Akher Zapheer ( ar, أخِر زَفير meaning Last Exhale) is a

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

Arabic rock band from

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

, formed in late 2007. The band was founded by

vocalist 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 ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Basem Sayej who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes. The current line-up consists of Basem alongside Rami Alqasem (

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 ...

) Amr Abukhlif (

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 ...

) and Masis Mardirossian (

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 ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

)

History

Formation and debut album (2007-2012)

Akher Zapheer's

frontman 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 the ...

Basem Sayej discovered his passion towards

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

at an early age mentioning that he started writing songs when he was 12 and kept writing during his

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...

before forming the band. The band's name, which means "Last Exhale" simply refers to the relief after getting things off chest. Basem Sayej also mentioned that the name was inspired by

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

’s exhale while performing Nirvana’s "

Where Did You Sleep Last Night "In the Pines", also known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", "My Girl" and "Black Girl", is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, "In the Pines" and "The Longest Train", both of whose authorship is unknown and date back ...

". Basem co-founded Akher Zapheer with his childhood friend and neighbor,

Salem Dallal. Basem said that he used to write songs in English, then he stopped and starting writing in Arabic instead. Basem and Salem kept writing songs until they met

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 ...

Kayed Qunibi and then they started jamming together at Kayed’s building which made them face troubles with the neighbors,so they moved their instruments into Mohamed Salem’s library in one of

’s loudest and busiest streets so no one could be annoyed by their jams. The band’s first

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

was Mohammad Awwad who was originally a guitarist but he agreed to turn into

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

in order to join the band. Akher Zapheer kept rehearsing together until they met sound engineer and

musical producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Sari Abuladel who liked their music and decided to make an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

with the band. Akher Zapheer started working on the new album besides performing

live shows Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

which helped building a fanbase for the

ian rockers. The bassist Mohamed Al ali left the band between 2009/2010 and was replaced by bassist Yazan Risheq. In 2011, Akher Zapheer released their

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

and most successful song to the day "Akherto Lahen Hazeen" as a

video clip Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...

. It was the first single from their

debut Debut or début (the first public appearance of a person or thing) may refer to: * Debut (society), the formal introduction of young upper-class women to society * Debut novel, an author's first published novel Film and television * ''The Debu ...

album ''Converse Culture''. Starting from October 2012, Akher Zapheer started releasing their album which consisted of 11 songs as a song per day. On January 2, 2013, Akher Zapheer released "Arba’ Seneen" the final song of their album as a Video clip. "Converse Culture" was well received by the audience and helped the band to expand its fanbase and become one of the best bands in the

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

scene. At late 2013, Akher Zapheer released an acoustic version of their new single "Bein el waraq" which featured only Basem Sayej and Yazan Risheq on

acoustic guitars An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Hiatus (2013-2016) - (2016-2018)

Akher Zapheer took a break for 3 years due to Basem's engagement outside of

. Basem took advantage of these 3 years writing new material for their new album ''Emm Elmousiqa''. The band reformed in 2016 with 3 new members:

Rami Alqasem,

Abdulrahman Alatari and

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 ...

Motaz Almasri, replacing the former ones to start promoting for their new album. The new formation of the band performed four live shows together between

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

before going on a

hiatus Hiatus may refer to: *Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure *Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species ''Hiatus fulvipes'' *Globa ...

once again for 2 years.

Comeback and new music (2018- )

In September 2018, a shocking

comeback Comeback, The Comeback or Come Back may refer to: General * Comeback (publicity), a return to prominence by a well-known person * Comeback (retort), a witty response to an insult or criticism * Comeback (sports), an event where an athlete or team ...

was announced when Akher Zapheer's name headlined

ian

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

" Music Park 2 ". The band returned with the same members except for

Abdulrahman Alatari who joined Autostrad during Akher Zapheer's hiatus and was replaced by

Amr Abukhlif. The band mentioned during its first interaction with the fans after the comeback that as soon as they are done with "Music Park 2" they are gonna be fully active and will start working on their new album ''Emm Elmousiqa''. Basem Sayej also added that he wrote new material in 2018 for a 3rd album that will be named ''Tho’ban''. On October 5, 2018, Akher Zapheer performed at Music Park festival for an epic comeback performance. The setlist featured songs from their debut album ''Converse Culture'' and their next 2 albums ''Emm Elmousiqa'' and ''Tho’ban''. In March 2019, It was announced that Akher Zapheer are participating in Redbull Soundclash in

playing against

ian band Autostrad on April 4 of the same year. Akher Zapheer showed a huge talent at Redbull Soundclash and their performance was admired by the thousdands who attended the show as they played a couple of their most rocking songs on the Warm-up round. And covered Egyptian veteran Mohamed Mounir’s " Ashky Lmeen " turning it into a rock tune on " The Cover " round. Akher Zapheer’s performance witnessed their talent in playing different genres other than

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 ...

such as:

Jazz 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 ...

Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and Electronic. On May 2019, Photos of Akher Zapheer in rehearsal room showed Masis Mardirossian on drums replacing Motaz Almasri who left the band. Masis played his very first live performance with Akher Zapheer on PPTT Red Online Concert. The band’s performance featured 3 of their big hits in addition to a new song named "Kaslan". In June 2019, Akher Zapheer performed in the celebration of

Europe Day Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union. The first recognition of Europe Day was by the Council of Europe, introduced in 1964. The European Un ...

. In July 2019, Akher Zapheer headlined

ian

"Redbull Local Vocals". In August 2019, Akher Zapheer Played an epic

sold out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal gai ...

show in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. The band's performance was 2 hours long and the setlist contained 22 songs. In October 2019, Akher Zapheer played their very first gig in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Emm Elmousiqa and live gigs

On January 3, 2020, Akher Zapheer released a Video clip of their new song Metfaje’ as the first single of their new album " Emm Elmousiqa ". Emm Elmousiqa is the band's second studio album that came after 8 years from the release of their debut album ''Converse Culture''. The 2nd album was released as singles and contained 10 songs. On January 9, Akher Zapheer headlined the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

Event in

. On March 5, Akher Zapheer played an epic sold-out show at Elsawy Culture Wheel in Egypt.

Tho3ban 2022

On June 8th, Akher Zapheer released the song Shakhsi El da’em ( My Permanent Person ) as the first single from their third Studio album “ Tho3ban “. Shakshi El da’em’s Video Clip was shot in Beirut and was directed by Basem’s sister, Sandra Sayej. On June 14th, Akher Zapheer released Urtuwazi as the second single of Tho3ban. The footage of Urtuwazi’s Video Clip was fully generated by Artificial Intelligence, the first of it’s kind in the Middle East. On June 17th, Akher Zapheer released their third studio album Tho3ban, containing 7 Tracks. DotMsr: "آخر زفير".. رمز الموسيقى الأردنية المستقلة

Musical style, lyrical themes and influences

Throughout its career, Akher Zapheer has been described as

Alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

Grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

Hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

, Punk rock. The band's musical style is hugely influenced and driven by the grunge scene in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. The band has mentioned that they have been influenced by many bands such as:

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

, Duman,

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

, Deftones,

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

, Arctic Monkeys, Slipknot and Dream Theatre. Akher Zapheer songs are all written by Basem Sayej. The band's lyrics are mainly melancholic and enraged. Akher Zapheer lyrics tackle social issues, political issues, love and depression. Basem Sayej mentioned that all the lyrics are inspired by true events that influenced him to write about. Sayej discussed his writing process mentioning that he always has to be sad in order to write new songs and he has never been able to write new songs while he was happy. File:Akher Zapheer Music Park 2018.jpg, Music Park 2018 File:Akher Zapheer Soundclash 2019.jpg, Soundclash 2019 File:Red bull local vocals-akher zapheer-26.jpg, Redbull Local Vocals 2019 File:Akher Zapheer Europe Day Concert.jpg, Akher Zapheer at the Boulevard 2019 File:Akher Zapheer Alexandria.jpg, Alexandria 2019 File:Akher Zapheer Beirut .jpg, Beirut 2019

Members

;Present *Basem Sayej - electric guitar and vocals (2007–Present) *Rami Alqasem - Bass guitar (2016–Present) *Amr Abukhlif - Lead guitar (2018–Present) *Masis Mardirossian - drums (2019–Present) ;Past *Mohammad Awwad - Bass Guitar (2007-2009) *Kayed Qunibi - Drums (2007 - 2013) *Salem Dallal - Lead Guitar (2007-2013) *Yazan Risheq - Bass guitar (2009-2013) *Motaz Almasri - Drums (2016-2019)

Discography

Albums

*Converse Culture (2012) *Emm El Mousiqa (2020) *Tho3ban (2022)

References

16. ^akher zapheer at music park 2 (2018) 17. ^akher zapheer live at redbull soundclash 2019

External links

* {{Authority control Jordanian rock music groups