The Story Behind Shikwa/Jawab-e-Shikwa
Coke Studio Pakistan opened Season 11 in 2018 with Shikwa/Jawab-e-Shikwa, pairing Natasha Baig with qawwali vocalists Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad. Producers Zohaib Kazi and Ali Hamza shaped a thirteen-minute conversation between protest and reply, drawing on verses by Allama Iqbal, Amjad Hyderabadi, and Omar Khayyam in a composition credited to Munshi Razi Uddin. Baig begins Shikwa against a taut pop-rock backdrop, her forceful lead carrying the speaker's complaint. The arrangement then turns toward harmonium-led qawwali as Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad take up Jawab-e-Shikwa. That structural handoff is the performance's defining idea: two vocal traditions and two emotional positions meet inside one continuous arc. Released in Episode 1, the track gave the season an ambitious opening rooted in classical poetry but framed with an electric, contemporary band sound.
Meaning & Translation
Shikwa means "complaint," while Jawab-e-Shikwa means "the answer to the complaint." The paired poems stage a spiritual argument: the Muslim community asks God why past devotion and sacrifice seem to have brought decline, then a divine response turns the question back on the complainants. In this rendition, Natasha Baig carries the aggrieved appeal before Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawwal shift the perspective toward counsel. The answer acknowledges the complaint but challenges believers to recover conviction, unity, and purposeful action. By joining lament with reply, the song moves from wounded protest to collective self-examination. Its central idea is that faith can hold difficult questions, while renewal also demands responsibility from those asking them.
Details
- Artist
- Natasha Baig, Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal
- Category
- Coke Studio
- Collection
- Coke Studio Season 11
- Released
- 2018
- Mood
- Devotional, Motivational
- YouTube Views
- 29.21M
Artists & Credits
- Natasha Baig singer
- Fareed Ayaz singer
- Abu Muhammad Qawwal singer
- Munshi Razi Uddin composer
- Allama Iqbal lyricist
- Amjad Hyderabadi lyricist
- Omar Khayyam lyricist
- Omran Shafique musician
- Zohaib Kazi producer
- Ali Hamza producer