Ayoob Rajpar
Roll no. 2k14/MC/130
Article:
The rise and fall of Pakistani music band
The Signs emerged in 1987 as a project of reclusive TV producer, Shoaib Mansoor. Rohail Hayat (synthesisers), Nusrat Hussain (guitar), Shahzad Hassan (bass) and Junaid Jamshed (vocals) were in this band. The band had already made a bit of a name for itself in the time’s ‘college functions’ circuit before it was picked up by Mansoor to record a patriotic song and video in 1987. The song was Dil Dil Pakistan, penned by Mansoor and composed by Nusrat Hussain and Junaid Jamshed. The lyrics express an unabashed love of the country, portraying it as a kind of heaven on earth. Vital signs made a number of rocking and lovely songs including aankho ko aankho ne jo sapna and na tu aaegi na he chain aaega. But time is not affectionate always so far band could not survived more and dismissed their structure and went in box forever. After that, the band raised with the impassioned sign and get fast fame in a heart of public .it was Junoon. It was based on the Trinity structure.
Junoon was first introduced by Salman Ahmed (A formal guitarist) Ali Azmat (vocalist) and Brain (base guitarist). Junoon songs liberally incorporated elements from rock and hard-rock genres and did not shy away from expressing political and social statements. The band’s first album was a commercial flop. Its raunchier sound was still too novel for a nascent pop scene. Junoon’s music increasingly fused riff-friendly rock chops with funky renditions of Punjabi folk and traditional Sufi music; and the lyrics occasionally ventured into commenting on the state of the country and society.This gradually began to gather a steady and passionate cult following for the band. The group’s growing reputation as a crackling live act helped too, especially when bassist Brian O’Connell came in for Nusrat and veteran drummer, Malcom Gomes, became a mainstay in the band. Junoon responded with Inquilaab in 1996 (the band’s third album). It was another energetic package of catchy off-the-wall riffs and racy vocals weaved around rudiments of Punjabi folk and bhangra music genres. To round off the album, the band (as if on a whim), decided to also record and add a pop anthem to the album – a style that was still popular after the initial release of Dil Dil Pakistan in 1987. So, out came Jazba Junoon, a song that musically sounded like one of those upbeat Latino songs of early Santana, and punctuated with patriotic and uplifting lyrics inspired by the writings of South Asian philosopher and poet, Mohammad Iqbal. 2004 was the last and final period for Junoon. Each member left the band and worked individually in their fields.
Another Pakistani classical musical band is fusion. It is a Sufi rock band from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan formed in 2001. The name was derived from fusion, as the former vocalist Shafqat Amanat Ali describes the band as a fusion of Hindustani classical and modern soft rock music blended with the Sufi Style of singing. The Fuzön art insists on setting feelings above mere technique and creating an individualistic genre of mold-breaking music. Fuzön encompasses hybrid styles of exquisite melodies and everlasting pop or rock instrumentation. Fusion won the hearts of people not only on the domestic level but beyond the border lines. A great problem which fusion faced was, the changing of vocalist. First, Shafqat was honour of this band and lead vocalist but then he left the band and worked individually. It was a huge shock which damaged fusion's structure.
Then Shafqat was replaced by the Rameez Mukhtiar, a professional vocalist and multi instrumental player. Rameez and his fellows (the band) made an album journey which was so impressive. Neend na aaey, the famous song of that album which was on aired on television and fm the most. After 2011, Rameez left fusion and focused on his single projects. After Rameez, Khurram Iqbal joined the band and he is working with the band still but they did not gave any great album yet as Shafqat did.
Now, I am coming to talk on the most famous and heart winner Pakistani rock band which one is known as Jal. Soon afterwards, the band started to gain popularity in Lahore's underground music scene and gained a large cult following due to the success of their song "Aadat".
The band, then went on to release the music video for the song, directed by Umer Anwar, through ARY Digital and The Musik channel, in December 2003. The video was soon rated as the fourth best video of the year 2003 by ARY The Muzik, within days of its release. However, by the end of December, in 2003, Atif parted ways with the band due musical differences, with lead guitarist Goher Mumtaz, to pursue a career as a solo artist. This led Goher recruit musicians Farhan Saeed on vocals and Aamir Sheraz on bass guitar. Farhan was suggested by Sultan Raja, bassist of Call, who introduced him to Goher and thus joining the band as its vocalist. By this time the band, with a new line-up, re-did the song "Aadat" as its video was already being aired on local music channels with the former lead vocalist, Atif Aslam’s voice. But in nutshell Atif Aslam was replaced by the Farhan Saeed in 2003.Jal's performance was fabulous. But after some years Farhan left the band and Gohar Mumtaz ran the band himself. It was the short introduction of the famous Pakistani music bands which got the success on peak but not survived more.
Practical work was carried under supervision of Sir Sohail Sangi
Department of Media and Communication Studies, University of Sindh
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