Pakistani rock is a variety of rock music that is largely produced in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Pakistani rock incorporates elements of both

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

–

American rock American rock has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also drew on folk music, jazz, blues, and classical music. American rock music was further influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop ...

and Pakistani classical music. Since the 1980s, Pakistani rock has had its own distinctive elements, such as a homegrown class of sounds and melodies, spanning progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal, initially influencing the development of heavy metal music in the late 1990s. Pakistani rock is almost entirely sung in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Punjabi,

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

, Sindhi and English languages.

History

New wave of music (1980–1989)

Rock music in Pakistan began in the 1980s with the arrival of cassettes by Western rock music groups such as Pink Floyd,

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, Deep Purple and

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

. By 1983-85, local underground rock groups began to perform at five-star hotels and university campuses across the country. The genre began rooted in the ultraconservative regime of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

who had denounced the

Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

and put forwarded the program of Islamized transformation of the country. In mid-1985,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

-influenced rock music began to be noticed by the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

, and underground concerts were held all over the country. The quick success of the music jolted the country in a time when President General Zia-ul-Haq was reigning supreme as a dictator masquerading as "democratically elected." The President with a puppet parliament sanctioning his every move reeking of a Machiavellian brand of so-called "Islamisation." President Zia-ul-Haq had famously and strongly denounced " western ideas" such as jeans and

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

. Various groups had garnered and got the attention of the public, and the genre began to be appreciated as it was out of the ordinary. These

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

and economic tensions and pretensions, heavy metal, rock music power plays, and the economic prosperity also propelled the gradual expansion of the country's urban middle and lower-middle-classes. According to the leftist cultural critic Nadeem F. Paracha, "The youth culture at that time emerged from these classes that launched the first shots of the kind of pop culture, scene and music we now call modern Pakistani pop and rock." In 1986, Benazir Bhutto returned to the country and held a mammoth rally that weakened the conservative President Zia. The country’s major urban music media centres saw a quiet but steady outpouring of brand new rock bands who wanted to sound somewhat different than the time's top pop-rock scions. During the peak and end times of

regime In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

of President

, there was popular wave of cultural change in the country, and the youth at that time was attracted to many underground rock music bands. In 1986, the

Vital Signs Vital signs (also known as vitals) are a group of the four to six most crucial medical signs that indicate the status of the body's vital (life-sustaining) functions. These measurements are taken to help assess the general physical health of a ...

,(predominantly a pop band) released its very first singl
Do Pal Ka Jeevan
which became an ultimate success and the band built its reputation in Pakistan's underground music industry. The rock music bands and trios came to be perceived by many Pakistani fans and country's cultural observers as a "promising new era of cultural revival". Their enormous popularity significantly opened a new wave of

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 aspe ...

and a modern chapter in the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

of Pakistan. In the 1980s, rock bands including the Strings, The Barbarians, The Final Cut, Jupiters, Junoon, and

gained a lot of public appraisal and popularity; the public opinion was generally positive and welcomed the bands for their uniqueness. NTM, launched a show titled Music Channel Charts to highlight new talent every week due to popular youth demand.

Continuing success (1990–present)

Vital Signs were followed by Junoon, Awaz, Strings, Karawan and Jupiters, all of whom had exploded the pop, rock and heavy metal music genre in the country, bringing the significant shift of country's transformation into modernism during the 1990s. The Pakistani rock further matured itself and gained public appraisalwith the arrival of American

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

in the 1990s. The popular form of music quickly spread throughout the country and with that came the arrival of various rock bands in the 1990s. Early rock bands such as

and Junoon are regarded as the pioneers of Pakistan's rock music. Other bands such as Strings began in the mid 1990s and during the late 1990s underground bands were becoming a norm in cities across Pakistan. In a short span of time, the Western-influenced rock bands gained enormous popularity and were generally welcomed by the public. The Music Channel Charts aired to NTM became the first pop/rock music entity that used to give ratings to pop/rock bands and singers. Music '89 was the first ever all pop/rock music stage-show to be aired on PTV. Cities such as

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

and

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 ...

witnessed an explosion of rock bands and concerts in 2000 as Pakistan began to liberalize under President

Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

's " enlightened moderation" campaign. In 2002, a major shift in the rock music of Pakistan occurred with the arrival of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands, which saw bands like Aaroh, Mizraab, Entity Paradigm and

Mekaal Hasan Band Mekaal Hasan Band (, sometimes shortened to MHB) is an international sufi rock band formed in Lahore, Pakistan in 2000 by composer, singer-songwriter and guitarist Meekal Hasan. The band members have roots in different genres, including pop, ro ...

appear onto the scene. Finally Pakistan saw good rock music, with respectable instrument playing. In 2006 Raeth spread waves across the border by their debut song Bhula Doh. Vital Signs emerged during the times of Pakistan when country was controversially put forwarded towards the

Islamization Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...

. With the rise of Vital Signs and later, Junoon and others, the rock music, exploded in the 1980s and 1990s, became a vehicle for expressing patriotic nationalist spirit in Pakistan. Undoubtedly, the rock music has been one major influential force which has truly kept the national spirits high amidst the prevailing social woes which had worsened in since the 1980s, such music included songs like " Dil Dil Pakistan", Jazba Junoon, Jaago and many more. In 1980, such Western ideas were denounced in the country, and the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, p ...

was declining quick to compete with counterrevolution of

Indian film industry The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

. According to the editorial written in ''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English language, English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the ''Daily Express (Urdu newspaper), Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliat ...

'' in 2011, the "Vital Signs and Pakistan's ingenious rock music was the only "arsenal" the country had against India's encroaching entertainment industry."

Sufi rock

Contemporary rock

Several popular bands, including EP,

Call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

, and Noori, have been integral in revitalizing the rock culture in Pakistan.

Heavy metal

After the successful emergence of Vital Signs in the 1980s and Junoon in the 1990s, the heavy metal music genre began to rise after the 1997 general elections. The roots of Pakistani heavy metal music can be traced back to the

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

when it was transferred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the 1980s, the bands Final Cut and Barbarians are considered the earliest Pakistani heavy metal bands. Although they were short-lived, they influenced many other musicians. Guitarist Salman Ahmad gained fame for his unique style of playing Sufi-style and neoclassical musics in heavy metal form. The second wave of heavy metal artists, including bands such as Dhun, which was Fawad Baloch's more conventional metal project, Black Hour, Ehl-e-Rock, Inferner, and Black Warrant, which still continues to promote the genre. The most notable and productive work on heavy metal genre was bestowed and carried out by Mizraab, whose '' Panchi'' album was an ultimate success in this genre. Guitarist

Faraz Anwar Faraz Anwar ( Urdu: فراز انور; b.15 July 1976) is a Pakistani musician, composer, singer-songwriter, bandleader, and a guitarist who founded the ''Mizraab'', a heavy metal music and hard rock genre band based in Pakistan. His musical ac ...

of Mizraab's solo

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

work is widely noticed by the public and news channels dubbed Anwar as "Pakistan's master of progressive-metal rock."Daily Times (Pakistan)"> In recent studies and reports conducted by

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, heavy metal is one of Pakistan's most popular genres of music, and country's radio FMs broadcast the music each week. Since 2004, the

economic liberalization Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...

programmes of

Prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Shaukat Aziz which helped open the new Pakistan TV and several music video channels, have triggered the underground heavy metal movements in cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Although Mizraab, a band led by

that is considered to be Pakistan's first progressive metal band, have also played a significant role in promoting the growth of metal music in Pakistan.Daily Times (Pakistan)"/> Furthermore, bands such as Black Hour, Takatak, Messiah and Foreskin are examples of significant metal bands that have surfaced in the past five years.

Famous bands

Aaroh Aaroh ( ) is an alternative rock band from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, formed in 1998. The band was founded by keyboardist Kamran Khan and lead guitarist Nabeel Nihal . (This name was given to them by Shoaib Mansoor), who were joined by, Vocalist ...

* EP * Fuzön * Jal * Bayaan * Josh * Junoon * Karavan * The Kominas * Laal * Mauj *

* Mizraab * Noori * Takatak * Overload * Roxen *

Sajid & Zeeshan Sajid & Zeeshan ( pronounced as "Saa-jid and Zeesh-shaan") are a Pakistani electronic music duo from Peshawar, composed of Sajid Ghafoor (guitars and harmonicas) and Zeeshan Parwez (synths, laptops and FX modules). Both members released their d ...

* Saturn * The Sketches * Strings * Awaz *

References

{{rock Pakistani rock music