Lifestyle Glitz - September Tranquility 2016

1. Tell us something about yourself.
I was born and raised in Lahore. Got all my education
from Lahore. Metric from DPS Model
Town, FSc from Govt College Lahore and BSc
from UET. I loved music all my life. Everyone in
my family sang and they were always singing
spiritual stuff that planted the seed towards
spirituality in me. But I tasted what music could
be. For me personally, it was when I started
writing my own music with my band in UET.
That was magical. Later, once I moved to Toronto,
the whole process stopped and 10 years
later, I decided to go back to my roots of making
music.
2. How did you put together the band Spellz?
What does your band name "The Spellz" mean
or represent?
It’s like casting a spell. When I am in the zone
of writing music, it casts a spell on me and in
that moment, I am not aware of my own surroundings.
That’s what makes music special
for me. Hence the name “The Spellz”.
3. How was the experience like… ‘The Spellz’
working with Daniel Weber the vocalist and the
lead guitarist of the Hollywood based rock
band, ‘The Disparrows’?
It was absolutely fantastic. He is a great musician,
but to top it off I found him to be a very
humble and a hard working person. It’s very
refreshing to see an artist like him who is ready
to work day and night just for the love of art.
That’s really hard to find these days.
4. How do you look at Pakistan’s music industry,
where is it heading? Is it grooming or failing
to produce meaningful music?
I think, it’s a mixed bag. The artists who are
established are in a good spot as they have
defined their style and genre already. For new
artists, it’s always a challenge to define who
they are and how they are different from the rest.
I feel that while there is no lack of talent, a lot of
new artists are trying to copy a hit song in Bollywood.
Personally, I feel that they are aiming for a
shortcut and there is no such thing as a short cut
in life. Every successful person regardless of the
profession has to do the hard hours and you can
only do the hard hours of practicing, training,
and redefining/redesigning if you really love it.
So, my advice to new talents in Pakistan will be
to really find the love of music inside of them and
not try to be someone else. If you sing with soul,
it will touch the souls of others for sure.
5. What is music and ‘sufism’ together for you?
Both go hand in hand. It’s like a perfect marriage.
Sufism is all about finding the One inside
of you and when you see a glimpse of the One,
you will keep diving deeper and deeper.
Music one the other hand is a channel and probably
one of the most powerful mediums. Happy
notes will make anyone happy and sad notes
make anyone sad regardless you understand the
words or not. So simply put, Sufism is the message
and music is the carrier delivering it to
hearts.
6. Do you have any regrets?
None. I am doing what I love and following the
path of God at the same time. 2 years back when
I started music again, I offered myself to Him
and said that I want to pass good messages to
the world and I want to talk about your greatness
to the world. I am happy that I am doing that.
7. Which type of music artist are you following
recently from east and west both?
Surprisingly, I don’t listen to a lot of music anymore.
There was a time when I did but not anymore.
If anything, I will listen to Coke Studio.
There is one song that took my heart away from
this season and that was Dam Ali Ali. Fantastic
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