KARACHI-Episode 2 of Pepsi’s Battle of the Bands started off with the stunning host Ayesha Omer recapping for us, the first episode.

The second auditions episode featured 21 bands all hailing from different genres:

Ehl-e-Rock - The group described their band name as more of an ideology supporting hard-rock music. They performed their first ever Urdu song ‘Junoon’. Farooq commented that the entire band was a ‘powerhouse’ and Fawad particularly loved the bass.

Khamaaj – A 9 membered band that brought an original ‘Bezubaan’ to the table. Meesha found the lyrics beautiful and Fawad was blown away by the structure of the song.

Nafs - Three piece band Nafs performed ‘Main Shah’ by ManjhiFaqeer, a truly enjoyable experience as the judges swayed to their melodious music.

Badnaam – Sufi rock band Badnaam derived their unique and bold band name from a famous saying by Bulleh Shah. They believe they are absolutely unapologetic when it comes to rock music and they certainly delivered the same with their original ‘Alif Allah’

E-Sharp – Looking to make their mark with some serious music, E-Sharp performed an original track ‘Chaahysausaal’ which Meesha referred to as a ‘successful melody’. Yoon – Swat folk band ‘Yoon’ played a unique combination of rubab and tabla alongside vocals and guitar for their performance on ‘Chaap Tilak by Amir Khusro’

Darvesh – One of the biggest bands to audition, Darvesh had 10 members, including 4 vocalists. For them ‘Darvesh’ means to be submerged in the love for music. Their original ‘Sawali’ in the ‘Qawwali Rock’ genre was well received by the judges. After the performances, the judges faced their biggest challenge yet; which was to shortlist the top bands. After careful deliberation the judges unanimously decided to alter the initial format of the show. And ended up shortlisting 8 bands out of the 6 that they were due to decide upon, all because of the immense competition and talent they saw during the auditions.

The top 8 included Badnaam, Roots, Kashmir, Madlock, Aura, Jasim and the Pindi Boys, Shajr and Darvesh. The band ‘Positive’ stood out with their exceptional vocals but unfortunately failed to meet the selection criteria and had to be disqualified.

While the decision was a tough one, the judges successfully reached their verdict and are now anticipating the upcoming episode, with expectations of fresh sounds to be produced by the new pool of Pakistani talent.

The highlight of the episode concluded with the legendary rockstar Farooq, the voice of Aaroh performing their famous song ‘Raag Neela’