KARACHI: Coke Studio Nu.WAV has released its fifth track, ‘Qasam’, featuring Shae Gill and Afusic, with Abdullah Kasumbi serving as producer and director.
Released on October 30, 2026, the experimental pop track combines contemporary electronic production with the South Asian sound of the sarangi. Written by Afusic, ‘Qasam’ explores the uncertainty of a relationship caught between hurt, attachment and the desire to hold on.
While the lyrics carry emotional weight, Kasumbi’s production keeps the track energetic, creating a contrast between the meaning of the song and its musical feel. Afusic brings his familiar rhythmic phrasing to the track, while Shae Gill explores a vocal range and style less often heard from her. Gul Khan’s sarangi adds another emotional layer to the electronic sound.
Kasumbi’s direction focuses on movement and the relationship at the centre of ‘Qasam’. Instead of narrating the story literally, the choreography follows different stages of connection, with two people drawing closer, pulling apart, trying to trust each other and finding their way back again.
At one point in the video, invisible strings appear to connect and control the dancers. In another sequence, their bodies move almost like stitches, repeatedly coming together and separating again. These ideas reflect the song’s theme of a relationship trying to repair itself while it risks falling apart, shaped through the movement direction of Shams Mansur.
The music video was shot inside Karachi’s century-old Bristol Hotel. Hammad Sohail’s production design uses the building’s existing character as part of the visual setting. The hotel’s ageing interiors, chandeliers and weathered surfaces are paired with fading flowers and a banquet left untouched, creating the impression of a space that has been lived in for a long time.
Another recurring image in the music video is that of the moth and the flame. The idea emerged from Abdullah Kasumbi and Shams Mansur’s encounters with Rumi and Sufi thought during a visit to Konya. It draws on the familiar shama and parwana metaphor of a moth being irresistibly drawn towards a flame. In ‘Qasam’, the image becomes a way of looking at a relationship in which attraction and emotional risk exist side by side. By the video’s final moments, as Shae reaches for Afusic’s hand, the moth also finds its way to the flame.
Speaking about the release, Kamal Khan, Executive Producer of Coke Studio Nu.WAV, said: “Qasam was really Abdullah’s world from the beginning. He was producing the song and directing the video, so those two things naturally grew together. Afusic wrote from a very real place. Shae sounds quite different on this one, which I really liked, and then Shams came in and found a way of showing the relationship through movement without making everything too literal. The Bristol already had so much character that they didn’t need to force anything. The sarangi, the dancers, the moth and flame idea – somehow it all sits together and feels like one world. That’s what I really like about it.”
‘Qasam’ brings together two artists whose careers reflect different paths into contemporary South Asian music.
Shae Gill made her Coke Studio debut alongside Ali Sethi in Season 14 with ‘Pasoori’, which became the first locally produced Pakistani music video to cross one billion views on YouTube. She has since continued to build an international profile through collaborations including ‘Sukoon’ with Hassan & Roshaan, ‘Le Right’ alongside Ali Sethi, Maanu and Abdullah Siddiqui, ‘Bulleya’ with Asim Azhar, and Coke Studio Global’s ‘One Love’ with Turkish artist Evdeki Saat.
Afusic has grown from a digital-first singer, songwriter and rapper into one of the prominent emerging voices in contemporary South Asian pop and hip-hop. His breakout track ‘Pal Pal’ reached audiences beyond Pakistan, topping the UK Official Asian Music Chart and entering the Canadian Hot 100. ‘Qasam’ is his second appearance on Coke Studio Nu.WAV after ‘Dil’, the platform’s opening release.
Behind both the music and the video is Abdullah Kasumbi, whose work as a producer and director allows the song’s sonic and visual worlds to develop as part of the same creative idea. As co-founder of creative studio FT.WA, Kasumbi has worked across music production, visual direction and live performance.
Executive produced by Kamal Khan, ‘Qasam’ is produced, arranged and mixed by Abdullah Kasumbi, with Gul Khan on sarangi and Sean Tallman handling mastering.
Kasumbi also directs the music video, working with Babar Dahr on cinematography, Hammad Sohail on production design, Faraz Sheikh and team on styling, Naweera Azeiz on Shae Gill’s look, and Shams Mansur and Shaan-e-Qasim Mansur on movement. Gali Films leads production, with Iman Khan, Jamal Haroon, Zarmeen Ali, Taimur Aamir and Fariha Afzal forming the core production team.
‘Qasam’ is the fifth of six Coke Studio Nu.WAV releases, following ‘Dil’, ‘Rangeen’, ‘Maheya’ and ‘Shabnam’. The final release is set to unfold next.
The track is available on YouTube and Spotify.
