Where are they now?
Unlike how it was in the early nineties, forming a band is not an alien concept anymore. In fact, one glance at a couple of music television channels out there depicts the growing clutter that up-and-coming aspiring bands seem to be making on-screen. With each passing day, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sift through and find a new act that really does stand out in terms of melody, lyrics, concept and most importantly, substance.

Popular bands made their reappearance in the Pakistani music industry not too long ago. The year 2002 is significant in the sense that it was in that year that well-known bands such as Noori, Fuzon, Aaroh and Entity Paradigm (eP) established themselves as strong acts in their own right, sparking off the youth’s movement towards popular Pakistani music, and each had its own loyal fan following. Out of the bands in question, Noori and Fuzon were bigger in terms of their fan-base, and for their fans, everything that the band-members did was their business. Perhaps the real question is: five years after bursting onto the music scene, how far have these bands come and where are they headed?

Noori: For Noori it’s been a tumultuous ride. Their debut album Suno Kay Mein Hoon Jawan was a massive hit throughout the country, which saw the group performing one of the largest number of gigs ever performed by a band throughout the country, courtesy of a convenient sponsorship by a mobile company. It also saw the band appearing in a mint candy sponsored show on Indus Music. And if that wasn’t enough, there were billboards scattered throughout the country, which showed the band members smiling down at passers-by endorsing the candy. That move invited criticism for the band from those who thought that the endorsement was a little too much and overexposed them. But at the end of the day, their music was great and so were their performances, although Ali Noor faced another round of criticism from those who thought his energetic moves on stage were a little too much.

Then Ali Jafri left the band. The departure was somewhat expected and amicable and did not result in any bad blood between the band and him. The subsequent launch of Noori’s second album, Peeli Patti Aur Raja Jani Ki Gol Dunya was considered by most to be their best work yet and saw Noori’s transition towards a more mature sound. The thing with album launches is that they’re normally followed by post-launch performances. In the case of Noori’s second album, there weren’t that many. Several months later, Gumby left the band and all hell broke lose.

Posted on the Noori website were claims that because Gumby played as a session drummer for various other bands, and could therefore not give time to Noori, Noori was ‘letting go’ of him. Gumby preferred to keep his silence and did not issue any official statements regarding what was posted on the website. Gumby’s departure from the band, for whatever reasons, was the last straw and signalled the end of the Noori that once was. Noori now employs the services of Fahad Khan on drums but lack the same impact that the original line-up had.

Fuzon: When it comes to Fuzon, they revolutionised pop music as we know it by fusing classical tunes with modern music. The brainchild of Immu (Imran Momina on keyboards) and Shallum (on lead guitar), Fuzon employed the vocals of Shafqat Amanat Ali from the Patiala gharana. They scored massive hits with songs such as Aankhon Kay Sagar, Khamaj, Akhian etc., and toured extensively.

Last year, the band was supposed to release their much-anticipated second album, which was reportedly complete and awaited a contract with a suitable record label. Trouble seemed to be brewing when earlier that year; Shafqat allegedly travelled to India with his own set of musicians and gave a performance with the band as Fuzon. Upon his return, the band seemed to have patched things up and everything seemed to be going in the right direction.

And then the inevitable happened: the band broke up, with Shafqat bidding farewell to Fuzon and going his own way. Shafqat’s departure saw the arrival of Rameez Mukhtar, a talented new vocalist also trained in classical music with the added skills of a harmonica player. Needless to say, Rameez had some pretty big shoes to fill.

It remains to be seen whether Rameez can hold his own against Shafqat’s legacy. What can be said, however, is that if Immu and Shallum can manage to come up with a band like the original Fuzon, who’s to say they can’t do it again?

Aaroh: Amongst the other bands that made it big in 2002, one of the most notable was Aaroh. Their debut on TV was as winners of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands. Some felt they took a tad too long to release their critically-acclaimed debut album, Sawal, which was officially released in 2003, which skyrocketed them into commercial success with hits such as Sawal, Jalan, Jeeay, Na Kaho etc.

Like most acts which attain fame overnight, they also experienced conflicts within the band with Nabeel Chisty and Kamran Khan (the then lead guitarist and keyboardist) running off to India and signing deals with industry individuals allegedly using the band’s name. A court case ensued, which later awarded Farooq Ahmed (vocalist) and Khalid Khan (bassist) the rights to the band’s name and their songs and marked Nabeel and Kamran’s departure from the band.

Haider Hashmi from the Lahore underground band, Mind Riot, replaced Nabeel as the lead guitar player. The reconstituted Aaroh’s hits such as Pyaar Ka Jaal, Yaara and their latest tune, the funky Raag Neela, solidified their position and proved that Aaroh still has a lot of the same substance that made them a hit in the first place. They’re one of the best live acts in the country and with the sheer number of gigs they have been performing after their album launch, it shows that they are not only very much together as a band, they’re also very much in demand.

eP: Toward the end of 2002, there was another band that had begun to make waves in the industry: Entity Paradigm (eP) was an amalgamation of two very popular underground rock bands from Lahore, Entity and Paradigm. Ahmed Ali Butt and Fawad Khan were working on a sitcom titled Jutt and Bond and were asked by the director to compose a song for it. Hence Hum Ko Azma was given birth.

With the soundtrack becoming a humongous hit and with the Battle of the Bands just around the corner, the band-members decided to fuse both bands and enter the competition. They ended up becoming the runners-up, losing to Aaroh, which was enough to get them working on their debut album, Irtiqa (Evolution), which became a massive hit after its release the following year.

Perhaps what set the band apart, other than the extremely large line-up (eP was an eight-member band in all), was that their music fused rock and rap with soulful lyrics for what can be considered Pakistan’s first concept album. Their live performances were also a visual treat in itself. It isn’t often that you come across a large band that has every member perfectly synchronised to each other’s performance.

Their break-up earlier last year was a source of heartbreak for many, and since then people have speculated as to its cause. The only plausible explanation that one can think of is that the band was just too big to manage. It’s difficult enough hiring a band with that many members and disagreements amongst the members themselves are bound to spring up.

Noori, Fuzon, Aaroh and eP were one of the first bands to come out in the new wave of the Pakistani pop industry boom. Each one of them added something unique to the local pop industry in terms of the kind of music they played, while setting the groundwork for bands that came after them. Where eP could not stand the test of time and preferred to disintegrate while they were still going strong, Noori it seems, is still holding on to the threads of glory of their earlier days. On the other hand Fuzon needs to make a move in order to determine whether they still have what it takes. Out of all the bands in question, Aaroh seems to be the only one who’s managed to work through their highs and their lows and still come out strong.

photographs:
— Ali Hamza and Ali Noor by Jawad Zakariya
— The good ol'Noori days
— The original Fuzon
— The new Aaroh
— eP in all it's glory

First Published:
Images
May 6, 2007