The History of Coke Studio
Coke Studio Pakistan returns for a fifteenth season this weekend. This release comes more than 2 years after the end of the last Coke Studio, making this the longest gap between successive seasons of Coke Studio since the program began in 2008.
In a recent discussion between friend of the show Ali Raj and music journalist Rafay Mahmood, Ali Raj kindly mentioned my previous writing on Coke Studio. Since I’ve been asked about these, I’m linking to a few essays from various points in the last decade or so1:
On the construction of Coke Studio, and how the change of season 6 was important
The controversy around covers, and thoughts on Coke Studio 11
A few more writeups on post-Covid Coke Studio songs appear on this publication (each word links to a separate post). And there is also a diagram to help you understand all the branded music shows in the country.
I’ve spent a lot of time writing about this show 😵💫
Even though Coca Cola has always been problematic, now with an ongoing genocide and coca cola’s role being spoken about, it’s important that the context in which Coke Studio functions be spoken about.
It’s a very problematic sponsor (pre and post the genocide) and us Pakistanis need to stop looking at just what this show has done for our music industry and instead place ourselves in the bigger context of humanity and why we keep ignoring the unethicality of this brand.