Mag4you.com looks into the band that is Josh. They are out with a funky new video and a new album that is already making way for itself in Pakistan and India...

Josh's latest single 'Mahi Ve' has been playing all over music channels for the past few months and it's a hit. The reason is simple: 'Mahi Ve' is melodic; it's neither hardcore Punjabi bhangra nor your average feel-good pop track. It is lyrically almost Sufic while being extremely cosmopolitan in form. Josh is the same band that branched out to Pakistan in 2004 with their second album – Kabhi – (first in Pakistan) and immediately built a connection with listeners. These guys are not just known for their music but also their funky collaborations that range from UK-based Rishi Rich to Sukhbir to Grammy-award winning Nelly Furtado. And now they're back with a brand new album, Mausam...

Josh is...
Q and Rup – short for Qurram Hussain and Rupinder Magon – two chilled out musicians, hailing from Canada who call themselves a "desi" band. At 9 in the morning, they are perfectly dressed and ready to take on the media. In a blue tee and denims and silver chains dangling down his neck, Q is a musician to the max. He walks, talks and lives the life. Born in Muscat, Q moved to Karachi and did his entire high schooling here and later moved to Canada. On the other hand is Rup, the man who initiated Josh in the 2000s. Sikh Indian by birth, Rup was born and bred in Canada. He is the mature side of Josh. If Q is playful and funny, Rup is a little more grounded

but his sense of humour can easily match Q as both of them throw in witty punches in between questions. As these two musicians chat about the differences between music scenes all across the globe, one thing that comes out is their level of optimism about the music scene in Pakistan.

If one were to differentiate between the two, it would be a daunting task. They think alike, say the same things and just have a lot in common with, even though they both hail from very distinct backgrounds. "You're not a morning person," says Rup laughingly (to me) when asked how he managed to look so charged up at so early in the morning. Perhaps the only difference really is how they've managed to amalgamate two sensibilities of music and have created a style to call their own. When talking, Q is the one who makes most of the movement, he looks around, and speaks animatedly. Rup doesn't move around too much, he lets his eyes do all the talking. He looks straight at you and speaks directly and openly.

The beginning
Josh began when Rup and his brother Rik decided to form a band. "We did covers of all kinds of songs back then," remembers Rup. In Canada, if you're good, word gets around. Soon, Q was brought in on percussions and as a back-up singer. In 2001, Josh officially came into being as they launched their debut album, Main Hoon Tanha in India. "We were young and we thought that releasing it in India would mean world wide distribution," reminisces Q to which Rup adds, "We actually had no body here and we had no idea how to go about this." Even though, Main Hoon Tanha was never formally released in Pakistan, it found an opening here through the internet. 2001 was the year when there was no Atif or Jal or Ali Zafar. There was no new band making a wave. Not enough local stuff was being out on the internet unlike today. Consequently, Josh developed a following of its own. This helped the band realize the market in Pakistan and how it could be tapped into.

Then came 2004 – the year of Josh. They launched their second album, Kabhi and this time managed to release it outside of India too. Josh teamed up with Sukhbir for 'Ban Farkey' which became a favourite at local parties as well shaadis. Talk about diversifying...

Of course, it was the collaboration with Grammy-award winning Nelly Furtado that made even goras take notice of this mutli-cultured band of desis. "Nelly Furtado is also based in Canada. We approached them but back then, her album was already finished. They gave us a shot and asked us to remix 'Powerless'. We're not Djs, we don't
know how to remix," exclaims Rup and continues, "We changed the melody, added words and made it a whole new track," he says mischievously. The risk Josh took with 'Powerless' paid off. Nelly liked what they did and now the song is not just on her album but has been made into a video too. This team-up led to another remix as Josh have mixed 'Promiscuous Girl' for Nelly Furtado's new album, Loose.

Local scene
In our part of the world, musicians tend to take less risks because the market is not receptive to new sounds. But as music is going global, local artists have started experimenting a little bit more. Some do it in form of music structure that is fusion; others do it out and about like Rushk (Sawal), some mix things around EP (Urdu meets rap) and these are just few examples. Josh realizes this better than any band. This realization comes from working under an environment that is on an international level. Working in Canada and making it as a band in their live circuit is just not easy and if you're singing in a language that is not English, it is more difficult. "Being in a desi band, you create an identity if you're good. Josh had already developed a reputation when I came in, even though they were doing covers," insists Q.

To Josh, it is not about globalisation at all. "With Pakistan opening up to new media, different sound is now being accepted. But at the end of the day, we released 'Kabhi' as our first official track in Pakistan. It was not a dance number. It's good that upbeat tracks have also found a market but in the end, it is about melody and knowing how to create your own style. We took our time and it worked," says Rup thoughtfully.

The kind of energy that Josh puts in their songs, Pakistan would love to see them live. Last time around, these guys couldn't perform much but this time, they have plans to perform in Karachi. "We would love to perform here but if were to do a full-fledged show, we would need to bring 14-15 people! Even at a minimum, we would want 5-6 people. Promoters and organizers usually are not willing to fly out so many people. It's not Karachi to Lahore but Canada to America or Canada

to Pakistan," opines Rup. Realising the importance of live music, Josh has planned out a scheme. The solution to this is as Q puts it, "What we're doing now is trying to setup different musicians within different territories. So when we need to go and do a show anywhere, we will have a local setup. We don't want to play the record out the same way. But we pick the most versatile instruments out and use them in our shows. With musicians set up everywhere, it'll be easier to perform more."

Josh has been a part of some of our locally held music award shows and has performed on DAT. For a band that has always done live music, this would be a shock but Josh sees the larger picture. "We prefer to do it live," says Q and Rup adds, "A lot of these shows here lack proper sound feed. As a result, when you go live on a show and it is aired on television, it sounds much more worse than it really was," reasons Rup and continues, "Now you have a choice; you either go live for people on the ground and look like crap for millions of viewers or you do it on DAT and manage to look acceptable on television."

Now what?
After releasing the album here, Josh has simultaneously released Mausam in almost all parts of the globe including India, the Middle East, Canada and the US.

Despite not having a setup to work with (in Jinnah's land), they're both happy just being here. It is musicians like these who give hope to others. Unlike many who consider India their big and final stop, Q and Rup are of the view that a good song can make it anywhere in the world. They don't compare listeners. To them, each territory has its own identity but there approach has always been, do what you do best and leave the rest to the forces that be. It is a simple way to think and perhaps the only way to keep that success from not getting to your head. Whether Josh manages to grip the nation with their live act remains to be seen, but we sincerely hope that they are at least given a chance to do so...