Asad Ahmed (born 21 July 1971) is a Pakistani guitarist. He has been a member of various musical groups and some of the earliest Pakistani rock bands like The Barbarians,

Awaz Awaz ( ) was a Pakistani pop band that formed in Islamabad in 1992. The group was formed by Haroon Rashid, lead vocalist, who was soon joined by keyboardist Faakhir Mehmood and lead guitarist Asad Ahmed. Awaz were one of the pioneer band ...

Karavan Karavan ( ) was a hard rock band hailing from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, formed in 1997. The band was founded Asad Ahmed, former lead guitarist of Awaz, and bassist Sameer Ahmed. They were joined by drummer Allan Smith and vocalist Najam Sh ...

, Junoon,

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 ...

and

Coke Studio Pakistan ''Coke Studio Pakistan'' () is a Pakistani television programme and a part of the international music franchise, Coke Studio, which features studio-recorded music performances by established and emerging artists. It is the longest-running annua ...

Early life

His family moved to

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

when he was quite young. His elder brother was a guitarist and when he left for college, he left his guitar back at home. Asad picked it up and quickly learned to play. His family returned to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

in 1984.

Personal life

On 14 February 2019, Ahmed married Hira after dating her for two years. They got married in a nikah ceremony surrounded by close family and friends in Karachi.

Career

Coke Studio (Pakistan)

Asad played in '' Coke Studio'' (Produced by

Rohail Hyatt Rohail Hyatt (Urdu: روحیل حیات) is a Pakistani record producer, keyboardist, and composer. As a record producer, Hyatt is largely credited with pioneering Pakistani pop rock music by incorporating western rock and pop influences. In ...

) and was one of the house band members from season 2 (2008) to season 6 (2012) and reappeared in Season 13 in 2020. His style of guitar playing has some flashy showmanship in it.

The Barbarians

Asad started his music career in 1987 with The Barbarians, which is regarded by many as

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

's first rock band. The band's first single "Yeh Zindagi Hai" (This is Life) set the foundation of Pakistani rock. They released their only album, the self-titled "The Barbarians" in 1989 with the label EMI (Pakistan), which did not fare well in the then rock-repellant Pakistani music industry. ''The Barbarians'' band fell apart in 1990.

Junoon and Vital Signs

Asad did a gig with

Salman Ahmad Salman Ahmad (, born 12 December 1963) is a Pakistani born-American musician, rock guitarist, physician, activist, occasional actor and professor at the City University of New York. He earned nationwide popularity in 1998 for his unique sty ...

of Junoon at a party in 1991. On

Salman Salman may refer to: People * Salman (name), people with the name Places in Iran * Salman, Khuzestan, a village in Khuzestan Province * Salman, alternate name of Deh-e Salman, Lorestan, a village in Lorestan Province * Salman, Razavi Khorasa ...

's invitation, he hopped on board with Junoon band and played bass with them for about a year. In a performance at Marriott Hotel

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

in November 1992, he met

Haroon Harun (, ), also transliterated as Haroon or Haroun or Hamroun, is a common male given name of Arabic origin, related to the Hebrew name of the Prophet Aaron. Both are most likely of Egyptian origin, from '' ꜥḥꜣ rw'', meaning "warrior lion". ...

and

Faakhir Faakhir Mehmood (; born 20 April 1973) is a Pakistani actor, singer, keyboradist, composer and music producer. He started out his career with the Pakistani musical group Awaz. However, due to conflicts of interest, the band split in 2000 and t ...

and

. This led to his performances on

Aitebar ''Aitebar'' was the third album of the Pakistani band Vital Signs. Track listing All music arranged, composed and produced by Vital Signs. All songs written by Shoaib Mansoor. Personnel All information is taken from the CD. ;Vital Sign ...

and Hum Tum.

Awaz

was formed in December 1992, by

and Asad Ahmed. The band went on to become the next best thing in Pakistani pop scene after

. Awaz were highly skilled and talented musicians, producers and composers. The band's skill at composing and producing was often overlooked and the focus was on their good looks, glossy videos, catch songs and wild stage performances. Awaz was the first band from Pakistan to appear on MTV on 20 April 1992 with the song ''Jan-e-Man''. Awaz released three albums. The first album was the self-titled album ''Awaz'', more commonly known as ''Awaz 1''. The second album was ''Jadu Ka Chiraagh'' and the third and last album was ''Shola''. After ''Shola'', the band fell apart due to the differences among the three and they went their own ways in 1997. Haroon and Faakhir started their solo careers. Awaz had a 'sold out' concert at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

, London in 1995.

Karavan

In 1997, foreseeing a disintegrating

, Asad established his own studio. Simultaneously, he joined hands with Sameer Ahmed to form

, thus returning to his rock origins. They brought the already established solo singer

Najam Sheraz Najam Sheraz (Urdu: نجم شیراز) is a Pakistani pop singer and songwriter. Early life Najam Sheraz was born in Multan, Pakistan on 2 August 1969. He played professional cricket. He graduated from the University of Engineering and Technolo ...

as the first vocalist and Alan Smith as drummer to complete the line-up. In 1999,

returned to his solo career, vacating the vocalist's slot for newcomer Tanseer Daar. Karavan released ''Rakh Aas'' in 1997, ''Safar'' in 1999 and ''Gardish'' in 2002. In 2005, The band issued an internet only Unplugged album. Karavan released their fourth and final studio album, ''Saara Jahan'' in 2010. The band broke up in 2012. Asad released his second solo album ''Severe Cuts'' in July 2020. The first single, "Dream of Right Now" was sent to Radio on 14 July 2020.

Discography

* ''The Barabarians'' (EMI 1990) *

Nusrat Hussain Nusrat Hussain (Urdu:نصرت حسین), is a Pakistani musician, retired airline pilot, guitarist, and keyboardist. Career Nusrat Hussain played guitar for the Vital Signs band and keyboards for Junoon band in the mid 1990s. He soon left bot ...

– ''

Amrit Amrit (), the classical antiquity, classical Marathus (, ''Marathos''), was a Phoenicians, Phoenician port located near present-day Tartus in Syria. Founded in the third millenniumBC, Marat (, ) was the northernmost important city of ancient Ph ...

'' (EMI 1992) *

– ''

'' (EMI 1993) *

– ''

'' (EMI 1993) * Awaz – '' Jadu Ka Chiraagh'' (LIPS 1995) * Vital Signs – '' Hum Tum'' (VCI 1995) * Awaz – ''

Shola A shola is the local name for a patch of stunted Montane grasslands and shrublands, tropical montane forest found in valleys amid rolling grassland in the higher montane regions of South India, largely in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. These ...

'' (BMG/Crescendo 1996) *

– ''

Rakh Aas Karavan ( ) was a hard rock band hailing from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, formed in 1997. The band was founded Asad Ahmed, former lead guitarist of Awaz, and bassist Sameer Ahmed. They were joined by drummer Allan Smith and vocalist Najam Sh ...

'' (VCI 1997) *

– ''Roop Nagar'' (LIPS 1999) * Pepsi World Cup Album (VCI 1999) * Karavan – ''Safar'' (Eagle Records 2000) *

– ''Haroon Ki Awaz'' (BMN 2000) * Karavan – ''Gardish'' (DJ Gold 2002) *

Sajjad Ali Sajjad Ali (born 1966) is a Pakistani semi-classical, pop and rock singer, poet, actor, film director as well as a film producer from Karachi, Pakistan.Teri Yaad'' (SOUNDMASTER 2002) *

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Punjabi singer, primarily Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Kha ...

– ''Paap'' (2003) * Haroon – ''Lagan'' (BMN 2003) * Karavan – Unplugged and unreleased (Internet only release 2005) * Haroon – '' Haroon Ka Nasha'' (The Muzik Records 2007) *

''Charkha'' (Sa Re Ga Ma 2008) * Karavan – ''

Saara Jahan Karavan ( ) was a hard rock band hailing from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, formed in 1997. The band was founded Asad Ahmed, former lead guitarist of Awaz, and bassist Sameer Ahmed. They were joined by drummer Allan Smith and vocalist Najam Sher ...

'' (The Musik records 2010) * ''Rebirth – First solo instrumental album'' (Released by EMI Pakistan Ltd. 2017) * Asad Ahmed – Severe Cuts (2020

*Asad Ahmed – Ascension (2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Asad 1971 births Awaz members Living people Pakistani guitarists Pakistani pop singers Musicians from Dubai Pakistani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Musicians from Karachi Pakistani heavy metal guitarists