Gohar Mumtaz of Jal speaks out on new album. The News International Instep Today.

SOUNDBYTES

"Our new album Boondh is

complete and is all set to release right after Ramazan."

--Gohar Mumtaz of Jal speaks out on new album and Atif Aslam's Doorie

Aqsa Hussain

Karachi

For three years, Jal has been working on a new album. But in the last few months, Jal completely moved out of the limelight. Meanwhile their nemesis Atif delivered a chart-topping album Doorie and even walked away with a Lux Style Award for Best Music Album. But Jal are unfazed by his popularity. In this candid chat with Instep Today, Gohar Mumtaz reveals more on their upcoming video, album and more…

Instep Today: Where have you guys been? There have been no Jal concerts, videos...

Gohar Mumtaz: Actually we've been working on our new album. It is called Boondh. It's been three years since the release of Aadat, so we don't want our fans to wait for too long anymore. We have been working on Boondh rigorously to produce good quality music. That's the reason why we haven't been doing any concerts for the last five months. Thankfully our album is complete and is all set to release right after Ramazan. We are planning to release it in Pakistan and from India it will be internatonally released. Our first video off the new album will be called 'Sajni' and it has been directed by Bilal Lashari. It is currently in post production process but it should be out soon. We released the ballad 'Payal' on the internet, which was widely appreciated.



Instep Today: How is Boondh going to challenge all the hype that Atif Aslam's Doorie has created?

Gohar Mumtaz: Doorie totally sounds like an Indian album. Our music is band style music which is definitely different from Doorie and unique as well. In simple terms, we can't compare our album to Doorie. You can't compare Indian-ised remixes with our music. As far as handling the hype that Doorie has created, I guess I'll leave it to our fans. They'll decide.

We have kept our fans waiting for three years so yes, we definitely have something new planned out for them. If we had come with the same type of music, it wouldn't have been worth the wait.



Instep Today: People still compare Atif and Farhan. Who is the best singer?

Gohar Mumtaz: We can't compare voices of these two singers. Both are different in their own special ways. Farhan can't sing like Atif and vice versa. Even I can't sing like Atif (laughs). In our new album, people will get to listen to more mature and more improved vocals from Farhan, and I must say the way he has sung 'Payal' is fantastic. The voice came directly from his heart.



Instep Today: The one criticism that has always come your way is that Jal's music gets monotonous. Your take on it?

Gohar Mumtaz: Actually this is our style. In our last album we had songs like 'Aadat', 'Woh Lamhey', 'Teri Yaad', 'Bikhra Hoon Main' and 'Dil Haarey'. All were sad songs with slow music and compositions. I guess some people got bored listening to it. But if we'd changed it and made all those tracks faster, it would've been totally freakish! In this album, we'll be carrying our same image, that is sober but with a difference and at the same time, the music will be a bit faster this time around. The variation which fans are looking will probably be seen and heard in this album. In fact we have two very ajeeb songs in this album!



Instep Today: Will Jal be making videos in India like Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar and Haroon?

Gohar Mumtaz: I guess there isn't any harm in going to India and getting videos made there, provided they are good, but personally I think the video quality in Pakistan is very good. We do have some plans but let's not disclose them just yet. Let it remain a surprise. We will be touring India soon and other performers will include Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. This will be after Ramzan and by then our album will be out here.



Instep Today: Any message for your fans?

Gohar Mumtaz: I would just like to say that we are really sorry for making you wait for such a long time. We didn't want you to wait for so long but I promise it is worth the wait. You'll get to listen to more good quality music from Jal, which will really prove something. Inshallah.