Raeth ( ) is a Pakistani
Sufi rock band. The band, which currently has two members, follows in the footsteps of other Pakistani, and Pakistani-American groups such as
Junoon,
Strings, and
Jal. They have garnered a significant
fan base in both
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# ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
The band can be found on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
,
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
, and
Vimeo
Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...
,
while their music is available on streaming services such as
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
,
Last.fm,
Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
, and
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
.
Background
Raeth was initially formed in 2006 by four students from
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 ...
,
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# ...
— Wajhi Farooki (vocals), Mustafa Asad (bass), and Hasan Farabi (lead guitar).
The band was launched in 2006 by
Fire Records
Fire Records was an American independent record label, set up in 1959 by Bobby Robinson. Amongst others, it released records by Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Buster Brown and Arthur Crudup. At one point it was thought Fire had issued the l ...
at a local beach club in DHA.
"Bhula Do," a single from their debut album ''Raeth'', was ranked among the top four best-selling audio releases in Pakistan, and became the number one on MTV Top Charts next to
Kailash Kher
Kailash Kher (born 7 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, live performer, and composer. He sings songs with a music style influenced by Indian folk music and Sufi music. He was inspired by the classical musicians Kumar Gandharva, Hrida ...
's "Saaiyan" in 2014.
The album itself made it to No 7 on the Indian Planet M charts.
In 2006, Raeth was also featured on
MTV India
MTV is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of the original American network and is owned by JioStar, under a license agreement with Par ...
and
Channel V
Channel '' ("V" as in the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney In ...
as an up-and-coming new group.
Other work
In 2013, Raeth worked alongside musical director
Chirantan Bhatt on the remake of Indian action film ''
Zanjeer'', starring
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is India's highest-paid actress and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and fiv ...
.
In April 2020, Raeth lead singer
Wajhi Farooki organized the online
Anti-Corona Indo-Pak Concert,
which he and two other artists—
Bangladeshi folk singer
Indira Majumdar and Kolkata-based
Kinjal Bhattacharya—livestreamed an hour-long jam session on
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
.
Members
Original:
* Wajhi Farouqui – lead vocals
* Hasan Farabi – lead guitar former
* Mustafa Asad – bass former
Current
Sanjeet mothey - drummer
Tarun sharma - keys
Discography
Debut Album: ''Raeth''
EPs & Singles
References
2006 establishments in Pakistan
Musical groups established in 2006
Musical groups from Karachi
{{Pakistan-music-stub