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List of Pakistani music bands

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The rise of musical bands in Pakistan began in the 1980s when cassettes first came into Pakistan bringing in a wave of Western rock music. Western-influenced rock music began to feature in underground concerts all across the country. In the 1980s, rock bands Vital Signs and Strings rose in defiance of the authoritarian regime and gained immense popularity amongst the youth. Vital Signs is widely regarded as Pakistan's first and most successful pop-rock band. Their single "Dil Dil Pakistan" was voted the third most popular song of all time in a BBC World poll in 2003, and is also called Pakistan's "pop national anthem".[1] Despite being active since the late 80s, Strings attained widespread popularity after the release of their second album in 1992. The band went on to sell over 25 million albums worldwide. Junoon, Aaroh, and Noori followed suit in the 1990s.

Junoon pioneered the genre of Sufi rock, combining the poetry of famous Sufi poets such as Rumi, Hafez, and Bulleh Shah with the hard rock band of Led Zeppelin and Santana and South Asian percussion such as the tabla. Junoon is one of Pakistan's and South Asia's most successful bands with over 30 million albums sold worldwide; The New York Times called Junoon "the U2 of Pakistan" and Q magazine dubbed them as "One of the biggest bands in the world".[2] Junoon became the first rock band to perform at the United Nations General Assembly and only the second Pakistani act to perform at a Nobel Peace Prize Concert.[3][4]

The early 2000s saw the arrival of progressive metal, progressive rock, and psychedelic rock with bands such as Entity Paradigm and Mizraab. Mekaal Hasan Band, Call, Karavan, Jal, Roxen, Mizmaar, and Qayaas also exploded onto the music scene with different brands of rock including alternative and soft rock. The television series Pepsi Battle of the Bands was instrumental in launching Entity Paradigm, Aaroh, and the Mekaal Hasan Band, all of whom competed in the inaugural edition of the show in 2002.

The resumption of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands in 2017 after almost 15 years, heralded the resurgence of Pakistani rock with the rise of Kashmir band, Bayaan, and Badnaam.[5]

Although the heavy metal genre began to rise in popularity after the 1997 general elections, Pakistani heavy metal music can be traced back to the new wave of British heavy metal of the 1980s and 1990s with bands such as Black Warrant, Final Cut, and Barbarians. In recent years, numerous heavy and black metal bands including Overload, Saturn, Saakin, Karakoram, Burq – The Band, Taarma, The Nuke, and Aag have amassed followings in this niche rock music in Pakistan.

In 1986, the Vital Signs, (predominantly a pop band) released its very first single Do Pal Ka Jeevan, which became an ultimate success and the band built its reputation in Pakistan's underground music industry.[6] The rock music bands and trios came to be perceived by many Pakistani fans and country's cultural observers as a "promising new era of cultural revival".[7] Their enormous popularity significantly opened a new wave of music and a modern chapter in the history of Pakistan.[7]

In the 1980s, rock bands including the Strings, The Barbarians, The Final Cut, Jupiters, Junoon, and Vital Signs gained a lot of public appraisal and popularity; the public opinion was generally positive and welcomed the bands for their uniqueness.[7] NTM, launched a show titled Music Channel Charts to highlight new talent every week due to popular youth demand.[8]

Vital Signs were followed by Junoon, Awaz, Strings, Karawan, and Jupiters, all of whom had exploded the pop, rock and heavy metal music genre in the country, bringing the significant shift of country's transformation into modernism during the 1990s.[9] The Pakistani rock further matured itself and gained public appraisal with the arrival of American satellite television in the 1990s.[10] The popular form of music quickly spread throughout the country and with that came the arrival of various rock bands in the 1990s.[11] Early rock bands such as Vital Signs and Junoon are regarded as the pioneers of Pakistan's rock music.[11] Other bands such as Strings began in the mid 1990s and during the late 1990s underground bands were becoming a norm in cities across Pakistan. In a short span of time, the Western-influenced rock bands gained enormous popularity and were generally welcomed by the public.[7] The Music Channel Charts aired to NTM became the first pop/rock music entity that used to give ratings to pop/rock bands and singers. Music '89 was the first ever all pop/rock music stage-show to be aired on PTV.

Cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad witnessed an explosion of rock bands and concerts in 2000 as Pakistan began to liberalize under President Musharraf's "enlightened moderation" campaign.[12] In 2002, a major shift in the rock music of Pakistan occurred with the arrival of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands, which saw bands like Aaroh, Mizraab, Entity Paradigm and Mekaal Hasan Band appear onto the scene. Finally, Pakistan saw good rock music, with respectable instrument playing. In 2006 Raeth spread waves across the border by their debut song Bhula Doh.

Vital Signs emerged during a time in which Pakistan was embracing Islamization.[13] With the rise of Vital Signs and later, Junoon and others, the rock music, exploded in the 1980s and 1990s, became a vehicle for expressing patriotic nationalist spirit in Pakistan.[9] Undoubtedly, the rock music has been one major influential force which has truly kept the national spirits high amidst the prevailing social woes which had worsened in since the 1980s, such music included songs like "Dil Dil Pakistan", Jazba Junoon, Jaago and many more.[11]

In 1980, such Western ideas were denounced in the country, and the film industry was deteriorating quick to compete with counterrevolution of Indian film industry.[14] According to the editorial written in The Express Tribune in 2011, the "Vital Signs and Pakistan's ingenious rock music was the only "arsenal" the country had against India's encroaching entertainment industry."[14]

Several popular bands, including EP, Call, and Noori, have been integral in revitalizing the rock culture in Pakistan.

After the successful emergence of Vital Signs in the 1980s and Junoon in the 1990s, the heavy metal music genre began to rise after the 1997 general elections. Black Warrant was one of the earliest heavy metal band that released its very first album in the public.[15] The roots of Pakistani heavy metal music can be traced back to the new wave of British heavy metal when it was transferred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the 1980s, the bands Final Cut and Barbarians are considered the earliest Pakistani heavy metal bands. Although they were short-lived, they influenced many other musicians. Guitarist Salman Ahmad gained fame for his unique style of playing Sufi-style and neoclassical kinds of music in heavy metal form.[16]

The second wave of heavy metal artists, comprising bands such as Dhun, which was Fawad Baloch's more conventional metal project, Blackhour, Ehl-e-Rock, Inferner, and Black Warrant, still continues to promote the genre.[15] The most notable and productive work on the heavy metal genre was bestowed and carried out by Mizraab, whose Panchi album was an ultimate success in this genre. Guitarist Faraz Anwar of Mizraab's solo instrumental work is widely noticed by the public and news channels dubbed Anwar as "Pakistan's master of progressive-metal rock."[17] In recent studies and reports conducted by CNN, heavy metal is one of Pakistan's most popular genres of music, and country's radio FMs broadcast the music each week.[18] Since 2004, the economic liberalisation programmes of Prime minister Shaukat Aziz which helped open the new Pakistan TV and several music video channels, have triggered the underground heavy metal movements in cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.[18]

Although Mizraab, a band led by Faraz Anwar that is considered to be Pakistan's first progressive metal band, have also played a significant role in promoting the growth of metal music in Pakistan.[17] Furthermore, bands such as Jehangir Aziz Hayat, Takatak, Messiah and Foreskin are examples of significant metal bands that have surfaced in the past five years.[18]

In 2002, Atif Aslam and Goher Mumtaz formed rock band Jal. The band released Aadat and it became a major hit in South Asia. It was recreated many times. It was also used in the 2005 Hollywood film Man Push Cart. However, Atif left the band and Farhan Saeed joined the band.[19][20]

In Pepsi Battle of Bands, 4 bands rose to popularity. The first band is Aaroh formed in 1998 in Karachi is an alternative rock band. The name was given to it by Shoaib Mansoor. Kamran Khan was the founder of the band. It gained fame from Pepsi Battle of Bands by performing songs like Sawaal, Aag Ki Tarhan. It released 2 studio albums in 2003 and 2013 respectively. Aaroh released 'Jeet' in February 2018, a tribute to the Pakistan Super League.[21]

The second band that gained fame was an alternative metal band 'Entity Paradigm' that was formed in 2000 in Lahore by Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan. In the Pakistani music industry, it's one of the pioneering mainstream rock bands. It disbanded in 2007 but reunited in 2009.[21]

Kashmir was the third band in this series, The 2012 formed alternative rock band from Karachi, and also the winner of Pepsi Battle of Bands Season 2. The band has also won the Lux Style Award in 2017 for Best Emerging Talent (Music) 2017 for the song 'Kaaghaz Ka Jahaaz'. Badnaam is the last band of the series. It was formed in 2009 in Lahore. The name of the Sufi band was inspired from Bulleh Shah's poetry.[21]

This is a list of music bands in Pakistan. The list contains bands with their origin year (or period for past bands), origin city, genres, labels, and the present and old members arranged alphabetically.

Current bands

Band Image Origin year Origin city Genre(s) Label(s) Members Refs
Aaroh 1998 Karachi Alternative rock, Pop rock, Power pop Sadaf Stereo, Sangeet Records, The Musik Records, Independent Farooq Ahmad, Khalid Khan, Jason Anthony, Haider Hashimi, Nabeel Nihal Chishty, Kamran Khan,Adnan Hussain, Rizwan Anwar [22]
Badnaam
Three persons standing in a row, wearing black dress
2009 Lahore Grunge, Sufi rock PepsiCo Pakistan Ahmed Jilani, Lala Ahsan, Raheem Shahbaz Sunny [23]
Bayaan 2014 Alternative, progressive, folk, pop, rock Rearts Asfar Hussain, Shahrukh Aslam, Muqeet Shahzad, Mansoor Lashari, Haider Abbas [24][25][26][27]
Beygairat Brigade 2011 Rock music Curosity Ali Aftab Saeed, Daniyal Malik, Hamza Malik [28]
Call 1994 Sadaf Stereo, Fire Records Junaid Khan, Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan, Sultan Raja, Waqar Khan, Omer Pervaiz, Danish Jabbar Khan, Nadeem, Sunny, Usman Nasir, Shahzad Hameed, Khurram Jabbar Khan [29]
Entity Paradigm
Two men performing at a concert
Entity Paradigm performing
2000 Progressive metal, Heavy meral, Alternative metal, Nu metal, Rapcore Lips music, Independent Ahmed Ali Butt, Fawad Khan, Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan, Sajjad Ali, Hassaan Khalid, Salman Albert, Abid Khan, Waqar Ahmed Khan [30]
Esta Livio
Four men standing in a row and posing for photo
Esta Livio members
2006 Progressive rock, Alternative rock Sadaf Stereo Hasan Shahid, Hamza Maqsood, Sheraz Arif, Rehan Akhtar [31][32]
E Sharp 2005 Karachi Alternative rock, Indie rock, Funk rock, Blues rock, Comedy rock, Pop rock Silent roar, E Sharp Ahmed Zawar, Anwaar Ahmed, Qumber Kazmi, Asher Minhas Damanwala, Rajil Anthony, Zia Zaidi, Imran Saleem [33]
Furqan and Imran
Three men wearing glasses and posing for photo
Furqan and Imran band members
2013 Pop, rock, Classical Flash and Bang Productions Imran Butt, Furqan Tunio, Anas Imtiaz [34]
Fuzön
A man performing at a concert
Fuzön band member Shallum performing
2001 Pop, Pop rock Sound Master, The Musik Records Imran Momina, Khurram Iqbal, Shallum Asher Xavier, Rameez Mukhtar, Shafqat Amanat Ali [35]
Ismail and Junaid 2010 Peshawar Pashto, Alternative folk, Sufi Shoaib Anwar Ismail Khan, Junaid Javed [36][37]
Jal
Blue-coloured Urdu written logo
Jal band logo
2002 Lahore Pop, Pop rock, Alternative rock Sadaf Stereo, Fire Records (Pakistan), Tips Music, Universal Music Goher Mumtaz, Ali Khan, Amir Azhar, Salman Albert, Atif Aslam, Farhan Saeed, Aamir Sheraz, Omer Nadeem [38]
Junoon
Three men performing at a concert
Junoon band performing
1990 Sufi rock, Psychedelic rock, Hard rock, Heavy metal Sadaf Stereo, EMI Records, Lips Music, Universal Music Ali Azmat, Salman Ahmad, Brian O'Connel, Taylor Simpson, Nusrat Hussain [39]
Justin Bibis 2015 Pop music Coke Studio Saania, Muqaddas Tabaydar [40][41][42][43]
Karavan
Three persons performing at a concert
Karavan band performing
1997 Karachi Hard rock, Heavy metal VCI Records, Sound Master, ARY Musik Records, Karavan Catalog Ltd Asad Ahmed, Sameer Ahmed, Allan Smith, Tanseer Ahmed Daar, Najam Sheraz [44]
Kashmir 2012 Alternative rock, Indie rock PepsiCo Pakistan, Rearts Bilal Ali, Vais Khan, Usman Siddique, Ali Raza, Zair Zaki, Shane J. Anthony [45][46][47]
Khumariyaan 2009 Peshawar Pop, Folk, Ethnic Fire Records Aamer Shafiq, Farhan Bogra, Shiraz Khan, Sparlay Rawail [48][49][50]
Laal
Three men and a woman performing at a concert
Laal band performing
2008 Lahore Sufi rock, Progressive rock, Alternative rock Fire Records, Times Music India Taimur Rahman, Mahvash Waqar, Haider Rahman, Shahram Azhar [51]
Mekaal Hasan Band
Four men and a woman performing at a concert
Meekal Hasan Band performing
2000 Lahore Alternative rock, Sufi rock, Jazz EMI Records, MHB Music, Sadaf Stereo Mekaal Hasan, Mohammad Ahsan Papu, Sharmistha Chatterjee, Sheldon D'Silva, Gino Banks, Agha Ibrahim Akram, Amir Azhar, Asad Abbas, Riaz Ali Khan, Sameer Ahmed, Javed Bashir, Kami Paul [52][53]
Mizmaar
Two black dressed people wearing black glasses while posing
Mizmaar band members
Karachi Rock, Indie rock, Indie pop, Pop-rock, Fusion Dreamstation Productions, Universal Music Kashan Admani, Alfred D'Mello [54]
Mizraab
Two men performing at Coke Studio
Mizraab band
1997 Karachi Progressive rock, Progressive metal, Classical rock Sound Master, Sadaf Stereo Muhammad Muzammil, Faraz Anwar, Irfan Ahmad, Ferdinand Goveas [55]
Naseer & Shahab 2010 Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Soft rock, Alternative rock Rearts Naseer Afridi, Shahab Qamat [56]
Noori
Two black dresses man performing at a mall
Noori band performing
1996 Lahore Alternative rock, Pop rock, Sufi rock Sadaf Stereo, BIY Records Ali Noor, Ali Hamza, Kami Paul, Salman Albert, Farhad Humayun, Murtaza Jaffar, Muhammad Ali Jafri, Louis J. Pinto (aka Gumby) [57]
Overload 2003 Instrumental rock, Experimental rock, Classical music, Psychedelic rock, fusion BMN Records, Riot Records, Universal Music Farhan Humayun, Aziz Ibrahim, Nasir Sain, Pappu Sain, Jhura Sain, Hassan Mohyeddin, Mahmood Rahman, Meesha Shafi [58]
Raeth 2006 Karachi Sufi rock Universal Music, Fire Records, T-Series Wajhi Farooqi, Sunny Ghamsham, Mustafa Asad, Hasan Farabi [59]
Rage 1986 Karachi Pop, rock Sadaf Stereo, Lips Records, Gladiator Records Salman Haidery, Christopher, Amir Ajmal, Murad Hassan, Ahmer Kenneth, Ali Raza, Haseeb Gora, Amir Abbas [60]
Rizwan-Muazzam 1990 Lahore Qawwal Real World Records, Real World Studios, Narada Productions Rizwan, Muazzam [61]
Rushk 2000 Karachi Rock, Jazz, Funk rock, R&B, Gothic rock, Dark rock Sound Master, Independent Tara Mahmood, Ziyaad Gulzar, Sikandar Mufti, Ali Jafri, Uns Mufti, Nazia Zuberi [62]
Sabri Brothers
Band mmbers performing
Sabri Brothers
1956 Kalyana Qawwali EMI Records, Arion, Auvidis, UNESCO, Real World, Piranha, Oriental Star Agencies, Xenophile, Sirocco, Nonesuch Mehmood Ghaznavi Sabri, Ghulam Farid Sabri, Kamal Ahmed Khan Sabri, Maqbool Ahmed Sabri, Amjad Fareed Sabri [63][64]
Sajid & Zeeshan 2003 Peshawar Electronica, Alternative rock, Ambient EMI Records Sajid Ghafoor, Zeeshan Parwez [65]
Saturn Islamabad Progressive rock, Progressive metal, Groove metal Independent, Bandcamp, Tunecore Shahbaz Zaidi, Salman Zaidi, Aashir, Shahbaz Asad, Usman, Rawal Shadab, Ahamad [66]
Sikandar Ka Mandar 2010 Karachi Indie music Silent Roar Productions, 4inabillion Records, Elements Media Nadir Shahzad Khan, Ali Suhail, Daud Ramay, Zahra Paracha [67][68]
Strings
Three persons performing at a concert
Strings band performing
1988 Pop rock EMI Records, Fire Records, Sony BMG Faisal Kapadia, Bilal Maqsood, Adeel Ali, Haider Ali, Aahad Nayani, Bradley D' Souza, Rafiq Wazir Ali, Kareem Bashir Bhoy, Shakir Khan [69][70]
Topi Drama 2010 Lahore Rock Independent Sohail Qureshi, Arafat Mazhar, Kenny Zeerick [71]
The Kominas
Two men performing while holding Guitars
The Kominas band members performing
2004 Worcester, Massachusetts, United States Punk rock, Funck rock, Taqwacore, Alternative rock Independent Basim Usmani, Shahjehan Khan, Karna Ray, Hassan Ali Malik, Arjun Ray, Imran Ali Malik, Abdullah Saeed
The Sketches 2003 Jamshoro Sufi rock, Psychedelic rock, Hard rock, Alternative rock Lahooti Records, Fire Records Saif Samejo, Nomi Ali, Owais Shaikh, Roshan Sharma, Naeem Shah [72][73]

Past bands

Band Image Period Origin city Genre(s) Label(s) Members Refs
Atish Raj 1994–2007 Karachi Industrial rock, Progressive rock, Art rock Oriental Star Agencies Nadeem F. Paracha, Rome K, Kashif Caan, Zeeshan Parwez [74]
Aunty Disco Project
Five men performing at a concert
Aunty Disco Project band performing
2006–2011 Indie rock, Indie pop, Pop rock, Alternative rock Independent Omar Bilal Akhtar, Yasir Qureshi, Ali Alam, Rahail Siddiqui, Giles Goveas [75]
Awaz 1992–2000 Pop rock EMI Records, BMG Records, Lips Music Records Haroon, Faakhir Mehmood, Asad Ahmed [76]
Jupiters 1980–1995 Lahore Pop rock Oriental Star Agencies, EMI Pakistan, Thar Production Ali Azmat, Sahir Ali Bagga, Shahzad Ahmed, Bilal Hafeez, Irfan Kiani, Amir Munawar, Shakir Awan, Tahir Saqi, Kanan Rashid, Danny Williams, Ajay [77]
Nazia and Zoheb - 1980–1992 Karachi Pop music, Pakistani pop, Indie pop EMI Records Nazia Hassan, Zoheb Hassan [78]
Qayaas
Two black dressed men performing
Qayaas band performing
2008–2016 Islamabad Progressive rock, Progressive metal, Alternative rock BIY Records Umair Jaswal, Khurram Waqar, Rahail Siddiqui, Asfendyar Ahmad, Sarmad Abdul Ghafoor, Salman "Fifu" Rafique [79]
Roxen 2004–2018 Lahore Alternative rock, Pop rock T-Series, Sony BMG, Universal Music India, Saregama, Zee Music, Fire Records Mustafa Zahid, Haider Halim, Shahan Khan, Jawad (Jodi), Omar Halim [80]
The Milestones
Two men and a woman posing for photo
The Milestones band members
1990–1996 Karachi Pop rock Visible Changes, Sound Master Ziyyad Gulzar, Ali Tim, Candy Pereira [81]
Vital Signs 1983–2013 Rawalpindi Pop rock, Hard rock, Progressive rock EMI Pakistan, VCI Records, PTV Studios, Pepsi Pakistan Inc. Junaid Jamshed, Rohail Hyatt, Shahzad Hassan, Nusrat Hussain, Salman Ahmad, Rizwan-ul-Haq, Aamir Zaki [82]
Zeb and Haniya 2007–2014 Kohat Pop rock, Alternative rock, Sufi rock, Folk rock, Classical music, Blues Fire Records, True Brew Records Zebunnisa Bangash, Haniya Aslam [83]

See also

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