Some guitarists from Pakistan who are not the usual suspects

I stopped paying attention to mainstream music in Pakistan a couple of years back, none of it appeals to me anymore to be honest. But hey, I came across a post yesterday that listed the seven ‘best’ guitarists of Pakistan. Nice to see nothing has changed, the usual suspects are on the list – Amir Zaki, Meekal Hasan, Salman Ahmed etc. I won’t comment on where these guys stand, but I will be listing down some guitarists from Pakistan who have been ignored, nobody has ever heard them or you probably don’t care about the kind of music they play.

Before you read on, please bear in mind that I am merely a listener who has found these guitarists at the top of their game. They are in no particular order and range from back in the 90s to the present. Also I will not be writing much about them, their music speaks for how awesome they are.

Adnan Afaq: This guy is a legend. He played in Arsh, the super group whose members weren’t really famous till after they relaunched their careers – Shehzad Mughal, Tanseer Dar et al.

Last I heard, Afaq – who is also known as Adnan Vai – was teaching at NAPA in Karachi. This solo (o hey, Khalid Khan is on stage too) is as honest as it gets:

Nabeel Nihal Chishty: You can’t talk about Pakistani guitarists without mentioning Nabeel, one of the core members of the original Aaroh lineup. The band won Pepsi Battle of the Bands way back in 2002, and with good reason too. They were also spearheading the commercial rock scene in Pakistan, which went full blown once Jal came up with Aadat. Here is a solo track:

Omar Sultan: I was introduced to Omar’s work when he joined Dusk and played on the Eastern Assault split with Distrust. He has also played in H2O (I’m not sure if this was just a one-off project) with Khalid Khan’s brother, Hassan.

This solo will melt your face:

Waqas Ahmed: From Kain to Orion to Odyssey, Waqas is probably one of the greatest guitarists this country has ever seen. I kid you not. I’m just going to post a bunch of links so that you can see just how damn good he is.

Odyssey – Odyssey Pt.1: A Coming Of Age

Saad Akhter Ali: Making his debut with the melodic death/thrash band Communal Grave, Saad went on to form the one man Reckoning Storm. You can hear power metal, symphonic metal, Malmsteen, Castlevania OST in his music.

Umair Nadeem: This kid was around 16 (I think) when he released the Project Berklee track. Jaw dropping. Also played with Overload recently.

Awaiting a metal revolution

You tell people you’re into metal, you get a look that would leave you thinking about what you did wrong and you’re told that it is ‘socially unacceptable’ music. The musical genre, ‘metal’ is not just raucous music played and listened to by illiterate louts with long hair. Metal is a way of life. I still like to think of myself as a 15-year-old kid playing air guitar with my friends, donning a black T-shirt with my favourite  band’s logo on it and head banging in the car while my driver looked on in bewilderment.

Unfortunately, metal in Pakistan is not given the attention it deserves by either music critics or the media. Along with the issue of exposure, infighting between bands has plagued this oft-ignored underground scene. But behind the ugliness of the infighting and army of critics is a strong army of bands, some who have been playing since the mid 90s, and some whose band members haven’t even reached the age of 18. Dusk has been playing since 1995 and has successfully released music on international labels along with an international tour. Bands like Autopsy Gothic stuck around and made a lot of original music, which sadly did not see the light of day. However, there is still hope. The scene now stands at a much better point, where bands have started focusing on original music rather than covers, with extreme metal bands such as Cardinal Sin, Berserker and the godfathers of Pakistani metal Dusk representing for Karachi. Lahore has seen the emergence of progressive metal giants Odyssey, while Islamabad/Rawalpindi have a growing metal scene with the likes of I See Insanity, Venom Vault and Depletion. Most of these bands record at home, using average equipment, but manage to record studio quality music. All they need is the right kind of promotion, both in the media and by live promoters, and once they reach the right audience our local scene will be a force to be reckoned with, both nationally and internationally. After all, Norway’s biggest musical export abroad has now become their once miniscule local black metal scene.

This post originally appeared here.