''Uss Paar'' (Urdu: اس پار, literal English translation: "over there") is the debut studio album of the Pakistani

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Qayaas Qayaas ( ) was a progressive rock band from Islamabad, Pakistan, founded in 2008 by lead guitarist and songwriter, Khurram Waqar, who was soon joined by vocalists Umair Jaswal and Mohammad Hashir Ibrahim, guitarist Sarmad Abdul Ghafoor, bassist ...

, released on 23 April 2011 on BIY Records. The album was recorded and composed by founder, songwriter and lead guitarist

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 ...

. However, the release of the album earned the band a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim. ''Uss Paar'' is released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Five singles have been released in promotion of the album along with their music videos; "Tanha" in 2009, "Pukaar" in October 2010, "Umeed" and "Shehrezade" in 2011.

Conception

Background

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.Qayaas band interview BBC Urdu (in urdu)
Retrieved on 27 May 2011. After "Tanha", Qayaas made songs pretty easily and started to work on their debut studio album. 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

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. And on 12 October, the band went on releasing their debut

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song "Tanha", which ranked amongst the top 15 videos of 2009 by

MTV Pakistan MTV Pakistan was the Pakistani subsidiary of MTV, a cable television network owned by Viacom. The Pakistan franchise was set up in collaboration with Pakistan's first satellite channel media group known as Indus Media Group (Indus TV). ''Indu ...

. 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

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 Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. The band then also went on releasing a music video teaser for the single. 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 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 ...

to win the "Best Rock Band" at the Rolling Stones-Jack Daniels annual rock award, held in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The band had the honour of being chosen for the award from a nomination of 25 plus 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 Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and rol ...

, New Delhi along with the band Half Step Down. 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 and starring Pakistani actor

Shaan Shahid Armaghan Shahid PP ( ur, ; born 27 April 1971), better known by his stage names Shaan Shahid ( ur, ) or Shaan, is a Pakistani actor, producer, model, writer and director. Shaan has established himself as one of the most popular leading acto ...

. On 2 January 2011, Qayaas released the music video of their single "Umeed" directed by Shandana Sarmad.

Reception

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, Instep magazine gave the album a 3.5/5 rating.Qayaas’s debut album goes the whole nine yards and then some
Retrieved on 27 May 2011.

Track listing

All music composed & arranged by

except "Halaak" by

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 ...

. All songs written by Umair Jaswal, those which are not are mentioned below.

Personnel

All information is taken from the CD. ;Qayaas *Umair Jaswal -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

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 ...

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 ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Shaheryar Ghayas -

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 ...

*Salman 'Fifu' Rafique -

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 A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

;Production *Produced by

and

*Recorded by

and

*Engineered & mixed by

and

*Recorded & mixed at Root Gate Studios and S&M Studios,

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

*Mastered at S&M Studios *Cover concept and design by Coffin Feeder (Kamran) *Photography by Irfan Ahson *Additional artwork by

Mobeen Ansari Mobeen (Arabic: مبين; Persian: موبین) (also Mubeen, Mobin, Mubin) is a given name derived from an Arabic word (مبين), which is used as a poetic adjective in literature, speech and religious contexts. The name can be translated as 'di ...

, Sher Ali, Usman Malkani, UT, Shandana Sarmad & Harjas Singh

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uss Paar 2011 debut albums Qayaas albums Urdu-language albums