Saif Samejo (born 23 January 1984) is a musician and founder, lead vocalist and songwriter of the Pakistani Sufi folk band The Sketches. In May 2014 he opened the first music Aashram (School) in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
, Sindh named as "Lahooti Music Aashram". He composed music for Dastan-e '' Momal Rano'' on the show ''Coke Studio''.
Early life and education
Saif Samejo was born on January 23, 1984 in Khairpur, Sindh. He studied
bachelors
A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". ().
Etymo ...
University of Sindh
The University of Sindh ( ur, ; sd, سنڌ يونيورسٽي; informally known as Sindh University) is a public research university in Pakistan located in the city of Jamshoro. It is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan and was certifi ...
.
Music career
With a consistency The Sketches climbed up the ladder of success in not just parts of Sindh but the entire Pakistan with popular hits including "Nind Nashe Vich", "Rano", "Raat", "Main Sufi Hoon", and "
Meena
Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the st ...
".
Recently a new music album ''YOU ( sd, تون)'' and a new song ''Jogi'' was launched.
Saif collaborated with
Mai Dhai
Mai Dhai ( ur, مای دھائی) is a Pakistani classical singer hailing from Tharparkar, Sindh. She formed a folk-band called Mai Dhai Band composed of Jamal Shab, a harmonium player and dhol player, Muhammad Fakir. Mai and her band has p ...
to present the original Rajasthani flavor of music besides this he also intended to collaborate with other artist through Lahooti Music Ashram.
Lahooti Live Sessions
Lahooti Live Sessions launched by Saif Samejo in June 2013, is a weekly activity where different musicians from Sindh gather at Samejo's place to play live music. The audio and video of the performances is recorded and released on
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
. Samejo himself is the front man of the Jamshoro-based rock band The Sketches, and the Lahooti Sessions are in the vein of something that he has wanted to do for a long time; cultural preservation in its most unadulterated form. Lahooti live sessions appears as a dream come true for him.
''"The aim was not only to record these musicians, but to do so in the highest possible audio-visual quality so that they can be presented in an equally good manner on social media,"'' Samejo adds.
Around 50 different
folk musicians
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
have been recorded and released as part of the Lahooti live sessions and most of them have never been exposed to the camera or the recording equipment before. Some prominent names include
Mai Dhai
Mai Dhai ( ur, مای دھائی) is a Pakistani classical singer hailing from Tharparkar, Sindh. She formed a folk-band called Mai Dhai Band composed of Jamal Shab, a harmonium player and dhol player, Muhammad Fakir. Mai and her band has p ...
Thatta
Thatta ( sd, ٺٽو; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh. Thatta was the medieval capital of Sindh, and served as the seat of power for three successive dynasties. Thatta's historic significance has yielded several monuments in and ...
– Ali Mohammad and Feroz Roonjho, Manjhi Faqeer, Talib Talari, Mai Hanjoo and Mohammad Hassan.
Lahooti Music Aashram
The Lahooti School of music is an extension of the Lahooti Live Sessions that Saif started a year before, with the intent of preserving indigenous instruments and instrumentalists. Lahooti music school named as Lahooti Music Aashram is the first proper music school in Hyderabad/Jamshoro inaugurated in May 2014.
The school offers a thirty-six-hour learning module in keyboards, guitars, bass guitars and drums amongst western instruments and chung, ''boreendo'', ''
shehnai
The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.flute and
dholak
The ''dholak'' is a two-headed hand drum, a folk percussion instrument. The instrument is about 45 cm in length and 27 cm in breadth and is widely used in '' qawwali'', '' kirtan'', ''lavani'' and '' bhangra''. The drum has two differ ...
/
tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబలఠ...
, along with other percussion instruments closer to home. Later on the students who show interest in the field of music production will also be provided with studio facilities to harness their skills.
Meena
Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the st ...