Strings

Strings are a Pakistani pop and soft rock group from Pakistan, active since 1988. The group centres on Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia, and is associated with Pakistani pop and soft rock. It is also linked with Magnasound.

Career

The band begins as a college-based project in 1990, when four students form a group and release a self-titled album, Strings. A second album, Strings 2, follows in 1992, after which the group breaks up. Eight years later, Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia reform Strings and return with Duur, followed by Dhaani. Both albums become successful, and their title tracks attract particular attention, especially in India.

Strings also gains wider recognition through work outside its own albums. In 2005 the group wins MTV Asia’s Best Artist award and performs “Zinda Hoon” for the Indian film Zinda. Its song “Na Jane Kyon” is included on the soundtrack of Spider-Man 2, and it also contributes “Aakhri Alvida” to the Bollywood film Shootout at Lokhandwala.

In 2008 the band releases Koi Aanay Waala Hai through 2 Republic Music Group internationally. In 2018 it issues Thirty, described as the fourth album since the comeback period, with eight singles including “Naina”, featuring Sona Mohapatra.

Style and significance

Strings are part of the new wave of Pakistani pop that develops in the post-Nazia and Zoheb period, alongside the rise of music videos in Pakistan’s local media. Their work combines pop and soft rock with jangly, synthesised production on their later recordings, while their earlier years place them among the prominent post-1980s pop acts in the country.