Sajid and Zeeshan: Living in limbo

Sajid and Zeeshan’s album has been delayed again.

LAHORE: The new album by songwriter and guitarist Sajid Ghafoor and keyboardist and music producer Zeeshan Parwez titled Harvest has been delayed due to the torrential rainstorm and violence that has left Karachi crippled. The album scheduled to release on September 10, has been delayed by a couple of weeks for the second time in two years. The decision of pushing the release dates was taken by the distributor and according to the band members, the date will keep on extending until the situation in Karachi settles down.

The band, Sajid and Zeeshan made waves in 2004 with their single “King of Self”. The track became an overnight success and the duo won the award for Best Foreign Language song at the second Lux Style Awards.

After a break of a couple of years, their much-awaited comeback was made through the release of the music video and song “Walk on Air” in 2011, which again proved to be a massive hit with audiences.

According to the band, their upcoming album has been ready for two years but problems in finding the right distributor had led to its delay in the past. “We have been sort of unfair to our fans and followers since it has been a while since we last released an album,” says Parwez, who says the all-English album will have 18 tracks, including several instrumentals. “However, I think people who have been following us will see that this album is worth the wait.”

It has been observed that the band’s music tends to focus more on ‘life’ rather than politics, and amidst all the political and emotional upheaval, the duo wants to ensure that they stick to their signature songs based on the themes of romanticism and artistic escape. “Every day that goes by, you learn something new. The compositions will venture into more abstract concepts this time around,” says Ghafoor. Harvest is a nostalgic album and, according to the band members, will include numbers, that Parwez wrote back in the 90s.

In the past, the band received accolades for their videos due to Parwez’s production prowess and since then it has been one of the focal points of their music. This time around, Parwez is hoping to release eight to nine music videos to give the album greater visual identity. “We have been known to produce elaborate music videos but this time we will keep it simple and the album will be more downtempo compared to the last,” says Parwez. Speaking about possibilities of touring abroad, Parwez and Ghafoor share that once the album is released they would start doing shows abroad.

As they sing in English, Sajid and Zeeshan can hope for a larger fan base after a series of international shows, and are hoping to tour abroad after the release of their album. This time around the chances of increased exposure are double as the band’s album would also be made available on iTunes.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th,  2011.