When Pakistani Bands Rocked Bangladesh

Strings performing at Ampfest in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Source: The Daily Star)

Jal signing autographs at Coffee World in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Source: The Daily Star)

When we think about Pakistani music, we believe that it is only listened to in India. However the truth is that it is appreciated all over the world. In 2005, three famous Pakistani bands proved this by performing in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka to a huge crowd. The bands were Junoon, Strings and Jal and they were loved by the people in Dhaka just like in Pakistan or in any other place in the world.

Junoon

From left to right: Brian O’Connell, Salman Ahmed and Ali Azmat (Source: Dawn)

Junoon is a Sufi Rock band that was formed in 1990. It currently comprises of members Ali Azmat on lead vocals and rhythm guitars, Salman Ahmed on lead guitars and Brian O’Connell. The band has released seven albums all of them which made them gain a lot of appreciation. They are best known for their songs like Sayonee, Pappu Yaar Tang Na Kar and Talaash.

Junoon has performed at many different places such as the USA, Canada, UK, UAE, India and Bangladesh. The band has also performed in Indian occupied Kashmir. In 2001, they performed at the United Nations opening ceremony. Junoon won the Channel V Award in New Delhi in India for Best International Group beating bands like Deff Leppard and Prodigy.

In 2005, Junoon performed at the Ampfest arts festival in Dhaka. The band made their entry in a helicopter to the stage. They were the last act of the show. They performed their hit songs like Yaar Bina, Dosti and Garaj Baras.

Strings

From left to right: Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia

Strings is a pop rock band that was formed in 1988 in Karachi. Its members are Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood. They gained fame through their song Sar Kiye Pahar which became the first Pakistani song to be featured on MTV Asia. They are active since 30 years and are the longest active in Pakistani music’s history.

The band is popular in Pakistan as well as internationally. In 2005, the band’s song Na Jaane Kyun was featured on the soundtrack of Spider-Man 2. They have performed for a number of Bollywood films as well such as John Day and Zinda. The band has performed in USA, Canada, UK, Qatar, UAE, India and Bangladesh. They have won many awards which include the MTV Asia Award for Best Artist – India.

In 2005, they performed at the Ampfest arts festival in Dhaka. The band entered the stage through a helicopter. They performed their popular songs like Dhaani, Chaaye Chaaye and Na Jaane Kyun.

Jal

From left to right : Farhan Saeed, Gohar Mumtaz and Aamer Sheraz

Jal is a pop rock band from Lahore. It was famous because of their three members Farhan Saeed, Gohar Mumtaz and Aamer Sheraz. Atif Aslam and Omer Nadeem have also been a part of the band. The band gained fame through their first song Adat and has released many songs and albums since then.

The band is popular internationally. They have performed in countries like India, Bangladesh and Nepal. They received the MTV Asia Award in 2006 for Favorite Artist India. They won another MTV Asia Award for their song Moray Piya in 2009.

They performed at The Sheraton Hotel and Amazon Club in Dhaka in 2005. The band performed their popular songs such as Adat, Dil Haaray Pukaray and Woh Lamhe.

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.