructure, sponsors, media support, not even a fan in our jam room, we have come a long way. Have you got into trouble for the song and its words? Getting any hate mail? The biggest problem we are facing is that our media won’t allow us to play our song on any of the channel currently operating in India and Pakistan. While other songs by Eminem, 50 Cents, Korn, Nelly, R-Kelly, Marilyn Mansons etc. that use highly explicit language all get played. Yes, we receive lot of criticism on our songs through blogs, comments and messages. Somebody commented that Zeest is exploiting the minds of young kids. Another enthusiast wrote that songs like B C Sutta are easy to compose and provided some six-seven different steps to do it. But we took it positively. And we are very thankful to our loyal fans and lovers that on our own behalf they reply to this hate mail. Any plans of coming to Mumbai or India? Yes, we would love to come to India and specially Mumbai because we have a huge number of fans there. It’d be an honour to perform in front of such a loving and responsive crowd because the Indians have understood our music better than anyone else in the world.