Zeest

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The Zeest
Skip (Saqib Abdullah)
Skip (Saqib Abdullah)
Background information
Birth name Saqib Abdullah
Also known as Skip
Born January 15, 1984 (1984-01-15) (age 24)
Origin Flag of Pakistan Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Genre(s) Country Rock, Blues rock,Rock
Occupation(s) singer, songwriter, composer, owner of The Zeest Project
Instrument(s) Guitar,Bass Guitar
Years active 2003-present
Label(s) Independent music
Associated acts The Zeest
Website www.zeestmania.com

Saqib Abdullah, a.k.a Skip (born on January 15, 1984 in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, composer and owner of the Zeest (a social music project[1]). He is famous for writing and composing the song B.C. Sutta, a cult hit song in Indian bachelor colleges and campuses but is also the most requested songs in clubs and pubs.[2] Zeest is a persian word meaning life, existence, and synonymously it can be used as Hope, faith, light etc.

Contents

[edit] Background, biography and career

Saqib Abdullah (Skip) was born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia in 1984. He is the 3rd and youngest amongst his siblings. Skip attended a Pakistani school in Saudi Arabia. He gives credit to his older brothers, for helping him develop a great taste in music. Skip listens to Blues, Jazz, Country, R&B, Soul and Rock n Roll.[3]

Skip moved to Pakistan in 1996 with his family, and worked on his studies. He lost two guitars previously, since his parents smashed them both. However, he did not lose hope and bought a third guitar. Hiding it wasn’t easy but he still managed to do it somehow. Skip devoted in life to music. As a result, he was bunking classes, which led him to trouble. He finally gave up studies and took music as a full time career.[4]

Skip went through a lot after creating Zeest (as a band). A lot of musicians did not understand the core concept behind his music and me were just too busy with their personal lives.At present Umair Ghouri a new musician recruited to the Zeest (Band) to complete a Duo.[5]

His motive is to be a social worker and to sing for the lives of average people living in Indo-Pak, especially the younger generation, and highlighting their social problems through his musical abilities.[6]

His major breakthrough came in early April 2005, when he recorded live jam session of his song B.C. Sutta, his 4-5 year old composition, in a studio, in Karachi, and released it through the Internet for free mp3 downloading. Within no time, his single became a popular hit amongst Desis living not only in Pakistan and India, but also throughout the world. B.C. Sutta became one of the most downloaded songs in India. Clubs, pubs and rock festivals in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai seem incomplete without playing this number. [2]

At present, Skip is struggling hard for his album to be released in mainstream.

[edit] B.C. Sutta

B.C. Sutta or Bhenchod sutta (fucker Fag/smoke), also known as a Smoker’s Anthem, is a pop rock oriented acoustic song It is the first super hit Urdu song that includes swears and slang words, like Bhenchod and Maachod (literal translation: sister fucker, mother fucker). The mastermind behind the entire song is Skip (Saqib) who wrote the catchy lyrics and transformed them into a song.

B.C. Sutta is all about the journey in an average guy’s life, starting from his mid teens when his dad catches him smoking with his friends. Later on, when he joins college and has a girlfriend, she asks him to quit smoking. Frustrated, he roams the streets before getting married, but there too, he misses his cigarette. Sutta actually means cigarette in Urdu slang[7]

Doston mein baitha main sutta pee raha (With friends, I was sitting and having a smoke)

Abba ne mujhe sutta peete dekh liya (Dad saw me while I was smoking…)

Ghar jab pahuncha to danda ho gaya… (When I reached home I got a pasting)

BC sutta, sutta na mila! (sister fucker Smoke, I didn’t get a smoke!)

At a literal level, it does glorify the forbidden pleasure of smoking. But substitute sutta with anything else you have been denied in life and it works equally well![8]

[edit] Recording and launching of B.C. Sutta

Skip was invited for a live jam session in Zeeshan Hayat’s Feedback studio (formerly known as DRB Studios) in the early days of April 2005. At the end of the session, he was encouraged to record his satirical song, “B.C. Sutta”, live. Skip had previously played the song only at parties and informal gatherings among friends. After some rehearsals and a few takes, the song was recorded live. Zeeshan edited the song while Skip launched it on the Internet so people could download it for free.[3]

Web administrator blocked & closed the downloadable link of the track due to heavy server traffic of above 7600 downloads within initial 21 days of upload of the mp3 song.[3] Within a month, the song crossed borders and entered the Indian Territory. It spread like wild fire. As a result, today, bootlegged CDs are being distributed all over Delhi.[3][2]

[edit] The Legend

Skip, 6 May 2007
Skip, 6 May 2007

Mid-day afternoon daily, a Mumbai-based newspaper conducted an interview titled "No Sutta Without Fire" on 15 January 2006.[9] Skip claims:

B C Sutta has brought about a revolution among the younger generation. The West is very open; they show whatever they do in their social and street life, they use bad words in their movies, novels, songs etc. But we Indo-Pakis are too afraid to portray our real culture and ourselves in front of the world. Well bad words are part of every society. The F-word can be found in the new Oxford Dictionary and even swear words like BC and MC are seen in books like Ferozson’s Urdu dictionary. These words are an important part of our language and literature. If we don’t use them, who will?[9]
I created this satirical, comical, slang song just for fun, but I always wanted to compose a song that could reflect my life story and that of other optimistic losers too. The song is so popular only because every average “tapori bachcha” can relate to it.[9]

In an interview with Dance With Shadows, an online Indian magazine:

Well at a certain level I did expect it, because prior to the recording wherever I played it, people irrespective of what age they belong to, always appreciated it and it also became a requested song among my friends. I always knew that people are going to love and appreciate it but I never thought millions of people all across the globe are going to relate to this song. I had written this song to represent my own life story and initially I thought it is just about the life of an average tapori boy. But, later I discovered that I was wrong because people irrespective of their gender and age could easily relate to it.[6]
Basically the philosophy of this song for us is not only the love of sutta (a smoke) but also a song dedicated to all the aims that haven’t been fulfilled and all the things in the world that have gone against our will.[9]
Well I would say that the purpose of the song is not to point out swear words used in the song at all. But I used it to show our anxiety, depression just like the way it is used in a daily street life where nobody damn cares what they have said and heard. If we are ashamed of not to listen to it in the song than we should abandon them from our daily lives and write off from popular dictionaries and literature. By the way, if we don’t use these swear words in our songs. Who’s going to?[3]
Well the swear words are just a flavor to the song. If you notice, the actual motive of the song is not to mention swear words like BC or MC or any other explicit words. I mentioned the sutta/fag just to convey that sometimes in your life you feel so bad that even your little ambitions, dreams and objectives are not fulfilled, and you have to struggle so bad for everything…[6]

A series of articles were published critically acclaiming the song in southeast-Asia’s media. Some critics, especially Rashmi Bansal the founder-editor of youth magazine JAM claim that it might be the turning point in South Asian media.[8][10] Within no time,B.C. Sutta became one of the most discussed songs in forums and web logs.[11][12][13]

[edit] Censorship in India

Skip was interviewed by India’s leading newspaper Hindustan Times, but instead of publishing the whole interview it was only published as a small column titled as "Songs Mom Won’t Listen To."[2] Later the STAR News Delhi conducted a telephonic interview of Skip, and Skip provided them a video clip for the live jam session of performing B.C. Sutta, both of them were planned to be telecasted on 30 minute show, but they were censored.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Skip With The Project Zeest. The Zeest blog (2006-08-08). Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  2. ^ a b c d Tewari, Mayank. "Songs Mom Won’t Listen To", Hindustan Times, 2006-04-01. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  3. ^ a b c d e "Reviews: Zeest The Band", 2006-05-29. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  4. ^ The Story of Skip (Saqib Abdullah); The Sutta Guy. Zeest Official Blog (2006-06-10). Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  5. ^ The Zeest Team. The Zeest Blog (2007-05-10). Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
  6. ^ a b c "My parents still don’t know about the song (BC Sutta)", Dance with Shadows. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  7. ^ "Sutta mil gaya", 2006-01-17. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  8. ^ a b Bansal, Rashmi. "Desi Bands to ‘swear’ by", Sify, 2006-01-27. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  9. ^ a b c d Samant, Janhavi. "No sutta without fire", Mid-day, 2006-01-15. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  10. ^ Swear word mil gaya. Youth Curry. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  11. ^ Sutta na mila. Sunil Mohan Ranta's blog (2005-07-13). Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  12. ^ Lyrics of B.C. Sottah by Zeest. 2 Minute Pleasures (2005-09-17). Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
  13. ^ Zeest the band. 2 Minute Pleasures (2005-10-03). Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  14. ^ Zeest Facing Barriers from Moral Police in India. The Zeest blog (2006-06-10). Retrieved on 2006-08-09.

[edit] External links