NewsbytesFuzon’s lead guitarist Shallum and ex-Noori drummer Gumby will be performing in the World Music Festival in Oslo this August. Shallum has quite a load of work, considering that the launch of Fuzon’s second album Neend Na Aye Teray Bina, is expected to happen this summer. Regarding their performance in the Oslo World Music Festival, Shallum and Gumby will be collaborating with Fryd (pronounced: freed), a band of a Norwegian origin. Shallum first came in contact with Fryd at the launch ceremony of Telenor Pakistan where Fryd and Fuzon were asked to perform. Following that initial performance, Shallum, Gumby and Fryd have performed several gigs together, the most recent being during the winter season of 2005.

Shallum and Gumby will be leaving for Norway on August 14^th, 2006. They have plans of staying back after the Oslo Wold Music Festival and collaborating with Fryd on an album, which will have an international release, targeting a more global audience.

Following Shallum and Gumby’s escapades to Norway is Overload. Yes, Overload is also scheduled to participate in the Oslo World Music Festival this August. Besides the Norweighn festival, Overload is expected to perform several gigs in Amritsar (India) and in New York (USA) in the near future.

Other than just doing shows around the world, Overload is also working on their next music video for the track “Storm” from their self-titled debut album. The video for Storm is completely animated and is directed by Shehryar Jabbar of Sherry’s Studios.

The success of Overload has encouraged Farhad Humayun (drummer and founding member of Overload) to work on Rumble Fish, a project he had previously shelved. Embodying a sound different from that of Overload’s but also a percussion band, Rumble Fish is a concept inspired by the Francis Ford Coppola film, Rumble Fish (1983). It will also see the band members of Rumble Fish try their hand at singing.

Currently working on a video for their yet-unreleased track, “Have to let go sometime” from their debut album “One Light Year at Snail Speed”, Sajid and Zeeshan expect to release the video on television following the launch of their album this summer.

Zeeshan Parwez from Sajid and Zeeshan on the other hand, has also been very busy working on the video for Ali Azmat’s song “Teri Parchaiyaan” from his album Social Circus. Following the animated video trend he sparked off, the video for Teri Parchaiyaan sees Zeeshan attempting to fuse traditional 2D and 3D animation into one project.

He is also currently working on two videos for the Mekaal Hasan Band. One of the videos, “Kirwani” is expected to follow the pattern of “Jhok Ranjhan”, as a performance-based video, yet exploring it with its own unique angle. Zeeshan’s second video for the Meekal Hasan Band will be for the track “Hunsdhun”. Conceptually based, the video will not feature any of the band-members and has been shot in the tribal areas. The Hunsdhun video is expected to be released on television by the end of August 2006.

Photographs: the one on top is one of Overload's performances, the one at the bottom is of Sajid and Zeeshan.

First Published:
World Music Magazine
July August 2006