Noori’s new song is the perfect antidote for your impending Pak vs India match rage

Whenever there’s a Pakistan-India match, one thing's a given: there will be (bad) blood. Today, we have two such matches on the ICC World Twenty20 schedule, as both the men's and women's Pakistani cricket teams will face India on the field.

Also read: Love not war as India, Pakistan resume rivalry

So, it goes without saying that we could use some feel-good vibes. Thankfully, Noori obliged with their latest track 'Yaariyan', a product of their collaboration with Indian folk-electronica duo Hari and Sukhmani. The song, which carries forward the message of peace, may as well become the unofficial anthem for today's matches.

A blueprint for 'getting along'

The Noori duo, Ali Noor and Ali Hamza, recorded the song two years ago and released the track last week with a video that aired on MTV Indies.

They also performed the track with Hari and Sukhmani in Gurgaon last week at a live show called ‘Nations for Peace’, where bands from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also performed.

The production of the song serves as evidence of a fruitful Pak-India cultural exchange: The Noori brothers first interacted with Sukhmani Malik and Hari Singh in 2012 when they opened for Noori at a concert in Dallas, Ali Noor told Images. Noori liked their sound and decided to eventually work with them on a song.

While Noori travelled to India to work on the song's lyrics and melody, Sukhmani and Hari also visited Lahore.

“We were sitting together and these lyrics came naturally to us,” said Noor. “We don’t think about what our songs should be, we write what comes naturally to us.” He added that the duos liked what each had to offer musically and got along – in essence, that is simply what the process of writing this song was like. “We just had a lot of fun, music really has no boundaries – this might be taken as a cliché – but we have actually experienced this, Noor added.

The music video was shot in 2014 by director Mandana Zaidi, Ali Noor’s wife who has many Noori videos under her belt. However, releasing the song in India required different paperwork and due to minor errors and busy schedules they were unable to release the song when it was completed a year ago.

“We are similar people culturally and everyone was happy while we worked on this song, it was genuine…mast log hain, bohat shugal laga tha”.

The song seems to be pressed out of the characteristic Noori-formula-song mold with that similar build up and chord progression, and if you’ve been whining about how Noori has changed their style, this song is for you.

Thankfully, there was room for some experimentation and the song includes some Eastern classical elements and vocals by Hari and Sukhmani provide a little breath of fresh air.

Coming back to cricket, as the title suggests, 'Yaariyan' is about friendship and while it’s no ‘Jazba-e-Junoon’ it could serve the purpose of a happy, catchy tune during cricket matches. The chorus will have you sing along, which could be great stress reliever, especially when you're about to pop a vein in your forehead.

Celebrate some Yaariyan with your Indian friends on social media because isn’t that was cricket was meant to be about?