Sajid & Zeeshan

Sajid & Zeeshan
Sajid & Zeeshan performing live at a concert. Visible from left to right are; Zeeshan Parwez and Sajid Ghafoor
Background information
Origin	Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Genres	Electronica, Alternative, Ambient
Years active	2003–present
Labels	EMI
Associated acts	Coke Studio, Aatish Raj, Mizraab, Ali Azmat, Still
Website	www.sajidandzeeshan.com
Members	Sajid Ghafoor Zeeshan Parwez

Sajid & Zeeshan (Urdu: ساجد اور زیسان, pronounced as "Saa-jid and Zeesh-shaan") are a Pakistani electronic music duo from Peshawar, composed of Sajid Ghafoor (guitars and harmonicas) and Zeeshan Parwez (synths, laptops and FX modules). Their songs are written by Sajid and arranged by Zeehsan, that vary from each other in terms of feel and expression. The group formed somewhere in the mid of 2003 and has scored two hits and critical praise for their innovative approach.

Both members completed their studies from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan and released their debut album through EMI in August, 2006 titled "One Light Year at Snail Speed" along with a video release of their fourth single from the album "Have to Let Go Sometime".

History

Sajid Ghafoor was responsible for creating an underground music scene in Peshawar in the mid-nineties by establishing a band called "Still" with his younger brother, Sarmad Ghafoor, and also gave guitar lessons to young guitar enthusiasts. Sajid recorded a number of songs for the band "Still" but never got around to release them commercially, even though one of his singles was received very well in the Pepsi's Battle of the Bands.

Sajid was introduced to Zeeshan Parwez through each other's mutual friends and they both lived near each other. Years went by when suddenly they got together to do some recordings. Their first released single "King of Self" was made and after a year, Circa 2004, was on Pakistani television channels in the form of a low budget, unpolished video that told a story of two musicians (not Sajid and Zeeshan themselves) endorsing a brand and unable to get out of their contract deal which is taking control over their artistic abilities. Since this video hit airwaves, radio was soon to follow. That was how their music project started.

The song was critically acclaimed and was a success. The song became popular and won an award, winning the dance/electronica category all over the world and also made it the finals in the ‘Song of the Year’ contest for 2004. Subsequently they received an award for the same song at the 2nd Indus Music Awards for the best “Foreign Language Song” category. Their second song/video “My Happiness” was also highly appreciated and stayed on the Indus Music and The Musik Charts for some time in Pakistan. In 2005 they released their third track/video “Freestyle Dive”. Being supported by a complete animated video, the song and video both got popular and an award at the first Indus Music Video Awards and also got nominated in “The Musik Awards” for "Best video" and at the "Lux Style Awards 2006" for the "Best Video" category.

Ghafoor and Parwez released their debut album titled One Light Year at Snail Speed through EMI Pakistan along with a video release of their fourth single “Have to Let Go Sometime”. Their first album is a collection of 11 songs and an instrumental track, all written and composed by Sajid Ghafoor and arranged and produced by Zeeshan Parwez. This effort took them almost a year to produce. The album has done quite well in Pakistan and remained in the charts for 11 consecutive weeks, according to polls of one particular news paper.

In 2008, Sajid & Zeeshan performed at the Coke Studio Sessions with their song, "My Happiness", along with many other artists.^[1]

On March 26, 2011, Sajid & Zeeshan released the first single "Walk on Air" from their second album The Harvest.

Band members

Sajid & Zeeshan

• Sajid Ghafoor – vocals, harmonics, lead guitar (2003–present)
• Zeeshan Parwez – keyboards, synths (2003–present)

Discography

Studio albums

• One Light Year at Snail Speed (2006)
• The Harvest (2011)

Singles

• Freestyle Dive
• Have to Let Go Sometime
• King of Self
• My Happiness
• Lambay

Awards

• Finalists in the ‘Song of the Year’ contest for 2004.
• The best “Foreign Language Song” category award at the 2nd Indus Music Awards.
• The “Best Music Video” category award at the 1st Indus Music Awards for "Freestyle Dive".
• Nominated at the “The Musik Awards” for the "Best Video" category for "Freestyle Dive".
• Nominated at the "Lux Style Awards 2006" for the "Best Video" category for "Freestyle Dive".

References

External links

• Official Site
• Sajid & Zeeshan Myspace