Concept and development In March 2018,
Coca-Cola Pakistan announced
Ali Hamza and
Zohaib Kazi would helm
eleventh season of
Coke Studio as a producers and directors, after
Bilal Maqsood and
Faisal Kapadia of
Strings left the show to continue their own music. Speaking of their collaboration Zohaib said, "we met on a bench in a park; it was
Alhamra Park bench in Lahore. That's how it began. And when you know what the end will be, things become easy. And things fall into place." The pair met in August 2017 and after two months they outlined the structure for the show, in an interview with
Arab News Hamza said, "we sat down to talk very specifically about this opportunity and it was amazing! In a matter of 10 to 15 minutes we were so triggered, so driven-I truly felt I had known Zohaib for a long time." Detailing further he said, "a common theme in a lot of our conversations was that Pakistan and Pakistanis are going through a bit of an identity crisis; one of the primary discussions we had was, 'what do we do after ten years?' We had to innovate. It was very important for us to recognize and acknowledge the countercultures that exist around us; these are the people who give our identity depth.
Coke Studio has the reach to allow us to get to know these cultures more intimately and to amplify their colors." On explaining the creation behind
Coke Studio Explorer Zohaib said, "we felt that CS had to spread its wings and throw a larger net across the country, to not just attract the urban pool, but the rural pool as well. At the end of the day, the regions and its people collectively make Pakistan. It was important for us to explore this vision in depth." Adding to the new format of the show Hamza said, "we've learned a lot from both the producer's (
Rohail Hyatt, Strings) tenures. Both had their positives, but by the end, we know there's always going to be margin for more. We didn't look at it as individuals, but across 10 years of CS rather than the journey of Rohail Hayat or Strings. We were very clear that we weren't going to put our journeys into it either, but focus objectively on the platform after this decade." He further stated that "
Coke Studio Explorer has been created as a natural and progressive chapter to the continuing legacy of
Coke Studio. In an interview duo said, "we established the criteria for selection before embarking on our search for musicians. The musicians had to be relatively unknown. They had to represent a unique aspect of the culture, history and spirit of Pakistan. And, they had to be talented. The selections were made in the field-in a natural, freewheeling and largely unrestrained manner – using the criteria that had been established in the beginning." According to Kazi search for such artists was "both extensive and expansive" and together they covered four provinces of Pakistan bringing five artists to the platform. In
Bumburet Valley of
Kalash the duo collaborated with Ariana (Farsi Gul) and Amrina, explaining about their collaboration Kazi said, "it's not every day that you come across two girls whose vocals scale as high as the cultural peaks of the Kalash Valleys. Ariana and Amrina are true personification of this traditional musical journey. They may be 4,000 but there chants make them sound like Four Hundred Thousand!". in Deewan Lal Chand village of
Sindh, the brother-sister Vishnu and Shamu Bai famous for their
bhajans were made part of, while in
Sohbatpur District,
throat-singers Mangal, Darehan and Shayan (now Bloach Throat singers) known for their singing technique "Naur-Sur" made their debuts, and from
Muzaffarabad,
Azad Kashmir a band of four musicians titled, Qasamir led by Altaf Mir with Ghulam Mohammad Daar, Manzoor Ahmed Khan, Saifuddin Shah performed. The duo wanted to record the song in the mountains of Muzaffarabad but because of the rain they had to shoot indoors and then they recorded the video outside later. They couldn't wait for the rain as both
Explorer and season eleven were shot
back-to-back at
Coke Studio production house in Karachi. The fifth and final artist Mishal Khawaja a Pakistani born-Canadian singer was discovered through her Instagram
covers by Kazi. The duso said, "we are big fans of original song writing, when we found her we didn't want to give her someone else's song and we didn't want to compose for her because then it'd become our expression. We wanted thi to remain about the artist, we wanted this to be about her." ==Reception==