Talent hunt shows in Pakistan are notorious for creating one-hit wonders, with artists coming in the limelight for the duration of the show and then vanishing in thin air. Be it ventures like “LG Awaz Banaye Star”, “Pakistan Sangeet Icon” or “Azme Alishan”, we haven’t seen budding artists follow through after and fully capitalize on these opportunities. True, these shows certainly gave us fresh music to listen to but did we get skilled musicians in return?

In 2011, we witnessed a different form of a musical talent hunt in the form of “Uth Records”. Although there is no debate over the fact that the show was inspired by the popular “Coke Studio”, “Uth Records” differed slightly as it took up the herculean task of introducing fresh talent in the market and polished their skill by providing them with seasoned musicians like Gumby and Omran Shafique as mentors.

Jumbo Jutt

Jumbo Jutt’s band members include Mohammad Ali Suhail on vocals and lead guitar, Syed Saad Shams on bass, Adeel Hussain on drums and Omar Kapadia on rhythm guitar. They collaborated with the legendary Faraz Anwar in their debut track “Jumbo Jutt” at the “Uth Records”. The band members are now gearing up to record their first album. Additionally, they have an upcoming gig on February 18 at the Mad school in Karachi.

Athar Sani

Winner of the talent show “Pakistan Sangeet Icon” and a significant contributor to diversity at the “Uth records” Season One, Ather has stood out primarily due to his voice which sounds like a unique blend of Ahmed Jehanzeb and Sonu Nigam. The musician, in the past year, hasn’t released any new music as he is currently on tour in South Africa.

Yasir & Jawad

Comprising of Jawad Iqbal, Wali Orakzai and Yasir Rehman, the band, hailing from Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, had become the identity of “Uth Records” last year. “We learned a lot from the ‘Uth Records’ experience and it is helping us now,” says Iqbal while adding that they recently recorded two tracks with Sajid & Zeeshan’s Zeeshan Pervaiz. “Pervaiz is also directing one of our music videos. Our new tracks are experiments just like ‘Reidi Gul’ and we hope people will appreciate them,” says Iqbal. However, Orakzai, who recently joined the armed forces, will not be featuring in their latest videos.

Usman Riaz

Riaz wasn’t really a product of “Uth Records” as the 21-year-old genius had already impressed everyone with his instrumental prowess in his debut single “Firefly”. Although his collaboration with Ali Noor in “Uth Records” was far from impressive, the instrumental player knows never to look back. He made a comeback with his version of Junoon’s iconic “Saeen” — which was a beautiful, carefully thought-out piece of art with masterful guitar playing. The artist is now set to release his Long Play (LP) in March 2012. The album, Circus In The Sky, will be launched along with a short film/music video “Ruckus” which will be directed by Riaz himself.

RamLal

RamLal, the brainchild of Muhammad Sibtain and Mohammad Agha, made a mark with their track “Naughty boy” at the “Uth Records”. Following that, the band released their second single “Arab Blues” on YouTube, which was widely circulated on various social media wesites. About their future projects, Agha says, “We’re planning to record a couple of tracks and then maybe a video as well.”

Natasha Ejaz

This young and talented artist was introduced to the Pakistani audiences in the fourth episode of “Uth Records” and stayed in the limelight due to her single “Right Way to Fall”, which went viral on YouTube. So what lies ahead for the talent powerhouse who recently won an award for ‘Best Pop Song’ at IndieGo Music Awards? “I’m releasing a third single ‘Alone On A Two-Seater’ along with a video. Meanwhile, my album, It Might Get Glitchy, with Rishabh Rajan is also in the works.”