Mekaal Hasan Band (, sometimes shortened to MHB) is an international

sufi rock Sufi rock or Sufi folk rock is a subgenre of rock music that combines rock with classical Islamic Sufi music traditions. It emerged in the early 1990s and became widely popular in the late 1990s in Pakistan and Turkey. The term "Sufi rock" was co ...

band formed in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 2000 by composer, singer-songwriter and guitarist Meekal Hasan. The band members have roots in different genres, including pop,

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

, and black rock, the combination of each member has created a sound which has earned them fans from a variety of quarters.

History

Early years (1995–2004)

Songwriter Mekaal Hasan, born in Lahore, Pakistan, was surrounded by music since childhood. His mother was a Christian and father, Masood Hasan, a Muslim, passionate for

jazz music Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...

who influenced him throughout his early years. After graduating from

Government College, Lahore The Government College University, Lahore (colloquially known as GCU), is a public research university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Opened as Government College, Lahore, in 1864, it became a university in 2002. Overview In 1864, Gov ...

, Mekaal studied music at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and his stay there exposed him to a wide variety of music and musicians, many of whom are influences on him to this day. His parents encouraged him to come back to Lahore, Pakistan by offering to build him a studio. So he returned to Lahore in 1995. After some initial hard struggle, Mekaal Hasan had a big musical breakthrough in Pakistan in 2004. In March 2001, Mekaal collaborated with

Pete Lockett Pete Lockett is an English percussionist and recording artist. Lockett is known as a versatile and prolific percussionist, collaborating with many artists. He is well-versed in percussion traditions from music cultures around the world, from tradit ...

in a series of concerts countrywide featuring music written for Pete and classical artists by Mekaal. Mekaal Hasan has worked with many other fellow-musicians like

Ali Azmat Ali Azmat Butt (born 20 April 1970) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the lead singer for the influential Sufi Rock band Junoon and for his subsequent solo career. In 2001, he became part of the first ...

Atif Aslam Atif Aslam is a Pakistani playback singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He has recorded many songs in both Pakistan and India, and is known for his vocal belting technique. Aslam predominantly sings in Urdu, but has also sung in Hindi, ...

, Jal Band,

Noori Noori ( ) is a Pakistani rock band from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, formed in 1996. The group was formed by songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist, Ali Noor, along with his younger brother Ali Hamza, who were soon joined by bassist Muhammad A ...

Zeb and Haniya Zeb and Haniya ( ps, زیب اور حانیا, pronounced as "Zayb aur Haa-nee-ya") was a Pakistani music duo from Kohat, active from 2007 to 2014. The pair have sung songs in Pashto, Urdu, Dari and Turkish, combining pop with folk music to cre ...

Meesha Shafi Meesha Shafi ( ur, ) is a Pakistani-born Canadian singer, actress and model.Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammad Qawwal and many more musicians.

''Pepsi Battle of the Bands''

The band entered the first season of the music television series ''Pepsi Battle of the Bands'', in an effort to win the competition and earn a lucrative album deal from Pepsi. The band finished third, behind

Aaroh Aaroh ( ) is an alternative rock band from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, formed in 1998. The band was founded by keyboardist Kamran Khan and lead guitarist Nabeel Nihal . (This name was given to them by Shoaib Mansoor), who were joined by, Vocalist ...

and

Entity Paradigm Entity Paradigm ( Punjabi, , in English sometimes shortened as EP) was a Pakistani rock band from Lahore, Punjab, formed in 2000. The band was founded by songwriter and guitarist Xulfi, vocalist, songwriter Fawad Khan and keyboardist and vocalis ...

who finished first and second respectively.

''Sampooran'' (2004–2008)

Mekaal Hasan Band released their debut album, ''

Sampooran ''Sampooran'' (Urdu: سمپورن, literal English language, English translation: "complete/perfect") is the debut album of the Music of Pakistan, Pakistani rock (music), rock band Mekaal Hasan Band, released on January 8, 2004. Singles from the ...

'', in 2004 through

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

''Saptak'' (2009–2010)

Mekaal Hasan Band, released their second album in October 2009. They also released their video of a single " Chal Bulleya" on 2 October 2009. On 3 February 2010, the band's vocalist

Javed Bashir Javed Bashir ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 8 August 1973) is a Pakistani playback singer who mainly sings classical songs. Javed has sung songs for many Bollywood movies including ''Cocktail'', ''Kahaani'', ''Rush'', ''Bombay Talkies'', ''Bhaa ...

decided to part ways after working along with the band for 8 years. On 26 December, in an online poll by ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

'', the band's video for their single, "Chal Bulleya", was voted as the best music video of 2010.

''Andholan'' (2014)

Mekaal Hasan Band's latest album featuring the all new lineup was released September 2014 in Pakistan and India across

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Taazi Taazi is a Pakistani website and smartphone application focusing on music. It is the online music streaming service and a digital distributor of Lollywood, Coke Studio and other regional Pakistani music across the world. Taazi describes itself as ...

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights man ...

, and other platforms. Mekaal Hasan Band released just one video from a live performance of the track "Ghunghat". Despite being a live performance, it won song of the year in ''The'' ''Express Tribune'''s Critics Choice and in the reader polls, and was also declared 2014's song of the year by ''Dawn''. The album was removed from

GIMA Awards The Global Indian Music Academy Awards (also known as the GiMA Awards) are presented annually by Global Indian Music Academy to honour and recognise Indian music. The nominees are voted by GiMA's jury, who have some of the most respected artist ...

for having "foreign roots", although the album featured Indian vocalist Sharmistha Chatterjee in all the songs.

Discography

;Studio albums * ''

'' (2004) * ''

Saptak Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of eight notes". It denotes the set of swaras i.e. Ṣaḍja (Sa), Ṛiṣabha (Re), Gāndhāra (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivat (Dha), Niṣāda (Ni), Sadja (Sa) which comprise a musical scale in I ...

'' (2009) * ''

Andholan ''Andholan'' is the third album by the Indo-Pak band, Mekaal Hasan Band, after ''Sampooran'' (2004) and ''Saptak (album), Saptak'' (2009). This album was released in 2014, by Times Music. Release Mekaal Hasan Band started working on the album in ...

'' (2014)

Band members

;Current * Mekaal Hasan –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

(2001–present) * Mohammad Ahsan Papu –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(2001–present) * Sharmistha Chatterjee –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

(2013–present) * Sheldon D'Silva – bass (2013–present) * Gino Banks –

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

(2013–present) ;Former * Riaz Ali Khan –

(2001–2002) * Sameer Ahmed –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2001–2009) * Asad Abbas –

(2010–2011) *

–

(2002–2010,2011–2013) * Amir Azhar – bass (2009–2013) * Kami Paul –

(2012–2013)

Timeline

References

External links

long review
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1999 Pakistani musical trios Pakistani rock music groups Pakistani musical groups Musical groups from Lahore World music groups 1999 establishments in Pakistan Jam bands