Coke studio when it first aired created waves in the music industry, it was a fresh concept that the people took well to. What made it different was that it took old classics that were evergreen and mused it with modern instrument and tunes, in short a modern remake of a classic. It was refreshing for the ears and had no competitors.The music was great and people liked it with leading artists of our generation redoing the classics that the people from the previous era created. What made Coke Studio a success is that it appealed to a larger audience, the elders who grew up listening to the classics were interested in listening to the remakes while the younger generation was excited because of the star cast the show had, like Atif Aslam, Abrar-ul-Haq and legends in their fields such as Abida Parveen.
It all went well with all the heavy advertisement and that people realizing after the first season of its uniqueness, the show boasts of something that was missing in the field of music, it pioneered a change and it is continuing till now but the problem now is that it has competition In the form of Nescafe Basement, while coke studio has been credited for bringing a change that the music industry so required it has now been labeled as repeating. Nescafe on the other hand has been a breath of fresh air, both of them being similar and both of them being different as well, similar because they promote music and fusion, coke studio on one hand makes use of its brand value and superior star cast, Nescafe Basement on the other hand promotes raw talent, under the supervision of Xulfi, the underground bands and artists perform songs that have cult following. The motive of Nescafe Basement is to fuse music and promote talent, while coke studio does fusion at its best but doesn’t promote talent.
We have big names in coke studio like Sajjad Ali, Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar while the Nescafe basement has unknown names that we haven’t heard but in terms of quality the coke studio may be a little better because of the resources that they can arrange, but when they have made a name for themselves. We can compare the best songs in coke studio to the song ‘Tere Ishq Main Jo bhi’ In Nescafe Basement. The views on You Tube are a proof of it. The singer was new yet his vocal quality could be compared with the stars of the society.
It is more commercial compared to Nescafe Basement. As to who is better it cannot be said, the coke studio has been said to be repeating the music over the years which they have took notice of because this year it has come out a little fresher but the Nescafe basement scores more in this regard, its fresh, its raw and it is appealing, yet it cannot reach the commercial level that coke studio has achieved. The final verdict being that the coke studio is accessible to all and on all the channels while people have less awareness of Nescafe Basement it is making a name for itself in the field of music and the die hard promoters and fans of music rate it above Coke studio but there cannot be a clear winner. Coke studio has a global appeal while Nescafe Basement is a favorite among the music lovers, although most of the music lovers also follow Coke Studio because of Legends such as Abida Parveen, that is the reason that we cannot give a clear verdict as to who is better. Both are serving the field of music and doing a good job at it. That’s what matters in the broader sense, doesn’t it?