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Kashmir wins Pepsi Battle of the Bands!

Kashmir wins Pepsi Battle of the Bands!

Congrats to all fans of the rock band!
Updated 18 Sep, 2017

Pepsi Battle of the Bands wrapped up with a grand finale today, and band Kashmir emerged as the winner.

This leaves Badnaam as the runners-up of the televised music competition.

Kashmir made a gutsy move in their audition with their cover of Fawad's [as in his band eP's] 'Hamesha'. Luckily, they pulled it off, going on to rack up a fan following by their hauntingly beautiful cover of Aamir Zaki's 'Mera Pyar' in episode 3. They continued to win fans over with their original songs like 'Buddha Baba' and 'Soch' in subsequent episodes. While their cover of eP's 'Waqt' let them down, a later cover they performed 'Menda Ishq Ve Toon' was a big crowd-pleaser. Kashmir earned the respect of the judges, with Atif saying early in episode 6 that he'd like to buy Kashmir's album.

Badnaam
Badnaam

Badnaam entered the competition after impressing judges with 'Alif Allah' in the auditions. They were strong contenders from the start, blowing away audiences with their cover of 'Kala Jora' in episode 3. Although their original track 'Khwaja Ki Deewani' got mixed reviews from the judges, they stuck to their qawwali rock signature and were favoured for their renditions of 'Bismillah Karan' and 'Sham-e-Qalandar'. In the last episode, Badnaam's mash-up forced judge Fawad Khan to admit that he'd love to see them perform all over the world.

Overall, both bands were quite consistent in their performances, making this final decision tough to bet on!

Here's wishing for fabulous musical careers for both Kashmir and Badnaam.

The winning band gets Rs5 million, a music album contract, concerts across Pakistan and lifetime royalties on their music.

Comments

mujtaba Haque Sep 17, 2017 07:15pm
Hats off. Cant wait to have my hands on their album. Simply fantastic.
Recommend
Ali Sep 18, 2017 12:40am
With no established music industry I wonder what their future will be.
Recommend
CHOORAN BAND Sep 18, 2017 01:11am
Truly the best deserved band won the competition. No doubt here!
Recommend
Rida Sep 18, 2017 02:57am
Errr... Bismillah Karan is not Sufi.
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TR Sep 18, 2017 05:44am
Congratulations.
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Feroze Danish Sep 18, 2017 07:26am
Pakistanis voting for a band named 'Kashmir' in itself is a big statement.
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Haathi Sep 18, 2017 10:44am
Thoroughly entertaining! Thanks Pepsi for an awesome season. And most of all, thanks to all the young Pakistanis for remainding us that we will be OK inshallah. Badnaam, Kashmir, Pindi Boys, and all the rest, you were all great. May this be the start of many beautiful things. (And Badnaam's drummer: you were awesome man!)
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MANNY Sep 18, 2017 01:52pm
I am happy for Kashmir, The right choice and the most deserving bank, I hope they fulfil the gap and stick up with their original style and produce some great work ahead.
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Zebun Bibi Sep 18, 2017 04:50pm
Congratulations to Kashmir and Badnaam, both are outstanding in their own ways, enjoyed every performance of theirs, will wait impatiently to hear from them in the future,
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itrat khaliq Sep 18, 2017 09:21pm
Both bands were really amazing. I believe that since Kashmir's music has attracted a large pool audience due to its uniqueness, originality and easy to listen as compared to bandnaam's music which is a fusion of hard rock and Sufism.
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