Mekaal Hasan Band , (sometimes shortened to MHB), is a progressive rock band, founded in 2001 by the Pakistani guitarist,composer and producer, Mekaal Hasan. The Mekaal Hasan Band is known for being innovators of a progressive style of music which finds its melodic roots in South Asian traditional musical and literary art forms, some of which include Qawali, Sufiana Kalam and in general, traditional material culled from Indian and Pakistani culture and folkloric traditions. Formed in Lahore, Pakistan in 2001 by composer, guitarist and producer Mekaal Hasan, the "band" comprises a revolving cast of Pakistani and International artists/musicians/visual artists and creators. The band's music has often been hailed as being deeply rooted to South Asian culture, while managing to communicate to modern audiences in contemporary musical settings. The band members have roots in different genres,including Jazz, Indian/Pakistani Traditional Classical, 70's Progressive Rock, Old School R'n'b, 70's Funk and Soul, creating a sound which has earned the band fans from a variety of quarters. They are also known for their small yet passionate fanbase.

History

Early years (1995–2004)

Songwriter Mekaal Hasan, born in Lahore, Pakistan, was surrounded by music since childhood. His mother was a Christian and father, Masood Hasan, a Muslim, passionate for

jazz music Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, m ...

who influenced him throughout his early years. After graduating from Government College, Lahore, Mekaal studied music at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and his stay there exposed him to a wide variety of music and musicians, many of whom are influences on him to this day. His parents encouraged him to come back to Lahore, Pakistan by offering to build him a studio. So he returned to Lahore in 1995. After some initial hard struggle, Mekaal Hasan had a big musical breakthrough in Pakistan in 2004. In March 2001, Mekaal collaborated with Pete Lockett in a series of concerts countrywide featuring music written for Pete and classical artists by Mekaal. Mekaal Hasan has worked with many other fellow-musicians like

Ali Azmat Ali Azmat Pacha (born 20 April 1966) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the lead singer for the influential Sufi rock band Junoon and for his subsequent solo career later followed by a career as an act ...

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, Jal Band,

Noori Noori () is a Pakistani rock band from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, formed in 1996. The group was formed by songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist, Ali Noor, along with his younger brother Ali Hamza, who were soon joined by bassist Muhammad Ali ...

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, Meesha Shafi, Poor Rich Boy, Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammad Qawwal and many more musicians.

''Pepsi Battle of the Bands''

The band entered the first season of the music television series ''

Pepsi Battle of the Bands ''Pepsi Battle of the Bands'' is a Pakistani television series, originally based on the concept of Battle of the Bands, first aired in 2002 on PTV Home. The show was revived in 2017. Season 1 ''Pepsi Battle of the Bands: Season 1'' aired in J ...

'', in an effort to win the competition and earn a lucrative album deal from Pepsi. The band finished third, behind Aaroh and Entity Paradigm who finished first and second respectively.

''Sampooran'' (2004–2008)

Mekaal Hasan Band released their debut album, '' Sampooran'', in 2004 through

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Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

''Saptak'' (2009–2010)

Mekaal Hasan Band, released their second album in October 2009. They also released their video of a single " Chal Bulleya" on 2 October 2009. On 3 February 2010, the band's vocalist Javed Bashir decided to part ways after working along with the band for 8 years. On 26 December, in an online poll by ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

'', the band's video for their single, "Chal Bulleya", was voted as the best music video of 2010.

''Andholan'' (2014)

Mekaal Hasan Band's latest album featuring the all new lineup was released September 2014 in Pakistan and India across

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

, Taazi,

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...

, and other platforms. Mekaal Hasan Band released just one video from a live performance of the track "Ghunghat". Despite being a live performance, it won song of the year in ''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Lakson Group'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the '' Intern ...

''s Critics Choice and in the reader polls, and was also declared 2014's song of the year by ''Dawn''. The album was removed from GIMA Awards for having "foreign roots", although the album featured Indian vocalist Sharmistha Chatterjee in all the songs.

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Sampooran'' (2004) * ''

Saptak Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of seven notes". It denotes the set of swaras i.e. Shadja (Sa), Rishabha (Ri), Gāndhāra (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivat (Dha), Nishada (Ni), Shadja (Sa) which comprise a musical scale in India ...

'' (2009) * '' Andholan'' (2014)

Band members

;Current * Mekaal Hasan –

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 ...

(2001–present) * Mohammad Ahsan Papu –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(2001–present) * Sharmistha Chatterjee –

lead vocals 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 ...

(2013–present) * Sheldon D'Silva –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(2013–present) * Gino Banks –

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

(2013–present) ;Former * Riaz Ali Khan –

(2001–2002) * Sameer Ahmed –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

(2001–2009) * Asad Abbas –

(2010–2011) * Javed Bashir –

(2002–2010,2011–2013) * Amir Azhar –

(2009–2013) * Kami Paul –

(2012–2013)

Timeline

References

External links

long review
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1999 Pakistani musical trios Pakistani rock music groups Pakistani musical groups Musical groups from Lahore Pakistani world music groups 1999 establishments in Pakistan Jam bands