There are many unusual things about this duo to whom we are introducing you this week.  Sajid and Zeeshan are one of the few, if not the only, purely English music bands in Pakistan.  They are from Peshawar, which (being in the NWFP) is not a hot bed of any cultural activity which defies fundamentalist views of Islam, including music.  Sajid is a fully trained and highly educated lawyer, who is teaching law at Peshawar University.  Together, they are being dubbed as “Ambassadors of the Peshawar Pukhtoons” for breaking the mould and stepping out with their musical act at a national level. 

Their music and lyrics are really interesting, with a style and quality that’s quite non-denominational compared to what you might expect when first clicking “play”.  They are fast catching on the local scene in terms of popularity and listening to their songs, it seems like a matter of time before they will reach far on the international music scene, if they continue making music as determinedly, backed with the right kind of marketing and exposure.

Here’s what Sajid and Zeeshan shared with us in an exclusive Rendezvous...

1. How would you introduce yourself to our readers?

Sajid: My full name is Sajid Ali Ghafoor; I was born and raised in Peshawar, Pakistan. I teach law at the Peshawar University as an Assistant Professor and am a musician. I need to work to make a living but then I need to do music to actually live. All my life, music has been my only escape rout, be it listening to it or actually creating it. I did my LL.B from Peshawar University, my LL.M from Hull University, UK and a diploma course on Environmental law from Oslo University, Norway. As for music, I sing and play guitars, plus I write songs and compose music. But I went through it the hard way. I never received any training of any sort. Everything was trial and error and I still enjoy the process.

Zeeshan: I call myself an electronic musician, which means I am a person who has rock roots from the 80's but somewhere in the middle decided to change style because he got introduced to the world of synthesizers :) I've been producing electronic music for a couple of years now. I have my own private post production / audio recording facility. During the same time, I started directing music videos for different artists (both mainstream and underground) and for us as well. After three videos, one being officially labeled as Pakistan's first full length hand sketched animated video, I produced our debut album "One Light Year at Snail Speed" which got released through EMI Pakistan.

2. How did you two get together to make music and what can you tell us about the group 'Still'?

Sajid: "Still" was an underground band which I started with the help of my brother and some friends. We were all into music and knew of each others taste and so it was a lot easier to feel comfortable that way. Sarmad (my brother) was on the lead guitars, Tamreez was on the drums, Ziyad was on the bass and I was on the rhythm guitars and vocals. Zeeshan joined the band when "Still" was nearing its end and so we didn’t get an opportunity to play that many gigs with him. Ziyad left for UK for higher studies, Tamreez joined UNHCR and left for Congo, Sarmad moved to Islamabad and started off with his own recording studio and I stayed back in Peshawar. However after a few years, somewhere in 1999, Zeeshan and I got together and just started talking about music in general, we found out very soon that we appreciated each other musical tastes and were interested in doing more music. We got together and decided to record a track. And so the first track we recorded was "King of Self" from our debut album "One light year at snail speed". One thing led to another and we came up with a video for it and released it nationally. Fortunately people appreciated the song and so that's where it all started. We thought why not keep recording and just make an album and so we went on with the same routine, recorded more tracks and made a few more videos and then finally released our album in August 2006.

Zeeshan: I got to meet Sajid back in 1999 because he wanted me to play keyboards for his band "Still" for a couple of concerts in Peshawar. After a few years (2003) we decided we should do something together and fuse our music together to make a new sound, because Sajid had his own style of playing with the guitars and a unique way of singing probably because the genre he wanted to work in was alternative or soft rock. We jammed together for sometime and after producing some instrumentals, "King of Self" was formed in a matter of 45 minutes.

3. You have been part of the underground music scene for a while, what exactly is it and what kind of exposure did you get from it?

Sajid: The underground scene was literally underground. We used to jam in our basement and mostly played for the foreign community as our songs were in English and so they could relate to it more. We didn't get much exposure from doing that, though on a musical level we did learn more and enjoyed every bit of it

Zeeshan: Since Sajid and Zeeshan came out with the single "King of Self", we've been busy doing concerts in different parts of the country, busy making videos, doing TV, radio and print interviews. We got good exposure, Thank God, from loads of people who liked our song. I think being from a place like Peshawar also added to the hype as well, because in those days, nobody could fathom it would be possible. So I’m happy to say that we kind of broke that barrier and started being labeled as "ambassadors of Peshawar Pukhtoons" - I always get a laugh when I hear this. The other reason why I think the general perception about us was good was that we received almost no criticism about us being an English act, because people here generally do tend to pinpoint mistakes and become extremely critical about desi people making English tracks. To sum it up, the overall exposure has been brilliant Masha Allah.

4. You guys are from Peshawar, NWFP (the province least associated with music!). What kind of reaction did you get from there? Did you face any opposition?

Sajid: We cannot put aside the present political scenario as a factor for making music less popular in this province. Having said that, under the present circumstances I believe the reaction from the English music listeners wasn't that bad at all. Though from a perspective of playing live gigs, we surely are suffering here. We still haven’t played in Peshawar as "Sajid and Zeeshan" though I do hope we manage to do that soon.

Zeeshan: Actually, we were praised by countless people for our efforts, which is a good thing. We didn’t face any opposition as such but I would like to take this space to point out a sad fact that still we are not allowed to play gigs here in Peshawar, that's something which we've been dying to do for our hometown. But I’m happy that the young crowd recognizes us for doing something for Peshawar

5. What is your music about? Where do you get your inspiration from?

Sajid: I write songs about things which makes up the person, like happiness, fear, guilt, satisfaction, courage, basically things that we all relate to since we need it all to live through this life. And of course my inspiration is life itself. All that it offers and all that we expect of it. It's a broad subject but then it covers everything and gives me enough room to write without limiting myself.

Zeeshan: I'm not a "lyrics" person so I will definitely shape my sounds to fit in the mood or feeling I would want to express. These feelings have to do a lot with life and how I see things around me, or at times, they are based upon things experienced before. I get my inspiration from everything that comes in our environment, the elements and the miracles of nature that most of us ignore. I get fascinated by the simplest of things.

6. Do you write your own music and lyrics or do you have a team that puts it all together for you?

Sajid: The only team we have is Zeeshan and myself. I write the songs, make the vocal melodies and compose the music and then Zeeshan plays his part by doing the arrangements, recording and production.

Zeeshan: Sajid writes the lyrics and basic melodies for all the tracks. I further produce the data that comes from him and add my bits into it that include arranging and instrumentation (bass, beats, soundscapes and textures, experimentation with all sorts of effects, guitar treatments and overall mixing and mastering that is done at my setup).

7. What kind of music can we expect in the future? Any plans to release Urdu songs?

Sajid: We plan to do another English Album. Though I have recorded some Urdu tracks but don't plan to release it as yet. Might work on an Urdu album in future but not anytime soon

8. What is the future of Pakistani music in your opinion?

Sajid: From a listener's point of view, the future is always bright provided the circumstances are always music friendly.

Zeeshan: The future of Pakistani music, in my opinion, seems quite unpredictable. There's a lot of work going on, but most of it that comes out is formulated. There is good music as well, but most of them generally end up sounding the same. The level of experimentation in the industry is quite low and changes seldom appear. We, as Pakistani artists, have responsibilities to come up with new sorts of dimensions to work on and material that is a complete U turn from past offerings.

9. Being educated individuals, do you feel you can make a difference and take Pakistani pop music to the next level?

Sajid: I sure hope we can do that and if not at least we'll still be happy because we tried.

Zeeshan: I really cant say at this point whether we'll be able to make a difference in the future because practically speaking, our listenership is not as strong as the ones who've been making traditional Urdu tracks with twists. Those guys have huge audiences and I don’t think we'll ever have those. The only difference that I think we've made so far is that we've motivated a lot of young people to take up singing in English and we continue to do that. I would very much like our songs to be part of something that gives back to the society in anyway possible.

10. Tell us about the copyright laws of Pakistan, is anything being done about the piracy situation?

Sajid: Yes we do have Copy Right Laws in Pakistan, so theoretically speaking, yes there is something being done on that front, though practically speaking a lot still needs to be done. It isn't easy to change a system that easily, it surely will take time; it’s a major problem in this part of the world

Zeeshan: We are signed artists of EMI Pakistan, a sound and legit company that does not deal with the pirates in the country, but still because of Piracy, there was no control over distribution as such. It's planted its roots so deep in the system that it's going to take ages to get rid of it.  We were informed a year back that piracy laws will be implemented somewhere this year. But to be honest, I don’t see that happening even next year. There is foreign pressure on companies, like the one we've signed up with, to correct this, but there are many who believe that maybe this is the best system for Pakistan. You will REALLY need a team as big as the national assembly to enforce piracy laws and to make sure they get enforced properly.

11. Lastly, any message for the readers of The Saturday Post?

Sajid: Please don't discriminate when it comes to music. No music is bad if it sounds good. Pakistan has some great bands and we need all the support we can get. Plus one more thing. Have a great weekend :-)

Zeeshan: Look out for our stuff, go to our website www.sajidandzeeshan.com, and eat at Subway!