Asad Ahmed and his Minarik Inferno guitar

Asad Ahmed and his Minarik Inferno guitar

Probably the last time we saw Asad Ahmed with his long locks and exceptional guitar playing skills was when he did a recent session for the famed Coke Studio season 4, prior to which some live sessions and gigs for the disbanded ensemble Karavan.

However, for the mighty Asad, the scheme does not come to wrap up here, in fact the maestro’s journey as a guitarist, goes back to his first ever professional appearance with one of the first Pakistani rock bands, the Barbarians, which ruled the country’s
genre in the mid and late 80s, all leading to Asad’s famed call ups for the industry’s heavy weights such as Junoon and Vital Signs.  

But coming back to the guitarist’s stretch, Asad kicked off his musical career with the Barbarians in 1987, which earned a good share of the audience through the release of one of the first singles ‘Yeh Zindagi Hai’. However, the band earned a pinnacle during
an appearance at the ‘Rock vs. Rock’ show at the Taj Mahal, India.

Unfortunately for the Barbarians, the ensemble did not receive much fame when they released their only self-titled album in 1989, and soon after the members bid farewell in 1990.

For Asad, the journey did not stop there, but more fortunes came for the ace when he earned a place in the mammoth hit Sufi rock band, Junoon, where he played bass for about a year.

Later in 1992, Asad met up with another grand group, Vital Signs, which ruled Pakistan’s Pop music industry in the 80 and early 90s and earned a gig for two of the band’s mammoth hit songs, Aitebar and Hum Tum.

That same year, Asad formed collaboration with two young musicians, Haroon Rashid and Faakhir Mehmood, which led to the formation of Awaz – a venture that became next best thing in Pakistani pop scene after Vital Signs.

Having ruled the industry with their two hit albums, Awaz’s stint finally came to an end soon after releasing their third and final album.

Once again, nothing hindered Asad’s love for music, after the long locked Minarik player established his own studio, as well as stepped into another rock alliance with Sameer Ahmed which formed Karavan.

Ironically Karavan too has been disbanded after serving the audience for over a decade, but for Asad, the guitarist has been making regular session appearances for Coke Studio – but as the Pakistani rock industry’s ‘crazy train’, one may expect more stints
coming from the guru and his blazing Minarik Inferno Guitar!

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Posted by Sehl Bin Shoaib on Nov 2 2011. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry