Wajd (band)
WAJD (Urdu: وجد, literal English translation: "[...]"), derived from Wujud ,is a Pakistani rock (music) band which gained popularity with their song Jeena Chahta Hoon (released in 2006), also included on their debut album Toofan-e-Munn (released in July 2010) by Fire Records. WAJD is the only featured artist, whose all videos (all five of them) have been featured and promoted by GeoTV- Pakistan's most selling news paper group and most famous online TV news channel. This is mainly due to the political, patriotic and social content that the band produces during the song writing process. On numerous occasions, the band has shared their Sufi experiences, ideas behind the mystic poetry, and soulful song-writing ideology during the TV , radio and news paper interviews, for example, Rohi TV. During band's early days Pakmusic partnered with the band for web promotions and releases.
Etymology
The name WAJD is derived from the Urdu word WAJDAN which means "A state of no-care, oblivion and spiritual indulgence experienced by some while offering prayers, Zikr or Recitation". Most of the spiritual and Sufi People feel "Out of the world" while singing and praying in shrines for the supreme being "Allah" and saints who they love and consider the "means to reach God". Shahzad and Jahanzeb mutually agreed to this name for the band while they were sorting out names from the list they created back in 1998. The idea behind this name was the similarity of feelings and indulgence which the band felt while playing their songs.
History
WAJD is a Pakistani rock band from late 1990s. The band was co-founded by Jahanzeb Afzal and Shahzad Hussain in 1998, while they were attending their engineering college (NED) in Karachi ,Pakistan.After about an year (1999) Faraz Siddiqui joined the band as a second guitarist. In the beginning the band was termed underground by the fans and friends but later the band got into limelight by producing mainstream rock n roll songs. After the first three active years, the band went in hiatus for five years in 2000. The reason for hiatus was mainly the band member' pursuit of engineering careers and higher studies abroad.
Music
WAJD returned to the music scene in 2005, with their first studio recording Faramoshi. At this point in time, Shahzad , from the original line-up, was in the UK, so he was not part of the line-up. The new band line-up only included Hasham on bass. The song was recorded by Ali Raza Jaffri and was later on mixed/mastered by Dixon Wilson. Soon after the audio single was released, the band shot and released a performance video for this song. The Faramoshi (Video) was directed by Faraz Siddiqui (who is also the lead guitarist of the band and the film director by profession as well). The response for both audio/video was exceptional. For the same reason ARY's The Musik Channel gave the title of Pakistan's "Rising Star" to WAJD. Faramoshi also charted on number 4 position in top 4 Pakistani charts and by the end of year the song was ranked #12 out of the 100 top songs of the year 2005.
In 2006 band recorded their biggest hit to date Jeena Chahata Hoon. The song was recorded & mixed at Dixon Wilson Studios in Karachi. It was arranged and produced by faraz siddiqui and sequenced by Mohsin Allah Ditta (son of Pakistan's famous film/drama/classical musician and composer Javed Alla Ditta). The original song was written by Shahzad Hussain khan in '98, but in this studio version Faraz and Jahanzeb added a different, more modern and deeper touch to the melody. The song also features classical singer Imran Dogar, who added a classical feel to the song. The audio was an instant hit and demanded a video to help WAJD gain commercial success in the local and international music scene. This actually happened when WAJD released the high budget Jeena Chahta Hon Video](aka JCH). Once again the genius collaboration of Faraz Siddiqui (Director) and Farhan Golden (D.O.P) resulted in the most successful video of the band to date. The song was # 1 hit on all the radio and TV channels. The record labels came searching for the band but the album was half-way and not completed by then.
The band started recording other songs of the album (untitled by then) and completed total of 7 songs in Dixon Wilson Studio, Karachi. Sayyam Rana of the band Guru Trilogy played an important role in the co-production of these songs side by side with his band mate Mohsin Alla Ditta. In 2007, Shahzad returned from UK with fresh compositions and ideas in mind and re-joined the group. The band decided to change the flow of the current album (and pessimistic mode), adding optimistic, message oriented and patriotic songs which Shahzad had written while he was away from Pakistan. For a sound change the band moved to Islamabad, to record the rest of the album songs at Sarmad Ghafoor's Studio who co-produced, mixed and mastered all the rest of the four songs of album. The first song of this row was Muntazir, a patriotic number written and composed by Shahzad Hussain Khan. For the first time WAJD changed its video making crew and opted for Zeeshan Pervaiz to direct the Muntazir Video.
While the band was recording the song Toofan-e-Munn, it was decided to name the album after this song. Soon after this song the entire album was completed and sent to Fire Records - one of the biggest record labels in Pakistan. The album was reviewed and accepted by Fire Records and the band signed the deal with them in 2008. The album was delayed due to certain reasons and was finally released in July 2010 followed by the launching of Toofan-e-Munn Video. Since the album was now the property of Fire Records, they chose their own Fire Records' employee/in-house director Asad Pathan to direct the video. Both the album and video received positive responses from the market. The album name is also spelled as "Toofan-e-Mann" at several websites.
In October 2010, the band released its fifth video Haath Khalee . Once again Faraz Siddiqui came back in action as the director for this video, which is supposedly the band's final video from their first album. Currently the band members are writing and composing new material for the second album (TBA). The band will hit the recording studios in early months of 2011.
Members
The band currently has four members:
- Jahanzeb Afzal (Vocals,Guitars,Lyrics & Compositions)
- Shahzad Hussain Khan (Vocals,Guitars,Lyrics & Compositions)
- Faraz Siddqui (Lead Guitars, Backing Vocals, Production, Arrangements & Compositions)
- Hasham Pervaiz Khan (Bass Guitars)
Faraz is also the video director for Faramoshi, Jeena Chahta Hoon (JCH) & Haath Khalee
Discography
Albums
WAJD came out with their debut album Toofan-e-Munn in July 2010.
Album information |
|---|
Toofan-e-Munn
Track List: |
Singles
- "Soch" (2007) - Cricket World Cup 2007 Song , co-written and jointly performed with Razam and Jurrs band.
- "Tanhai" (2008) - A poetic adaptation of famous poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poetry.