[ STRINGS ARTICLE - MTV ASIA AWARDS ]

Lahore : The fiery combination of Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia, who are better known as Karachi-based band ‘Strings’, have set the Pakistani pop music scene ablaze on fire since the band’s nomination in the most favourite band award category at the 2005 MTV Asia Awards.

The awards will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 3. Kapadia told Daily Times on Tuesday that the band had just finished their first leg of the Indian tour, in which they performed at Banglore, Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta. “The second leg will start on January 15 and we will perform in Pune, Lucknow, Dhanbad, Kharagpur, Mumbai and Banglore,” he said.

Talking about String’s other achievements and recent performances, the Asian rock idol said that the band had performed live at the IMMIES music awards in Mumbai. In December, Strings performed in ‘Society Young Achievers Award’, where the crowd went berserk when they sang ‘Chaayae Chaayae’ and ‘Dhaani’. Indian sex symbols Bipasha Basu, Amrita Arora, and other Bollywood stars also performed to the tunes of Strings on stage.

Kapadia said that Strings were no stranger to collaborations; their new album contained 10 tracks, including ‘Bolo Bolo’ with Hari Haran and ‘Pal’ with pop singer Sagarika. They recently partnered Indian rock band Euphoria on ‘Jeet Lo Dil’, a song that celebrates Indian cricket and emerging friendly ties between India and Pakistan. But the band was best remembered for their trademark soaring guitar riffs on hits with ‘Anjane’ and ‘Duur’.

Dhaani was the seventh and latest number from Strings and is greatly influenced by Indian classical music, Bollywood hits and western rhythms.