Album Notes

At a glance

• October 26, 1968 - Born in Karachi
• 1979 – First guitar
• 1985 - Completes “O” levels from Karachi Grammar School and relocates to Los Angeles to study Engineering at Loyola Marymount University
• 1987 – 1988 lead guitarist for college band called “Stonewheat”
• 1987 -1989 - Guitarist with the LMU jazz ensemble under Buddy Collette
• 1990 - Graduated with degree in music theory and composition from Loyola Marymount University
• 1991 – Granted scholarship for Masters program in Classical Guitar from College Conservatory Of Music, Cincinnati OH.
• 1991 – Was selected to play in masterclass for Pepe Romero.
• 1991 – Transferred under scholarship to SMU to study under Robert Guthrie.
• 1992 – Was selected to perform in masterclass for Manuel Barrueco
• 1993 - Graduated with Masters degree in Classical Guitar
• 1996 - Set up studio for music production in Karachi.
• 1996 – 2003 Big Blue Sea
• 2003 – 2008 “Elements”
• 2004 – Session work for Rahat Fateh Ali and Ali Azmat.
• 2005 – “Destiny fulfilled” awarded runner up position in the International Songwriting Competition
• 2007 - Formation of “Kolachi Quartet”
• 2008 – Release of “Elements” in Pakistan


A short musical autobiography

During the 1980’s Pakistan was a very different place. Good music was scarcely available. I was very lucky to have an older cousin who introduced me to a wide variety of classic and progressive rock at an early age. Since there were no adequate teachers for the guitar, I had to teach myself, through books and by careful listening. Around this time I met Aamir Zaki, an extremely talented guitarist who inspired and influenced me tremendously. Soon after, I left to attend University in Los Angeles to study Mechanical Engineering.

Being in LA exposed me to a lot of great music and it was invigorating. Around this time I was listening to and playing a lot of Jazz so I signed up for the college jazz band. The guy leading the band was a LA jazz legend by the name of Buddy Collette. Buddy was an amazing musician. I remember being totally dumbfounded the first day and then I slowly started learning my way around. One day after a performance at the University, some guys from a local band called “Stonewheat” approached me. They wanted me to join their band as a lead guitarist. The music they played consisted of some originals and some covers of Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones etc. It was right up my alley and I readily accepted. We did quite a few gigs around LA and toured a bit. It was great fun.

It was now my senior year in Engineering and I was going to graduate soon. Out of curiosity I enrolled for an elective class in Classical Guitar. I did not anticipate the effect it would have on me. I felt a great revelation. This was the way the guitar was meant to be played. I had to know more about this. I declared a second major in Music Theory and Composition and decided to spend another year in University. I studied Classical Guitar intensively and almost abandoned all other style of playing. I graduated a year later but realized that I had only begun to explore Classical music. Not having the resources to pay my way, I applied for a scholarship to complete a Masters program in Classical Guitar Performance. I was extremely fortunate to be granted one, and that too by the prestigious College Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati. By this time I was completely immersed in Western Classical Music. This was my life till I came back to Pakistan in 1995.

After coming back I felt totally isolated, musically speaking. It was suffocating but also liberating at the same time. I was no longer under any musical influences. I had the time to understand what I had learnt. I set up a recording and compositional studio and started teaching myself the production of music. I had always felt that production was a very important aspect of making music. This studio was both personal and commercial at the same time. This gave me the chance to start composing again. Something I always loved doing. Sometime in 2004, I started experimenting with modal scales and patterns. I did not realize at that time, but I was using Indian Classical scales called Thaats. A few months later, it finally clicked in my head. I had to study Indian Classical Music. I realized that Indian Classical music had a very rich heritage and started collecting whatever books and resources I could. I came across the Mohanveena, an instrument which is played like a laptop slide guitar but has the strings of a sitar and is capable of microtonal expression. This instrument instantly captured my heart and mind. It was during this period of time that much of the groundwork for “Elements” was done. With this music I felt a certain culmination and coming together of all the different styles that I had loved. It also reflected my ethnic heritage. Most of all, I felt that it was saying something that had not yet been said.

I have been playing the guitar since I was very young. As I learnt more about the instrument so I learnt more about life. I have spent countless hours trying to perfect my technique in search of that elusive euphoria. Ultimately, performing freely and without limitation, is expressing that which cannot be said with words. Spontaneous improvisation acts like a mirror reflecting that, which is within.
The Classical Guitar, the Mohanveena, each instrument allows me to say that which the other cannot. These two instruments cover the entire spectrum of instrumental Eastern and Western music.

Music can prove to be a powerful tool in bringing hearts and minds together. I discovered Indian Classical music quite by chance not anticipating the lasting effect it would have on me. Indian Classical music had traditionally always been strict and formal coming down from the courts of kings, I wanted to get away from that, but at the same time use the vast emotional library it had developed. Ancient Indian musicians spent much time in understanding the intricacies of the relationship between notes and emotive quality. It is this that is the heart of composing and producing music.