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Updated 18 Sep, 2017

Pepsi Battle of Bands roped in some of the country's best musicians, but were the chosen four just as good at judging bands on the show?

In an Images survey conducted on Facebook on September 6, the readers' favourite was Atif Aslam, who got a whopping 464 votes, with the others trailing behind. Over 700 people voted in this survey.

We also conducted an in-house assessment and reviewed all seven episodes of BoB to deliberate how the judges judged the participants. We assessed the kind of critique the panel offered; was the focus on technical aspects or stage presence or both? How each judge deliberated the bands and how they complemented each other, if at all.

Here's a look at our analysis and what we thought of Meesha, Atif, Fawad and Shahi on Pepsi Battle of the Bands.

In fourth place: Meesha Shafi

Meesha Shafi brought a lot of colour to the judges' panel with her sartorial choices, but her critique didn’t spark the same kind of interest. A bit of a stater of the obvious, Meesha was prone to making very general observations — like she told Badnaam in the final episode, "Very dynamic performance as far as today's energy was concerned and your vocals were very very strong. And the crowd's energy can't be contrived, you can't make a crowd scream for you, so there's no gauge like it. And that was right in front of you."

Often she struggled to find the right words during her critique, for example in Episode 4 when she was judging Jasim & the Pindi boys on their original 'Corina,' she scrambled to put her thoughts into words and everything came out something to this effect:

Being a powerful singer, Meesha was expected to offer advice to contestants about how to improve their vocals, but this didn’t happen enough. For instance, in Episode 3, Meesha was able to pinpoint the lack of harmony between the Shajr vocalist Nimra's sound and her band, but stopped short of telling her what to do about it.

However, there were moments when she gave useful critique, like when she advised Darwesh to give their song's spoken word elements some breathing room to heighten its impact or told Madlock's lyricist/bassist to expand his vocabulary to better express himself.

In third place: Fawad Khan

Fawad Khan was the ‘groupie’-st judge of the lot. He fanboy-ed over his favourites — he told Badnaam after their final performance that he would love to see them perform live... all over the world! — and very kindly let down the lacklustre performers.

The focus of his critique was usually on the feel of a band's performance and stage presence. He occasionally dipped into his musical past and offered practical advice, like in Episode 4 when he advised Aura’s vocalist to experiment with notes when he felt he couldn’t hit the right notes.

Fawad was found to be almost apologetic in his critique. He'd much rather talk about how he was moved by previous performances than critique the band's present song. Like he told Madlock that "you stupefied me last week... That didn't happen this time. But your sound I very solid... and I appreciate that."

In second place: Shahi Hasan

Shahi Hasan added interest to the show with viewpoints that differ from the rest of the panel. We only wish it had lead to some sparring among the judges, but that was never the case.

Still, it was refreshing that he did not hold back from criticising a performance that had otherwise been praised. This was most notable in Episode 4 when the others lauded Roots for their original track ‘Khirkiyaan’ but Shahi told them straight up that their song’s melody was cluttered and lyrics forced and unconnected. It was an ouch moment but like Shahi said, he was there to offer advice.

Shahi analysed the bands, both, in terms of their performance to the track and as a band.

Like a true music producer, Shahi tried to nudge contestants in the right direction, whether by his suggestions for a specific song or band’s overall music. Like in Episode 5, he appreciated Badnaam's 'Sham-e-Qalandar' rendition, however, he also took the opportunity to tell them where they could improve their song's composition.

And the winner is... Atif Aslam!

Atif was the only judge to really engage with the contestants.

Instead of simply dispensing advice, he was seen getting cheeky in Episode 4, asking Jasim about his girlfriends (“Whoever you’re writing songs for, don’t let her go,” he told the Pindi Boys’ frontman) and joked with Roots' vocalist Rutaba’s for her hand gestures during her performance.

Atif also paid his respects where they were due, for instance in Episode 6, post Kashmir's cover of Pathanay Khan's song, he requested the audience, judges and those present to give a round of applause to the legendary folk singer. In the last episode, he went up to each Kashmir band member to give them a hug because he was just that proud of how far they've come.

Atif was able to give contestants advice on vocals and paid particular attention to how instrumentalists backed them up. Given that's he touring for most parts of the year, he knows exactly what his band brings to his performance and one could see that insight come to the fore when he commented on particular instrumentalists' performance. Like when he criticised Kashmir for performing their song 'Waqt' without tuning their guitars.

Farooq

We would like to give a special shoutout to Aaroh vocalist Farooq for his contribution on the judges panel in the first two episodes.

He may have been a guest judge but he had a more technical approach towards the performances. His critique focused on the mechanics of the songs, what worked and what didn't. He also gave useful advice to the bands for future performances.


Unfortunately though, having reviewed each episode, we couldn't help but notice the lack of chemistry between the judges. While all four have been in the music industry at around the same time, there was no spark or friction amongst them that one frequently sees in reality competitions.

Comments

A Pakistan Sep 16, 2017 06:49pm
Nice article, in future if there are more events, please do more articles like these.
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waleed fakhar Sep 16, 2017 07:53pm
No one is well conversant with singing technicalities either be it any of the judge. Sajjad Ali, Rahat fateh Ali khan could have been the bext choice for judges.
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azam khan Sep 16, 2017 08:26pm
My vote goes to Fawad Khan for the best judge, as his reasoning out objections and praises were well balanced.
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Zafar Rahmani Sep 16, 2017 09:15pm
It's a shame that we have 4 Judges all of which are unable to sing a single line without getting off key. They are unfit to Judge. They themselves can only sing on Auto tuner.
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sangun Sep 16, 2017 10:37pm
Atif is an arrogant person. Nobody likes him in India
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isha Sep 17, 2017 01:10am
farooq was the best judge atif with hug made the show feel like indian idol
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isha Sep 17, 2017 01:11am
@Zafar Rahmani and what are your musical credentials
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jaredlee67 Sep 17, 2017 06:50am
Meesha, to be honest, was just a waste of time. She was chatty but didn't have any substance. Also, she may not be arrogant, but came across as if she was. It could be just the pressure of being on TV. Atif Aslam, Sajjad Ali, Asad Amanat Ali, etc. are celebrities who have knowledge and their basics are strong. I'd not like to see people who are just famous because of some songs. Instead I'd like to see those who are humble and extremely knowledgeable. Also, this applies to both men and women. Meritocracy demands that judges be the best and they should represent all provinces of the country.
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Khizer Sep 17, 2017 09:57am
Atif Aslam was definitely not the best judge on the show. He was arrogant and full of himself. You can tell by the way he talks as if he's above everyone, especially when he offered to use some of the contestants as backing vocalists for his own band, and a comment that was something along the lines of "you will be Atif Aslam, you will be Ali Azmat etc." Not to say that he isn't a huge and influential star, but some humility should be shown when you're talking to someone who needs encouragement in a field that is new to them. Fawad and Shahi Hassan were the only judges who had some valuable comments and were able to articulate them properly, but as the article says, there was no chemistry between the judges, making the judging lacklustre and boring- you were never looking forward to the judges' comments after a song. Meesha was honestly useless, it was like she was reading off a sheet that had a set of standard comments. I'm sure she had some points to make, but she wasn't able to express herself, thus resorting to the same, generalized, bland comments for every band.
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Dawood Sep 17, 2017 10:13am
A very professional panel of judges. Unlike other reality shows where they try to show artificial friction between judges, this was more On, in realtime, appreciating musicians where its due and correcting them in more professional way. Excellent show. Pepsi surpassed Coke Studio in bringing creative music upfront in just its 2nd Show Ever.... Great work, all guys m gurls .
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Sarosh Sep 18, 2017 07:34am
Great Survey! It will definitely help in future BoB seasons. Infact, I Agree with the Survey. I watched all episodes and I felt BoB didn't do justice at the judges panels. Meesha is very young to judge the band as her statements were not solid. Fawad, I guess out of touch from the music industry as he is popular actor but not a singer because his statements are more like on band's performance rather their singing. Shahi is better than all as a Senior guitarist and he knows well about Music. And finally, Atif is young and energetic and he is polished in his field. His style and personal skills are way better than the other judges. If you will ask me from them whom I want to see in next BoB. So I will definitely raise my hands for Atif.
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daisy Sep 18, 2017 03:14pm
i thought meesha was a brilliant judge. she sounds more intelligent than the rest.
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Junaid atif Sep 19, 2017 06:05pm
Atif Aslam is the best. I love him so much
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Ayesha Sep 20, 2017 10:18pm
I agree with this, atif aslam was best and was first reason for me to watch the show
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Asho ayash Sep 22, 2017 04:28pm
I luv yu very very ziayada. ;)
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