Artist of the Week – Farhan Saeed

Source: Business Recorder

Farhan Saeed started his career at the age of 19 joining the popular Pakistani band Jal in 2003. This was the time when Jal faced a crucial moment as Atif Aslam parted ways as the vocalist, which eventually led to Farhan Saeed being recruited.

In 2004 Jal released their first Album “Aadat” with Farhan on vocals. This album instantly became a major hit, topping the charts not only in Pakistan but also in India.

This was how Farhan Saeed made his first along with his band-mates. Although the whole album was a hit, the songs “Lamhey” and “Teri Yaad” became the top two loved tracks and still hold that position today.

In 2006, Jal started their journey to make a worldwide appearance, starting from India. They got many invitations and they performed for the first time at Modern School, New Delhi. And soon after that, they went to Thailand and other countries too. Where no doubt they became a big hit step after step.

Farhan Saeed is currently a past-member of Jal as he left to start a solo career in 2011 after being apart for almost 8 years. This was surely a shocker for all the fans. And a real heartbreak as well.

On the August of 2011, Farhan Saeed released a solo track “Halka Halka Suroor” as a tribute to NFAK. This track sparked up the curiosity to whether now Farhan Saeed, too, was leaving Jal? Later in an interview with a local newspaper, he sadly confirmed that he was.

To quote, he said, “being solo now is like being the owner of my own business.  I can do the things I want and do them on my terms.”

He also mentioned that is was a mutual decision and the band members wished him well and good luck. 

Farhan Saeed is one of those artists that set the differences between India and Pakistan aside. In 2014 he featured in a romantic duet “Naam-e-Wafa” in Vikram Bhatt’s Bollywood movie, “Creatures 3D”. This song was heard massively and loved too.

Farhan Saeed takes singing passionately and that is clearly heard from his voice. He painted pictures for listeners with his singing. It can be seen that he not only sings music but also feels it dearly. Furthermore, the fact that he opened up a restaurant “Cafe Rock” in Lahore, shows his attachment to music. His restaurant is providing a platform for young aspiring artists and underground bands to express and perform their talent.

Source: Paklive

In 2014 he also took up acting for some amazing Pakistani dramas series and was dearly loved for his newly discovered talent. And that’s not it. Farhan Saeed effortlessly flaunts his talent as a guitarist as well. Also, his OSTs have been a major success due to his beautiful deep and husky voice, with soft singing tones.

Farhan Saeed was a loved artist with the band and individually and holds a big space in all his fans hearts, surely.

The All Girl Band –Pakistan’s Only All Female Musical Group

From left to right: Amal Nadeem, Anna Salman, Mishel Faheem and Sumera Waris

The All Girl Band also known as TAG is a Pakistani all female musical group. It is currently the only female musical group in Pakistan. The first all female group was the Benjumin Sisters. The band was formed in 2016. Its current members are Anna Salman on lead vocals and guitars, Amal Nadeem on the violin, Mishal Faheem on drums and Sumera Waris on the tabla.

The band is known to have the first female drummer of Pakistan Mishal Faheem and the first female table player Sumera Waris in its lineup. They gained fame through covering the John Newman song Love Me Again in the fourth season of Nescafe Basement. The band was featured alongside a group of other female musicians from many places such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta. They were part of the band as well but left due to personal reasons. The song was appreciated by John Newman himself who appreciated it on his Twitter.

They are better known for doing covers but they do original songs as well. The band performed their original Middle of Nowhere in the second season of Levis Live. The lead vocalist Anna Salman was nominated in the Best Emerging Talent category at the 2019 Lux Style Awards for the song.

Members Anna Salman and Amal Nadeem made another appearance in Nescafe Basement in Season 5. Both members appeared in the title track of the season titled Jaagna Toh Parega. Amal Nadeem played the violin and provided backing vocals to the cover of the song Mehbooba in the season which was originally by singer Haroon Rashid better known as Haroon who appreciated the version.

The band is known for their covers and mash ups. They have covered and mashed up John Newman’s Love Me Again with the Game Of Thrones title track. They have also covered and mashed up Are You With Me by the Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies with Laree Chotee by the Pakistani rock band Call.

TAG has performed in different places in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. They will be also performing in Hyderabad in a few days with the Romanian dance pop band Akcent for the first time. The band has also conducted sessions related to breaking gender roles in different places in Pakistan as well such as the Lahore University Of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the University Of Central Punjab (UCP) in Lahore.

The band has also collaborated with clothing brands like Khaadi and Ideas Pret showing them moving from an underground scene to a more commercial scene. They performed the song Choo Liya Aasman in association with Khaadi and a cover/mash up of Jimmy Khan’s Baarish and Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours in association with Ideas Pret which featured Aarij Hashmi, Samiya Ansari, Noor Ali and Ali khurshid.