Pakistani rock

Pakistani rock or Paki Rock is a form of rock music that is largely produced in Pakistan. It is an interesting genre since it incorporates both American rock and Pakistani Classical music. It has its own distinctive elements mixed in to create a homegrown class of sounds and melodies, whether progressive, hard, or heavy metal. Pakistani rock is almost entirely sung in Urdu, however many new bands have recently come out with songs in Punjabi, Pastho, Sindhi and English.

History

Rock music in Pakistan had its beginnings in the 1990s with Vital Signs and Junoon as the pioneers of Pakistani rock. Other bands such as Strings began in the mid 1990s and during the late 1990s underground bands were becoming a norm in cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Pakistan witnessed an explosion of rock bands in 2000 as Pakistan began to liberalize under President Musharraf's "enlightened moderation" campaign.

Sufi Rock

Junoon is said to be the pioneers of "Sufi Rock", a genre of Pakistani rock which mixes classical music with modern rock. Junoon has often been regarded as the "U2 of Asia" for there amazing sounds and messages in each song they produced. Junoon has often been labeled for starting the "Junooni" generation in Pakistan.

Contemporary Rock

The majority of all Pakistani rock bands are contemporary in nature, often mixing soft rock with Pakistani classical music. Some popular bands include EP, Call and Noori just to name a few have all been integral in revitalizing the rock culture in Pakistan.

Heavy Metal

The roots of Pakistani hard rock and metal can be traced back to the first wave of bands from the late 80's and early 90's. Final Cut and Barbarians stand out in this regard, with short lived but influential careers. The second wave included artist like Dhun (Fawd Baloch's more conventional metal project). Later bands like Mizraab have played a big role in promoting metal music in Pakistan. Headed by Faraz Anwar it was the first progressive metal band of Pakistan. Moreover Messiah and Black Warrant kept Heavy Metal alive. More bands are coming up and the scene is getting bigger.

Underground

Underground is an umbrella term that covers bands from a number of rock genres (college indie, alternative, death/black metal etc). The first famous bands in this regard include Kainath (frentic death/thrash from Karachi)and Seth(death metal and later groove metal from Lahore)in the mid 90's. Autopsy Gothic (Black Metal)and Dusk (Doom Death Band featuring a young Faraz Anwer) from Karachi also left their mark on the scene. Lahore had a scene of mostly alternative/hard rock bands including Coven, Mindriot and later Estranged. A new wave of extreme bands in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad included Burzukh, Corpsepyre, Holy Black, Hassan Sheraz and Sifr. There are a large number of bands from all across Pakistan at present including Black Warrant, Paranoid, Kain, Lithium, Drainage, Cultural Jukebox, Genocide and Hypnotix-2000. The underground scenes in both Karachi and Lahore are teeming full of college students eager to become famous.

Popularity

Pakistani rock has become massively popular within Pakistan, especially among the new generation. Even beyond Pakistan in countries such as Bangladesh, Iran, India and as far as Japan and China. Pakistani rock is quite popular and also among the Pakistani diaspora. A landmark event occurred in 2003 when the Pakistani group Strings' song "Najane Kyun" featured as a single on the Hindi version of the movie "Spider-Man 2".

Famous bands

*Aaroh
*Call
*EP
*Fuzon
*Junoon
*Karavan
*Mekaal Hassan Band
*Sozz
*Mizraab
*Noori
*Rox3n
*Strings

ee also

*Music of Pakistan
*Pakistani hip hop
*Culture of Pakistan
*Rock and Roll