Thanks Devina for directing me to coke studio. And you are absolutely right, the Pakistani version is much better than the Indian. From what I understand the Pakistani v. was the original and its success spawned the Indian v. If any of you don’t know it, it is a fusion program, folk, rock, classical mixed together. It can be viewed on Youtube. What makes the Pakistani version so vibrant, and the Indian so dull? I have to admit to not having seen many of the Indian shows so am not really qualified to judge. Leslie Lewis though is in charge of the Indian show and I never liked his music with Colonial Cousins (with the wonderful Hariharan). Richa Sharma is not one of my favorite singers. I didn’t see Rashid Khan do anything outside of his box (except imitate that fantastic singer from Pakistan whose name I cannot remember). Could it be soul? Either you have it or you don’t and if you have to ask, you ain’t got it (paraphrasing a quote from some soulman).
