Nescafe Basement: Some like it hot
BY ALI NAQVI –
The summer season is on. The air conditioners are running. The sunlight is getting hotter and hotter every day. In the rising temperatures one instinctively looks for a chilled beverage. But what would you call someone who likes it hot. Yes, you may call them Nescafe lovers. No matter how higher the mercury goes there are people who cannot live without a hot cup of coffee or tea. Sometimes the irresistible taste and aroma of coffee can make you fall for it.
When it comes to the best coffee brands in Pakistan, Nescafe is the one that comes to the top. It is one of the flagship brands of Nestlé. The brand was first introduced in Switzerland in 1938. Since then with the growth of Nestle as a company Nescafe also reached all parts of the globe. Nestle claims that the coffee stimulates the mind and awakens the soul. It certainly does awaken the soul with its soul stirring, indulging and intense Nescafe Basement music.
The word Nescafe is a combination of “Nestle” and “café”. This unique sounding word has been providing us with some of the best sounding melodies. Nescafe Basement is doing a fabulous job for music in Pakistan along with Pepsi and Coke. Nescafe Basement consists of live studio-recorded performances by underground artists. Produced by Xulfi the music standards of the series have always been good to say the least. The first track released by Nescafé Basement was an instant hit. It was a cover of famous Sajjad Ali song “Larri Adda”.
If Pepsi Battle of the Bands and Coke Studio have done enough to promote young musicians in the country, Nescafe Basement is not far behind. What Nestle lacks is a marketing strategy to push the project to greater heights. The brand communication of both Coke and Pepsi is essentially woven around music and that’s what Nescafe have not tried yet. It has kept the music apart from its brand communication. The recent campaign “Jaagna toh parega” featuring Mahira Khan and Ushna Shah has nothing to do with music. The campaign is based on the idea that coffee keeps you awake and active.
Basement has produced some great songs since inception. The cover of Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi’s “Kameez Teri Kali” was outstanding. But the recent rendition of Haroon’s “Mehbooba” by Ali Asghar, Ali Tariq, Hamza Tanveer and Sinan Salman is simply out of this world. The harmony of drums, violins, guitars, saxophones, bass and rubab is divine and you end up listening it again and again and again.
If you are a follower of Nescafe Basement you will know what it has done to bring to the fore one of the most talented young singers and musicians from our younger generation. The music industry of Pakistan still needs the efforts of big brands like Nescafe to promote music in Pakistan.
