Qayaas ( ) was a progressive

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from Islamabad, Pakistan, founded in 2008 by lead guitarist and songwriter,

Khurram Waqar Khurram Waqar (Urdu:خرّم وقار) is a multi-award-winning guitarist/producer from Pakistan who also directs and produces his own music videos. He has been part of various rock outfits for the last 2 decades with varying degree of commerc ...

, who was soon joined by vocalists

Umair Jaswal Umair Jaswal is a Pakistani actor, singer-songwriter and music producer from Islamabad. He was also lead vocalist of the rock band ''Qayaas''. Umair is the brother of singers Yasir Jaswal and Uzair Jaswal. Personal life Jaswal, whose fa ...

and Mohammad Hashir Ibrahim, guitarist

Sarmad Abdul Ghafoor Sarmad Ghafoor (born November 5, 1975 in London, United Kingdom) is a Pakistani record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released two albums, one with Rungg (his former band), and one with Qayaas (his current band). He has ...

, bassist Shaheryar Ghayas and drummer Salman Rafique, completing the band's lineup.Qayaas band interview BBC Urdu (in urdu)
Retrieved on 27 May 2011. The band is well known for being one of the few bands to have brought progressive rock music in Pakistan. They achieved fame with the release of the single "Tanha" in 2009, followed by the success of the song "Umeed" which became one of the most requested songs on

City FM 89 CityFM89 is a Pakistani radio station, headquartered in Karachi and broadcast from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad. It was established in July 2004 and is a subsidiary company of the Dawn Media Group. It had an objective to set a trend ...

when released in an audio CD with "Tanha". The release of the single began to create a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

for the band, the following year the song "Mera Wana" by the band featured on the compilation album, '' Metal Asia Compilation'' in 2010, composed of

metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

from throughout Asia. Soon afterwards, the band released second music video "Pukaar" which was dedicated to the 2010 Pakistan flood victims and then went on recording and releasing their debut studio album '' Uss Paar'' in 2011, which was recorded at Root Gate Studios and released by BIY Records, throughout the country. The album was critically acclaimed and received many favourable reviews from critics. The success of the album led the band to become the first band from Pakistan to be invited to perform at one of the biggest and most prestigious music festivals in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

called

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

. Qayaas has also won many awards and allocations, including the "Best Rock Band" award at the Rolling Stones-Jack Daniels awards in 2010. The band's song "Inquilaab" made it to the Semi Finals of International Songwriting Competition (ISC) out of 15,000 entries from all over the globe.

History

Formation (2008)

Qayaas started when

first saw

performing at a jam with his band SilverSmoke at his studio, Root Gate Studio, in Islamabad. For Khurram, who was already in a band called kNuMB, things weren’t progressing, due to the lead vocalist of the band living out of the country. Although kNuMB had enough material for an album, Khurram decided to put it on a hold and then contacted Umair and invited him to work on material that he had written, which initially started out as an acoustic EP, later turned into a full-length studio album. The line up was completed when other members came into the scene. First, Khurram recruited

on vocals, then

, who previously played for

Rung Rung may refer to: * Rung (band), a Pakistan band * ''Rung'' (album), an album by Hadiqa Kiyani * Rung languages, a proposed group of Tibeto-Burman languages * Rung, an ethnic group of people inhabiting the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, ...

, on rhythms, bassist Shaheryar Ghayas, and drummer Salman 'Fifu' Rafique, the latter who were both playing for the band Surge at that time. Khurram came up with the name Qayaas. Upon formation, lead guitarist Khurram Waqar said, "Qayaas literally translated as "deliberation" is not only the name of our band but the essence that encapsulates the entire philosophy behind our music. The idea or feeling taking birth in one band member’s mind is developed and brought to fruition by collective deliberation or Qayaas by the whole band, explained the lead guitarist, and the sole founder of the band, Khurrum Waqar. Five different people, their different moods, outlooks and music philosophies harmoniously blend to form compositions that reflect the true spirit and creative energy of our band; unadulterated in this wondrous journey by commercial concerns or other shortcuts." In June, 2008, the band officially came to being and had started to jam, working on releasing an acoustic album. The first song the band worked on was "Pal", which was followed by the band's second song written "Tanha", which was initially an acoustic song to which distorted guitar riffs by Khurram and drumming by Fifu were added. While

always had a good voice, it was lead guitarist, Khurrum Waqar, who coached him to gain his full potential. After "Tanha", Qayaas made songs pretty easily and started to work on their debut studio album.

Rise to fame (2009-2010)

In 2009, after the band's formation, the band then went on releasing two songs "Umeed" and "Tanha" which were made exclusively made available for digital download at the band's website. They achieved fame with the release of the single "Tanha" in 2009, followed by the success of the song "Umeed" which became one of the most requested songs on

when released in an audio CD with "Tanha". The release of the single began to create a

for the band. And on 12 October, the band went on releasing their debut music video for the song "Tanha", which ranked amongst the top 15 videos of 2009 by MTV Pakistan. On 9 November, Qayaas performed live at ATV show ''Boom Online''. India on 16 December 2010. Visible from left to right are; vocalist

and lead guitarist

. On 12 September 2010, Qayaas went on releasing their third single "Mera Wana", which later on featured on the compilation album, '' Metal Asia Compilation'', composed of

from throughout Asia. The band then went on releasing a music video teaser for the single and said "This is our statement against the so called "War on Terror". It is ironic that they kill civilians including women and young children through drone strikes yet talk about making this world a peaceful place. We as a nation are going through a tough time. There is need for motivation but that can be achieved by coming out of our state of denial and accepting the facts on ground. For once, this should not be politicized further as it has certainly not helped. We need to take into account a common man’s view and expand upon it. In the end, they can do whatever they want but we are here and we are not going anywhere." On 16 October, the band released their second music video and fourth single "Pukaar" which was dedicated to the 2010 Pakistan flood victims. On 12 December, Qayaas became the first band from Pakistan to win the "Best Rock Band" at the Rolling Stones-Jack Daniels annual rock award, held in New Delhi, India. The band had the honour of being chosen for the award from a nomination of more than 25 rock bands from Pakistan including some well known names. On 16 December, Qayaas went on performing at their first international concert at Hard Rock Cafe, New Delhi along with the band Half Step Down. On 23 December, Qayaas confirmed their plans about working on compiling their English material in the form of an album. On 27 December, three songs, "Inquilaab", "Khayaal" and "Pal", were given by the band to be part of the soundtrack to the film '' Waar'' directed by

Bilal Lashari Bilal Lashari is a Pakistani filmmaker, cinematographer, screenwriter and occasional actor. He made his directorial debut with ''Waar'' (2013), which at the time of release became Pakistan's List of highest-grossing Pakistani films, highest-gros ...

and starring Pakistani actor Shaan Shahid.

Success (2011-present)

On 2 January 2011, Qayaas released the music video of their single "Umeed" directed by Shandana Sarmad. On 23 April, Qayaas released their debut studio album '' Uss Paar'', which was recorded at Root Gate Studios and released by BIY Records, throughout the country. The album was critically acclaimed and received many favourable reviews from critics. On 8 May, Qayaas released the music video of their fifth single "Shehrezade", from their debut album, directed by Omair Hyder. On 12 June, the band re-released a, story version, music video for their single "Umeed", directed by Shandana Sarmad who also directed the previous music video for the single. In November 2012,

Shahryar Ghayas and Salman Rafique left the band for personal reasons.- Sarmad Ghafoor Left Qayaas
Retrieved on 10 Dec 2012.

Awards and nominations

Qayaas won the "Best Rock Band" award at the Rolling Stones-Jack Daniels awards in 2010, becoming the first band from Pakistan to win the award. The band had the honour of being chosen for the award from a nomination of more than 25 rock bands from Pakistan which also included some well known names.

Discography

;Studio albums *'' Uss Paar'' (2011) ;Singles *''Heal'' (2012) *'' Charkha Nolakha'' with Atif aslam at Coke Studio Pakistan in Season 5 (2012) *'' Cut My Wings'' (2013)

Band members

;Current members *

- vocals (2008–present) *

- lead guitar (2008–present) *Rahail Siddiqui - bass guitar (2014–present) *Asfendyar Ahmad -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion (2014–present) ;Former members *

- lead guitar,

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

(2008–2012) *Shaheryar Ghayas - bass guitar (2008–2012) *Salman 'Fifu' Rafique -

, percussion (2008–2012) *Shahzad Hameed - bass guitar (2012–2014) *Kamran Farooque-

, percussion (2012–2014)

Timeline

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qayaas Musical groups from Islamabad Musical groups established in 2008 Musical quartets Pakistani heavy metal musical groups Pakistani progressive rock groups Progressive metal musical groups Alternative rock groups