SLOUGH, ENGLAND:
Do you love grunge rock consisting of a soul-searching meaning that will move you to tears? Are you the proud owner of a playlist comprising complex harrowing tracks with poetry evoking Ghalib (or Wordsworth)? And finally, to prove your commitment to trauma-laden grunge, do you openly detest music that spreads joy?
Then O Shabana by E Sharp is definitely not the song for you. Goodbye.
The rest of you happy folk who don’t shy away from a dose of upbeat bluesy sunshine in your playlist – welcome aboard. This little ode to O Shabana – which itself is an ode to the eponymous bewitching but oblivious Shabana – is five years past its sell-by date, but in a trainwreck economy that leads to cardiac arrest on a simple grocery expedition, we are firmly in a ‘use what you have’ climate – and what better way to dust off our belongings than by taking a stroll through the not-so-distant past to see what gems we may have forgotten?
How Shabana reels you in
Written by the Karachi band E Sharp, O Shabana had its first outing before fans on Episode 2 of the fourth season of Battle of the Bands in 2019. With Ahmed Zawar on vocals, Anwaar Ahmed on lead guitar, Qamber Kazmi on drums, Asher Minhas on the keyboard and Rajil Anthony on the bass guitar, E Sharp pulled together a tight-knit performance that still lingers.
For a country where the twin forces of culture and the education sector consider music to be the equivalent of a snot rag, the amount of talent that crops up in televised band competitions is gratifying to see, and the rather mystifyingly named E Sharp are a dazzling example. (Mystifying because there is no such note as E sharp – which is actually an F – and if these young lads didn’t already know it, they must by now be sick of hearing it from the zillion or so musicians who have felt the need to educate them.)
Mystifying band name aside, my personal love affair with their song began within the syncopated opening seconds. The love affair has been burning strong ever since. O Shabana hooks you in with the repetitive bass and the bluesy guitar opening and doesn’t let go until the final bar. With the twist of an accidental chord sneaking into the intro, you know you’re in for a fun ride. The bass and rock beat lay the foundations for a fun upbeat song that tells the not-uncommon tale of a hapless hero convinced of his undying love for a woman. Our romantic protagonist knows nothing about Shabana other than the daily glimpses he catches of her through his window, but he needs no further encouragement on the journey to undying love. Shabana has captured our hero’s heart forever even as she remains blissfully unaware of his existence.
Radiating timeless rock-n-roll vibes, O Shabana has everything the perfect upbeat track needs: real instruments (goodbye, soulless synthesised pop), zippy lines to raise a smile, a chorus you can memorise in seconds and a whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oah you can fall back in if the memorising the chorus proves too troubling. The lead vocals may thin out in the higher register, but we are too invested in the journey to care. Steeped in the innocence of unrequited youthful love, a sliding bluesy bridge section guaranteed to get you swaying carries you seamlessly to the conclusion – where the Shabana status quo is the same as what it was at the beginning. Our hero may make zero progress in the quest to winning Shabana’s heart – but thanks to simple harmonies with his bandmates and the medium of interlocking guitars, driving bass and clockwork percussion, E Sharp successfully ensnare the hearts of every listener they nab along the way.
The timeless appeal of a simple song
A casual scroll through YouTube comments shows me I am not alone. “It really breaks my heart to see such an epitome of art go unappreciated,” writes one devoted viewer. “The best ever band in Battle of the Bands. The best ever song! This is the funk anthem of the universe,” adds another, in case you were wondering whether my little love letter to Shabana is over the top.
But what, exactly, is it about a simple song like O Shabana that has cast such an infectious spell over whoever hears it? I think the answer lies in the name itself. Songs with names in the title – Sweet Caroline, Jolene, Laila, Billo De Ghar – have a way of burrowing deeper into the hearts of fans than others. And songs that throw in a little easy-to-remember ‘whoa-oah-oh’? All the better when you want to stick in people’s heads. After all, The Beatles may have never reached planet stardom had Paul McCartney paid heed to his father’s feedback on their 1963 hit She Loves You – of which the most famous part is ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’. As Paul told James Corden on Carpool Karaoke, the elder Mr McCartney felt such a scandalous Americanism was uncalled for and helpfully suggested ‘yes yes yes’ as an alternative, which his son politely ignored. Had Paul paid heed to his father, The Beatles may have never become what they did, and perhaps no one would have felt the need to gun down poor John Lennon. Lesson learned: a simple mindless refrain can alter the course of history.
With E sharp coming in third during the Battle of the Bands, history may not have been altered in exactly the way they would have liked. But to us, O Shabana is a winner. And winners or not, E Sharp achieved the impossible: they made the name Shabana cool.
Rare Gems is a series that revisits forgotten treasures in the world of entertainment.
