I prefer my music loud, personal and omnipresent. I listen to what sounds good, be it heavy metal, glam rock or modern pop. Though I do admit I heavily tend to listen to rock & metal. I'm not a celebrity writer, or a music critic, or someone who cares about the triumphs and the defeats of those associated with the music industry. Yet what you're going to read now is the first review of an upcoming Pakistani blues-rock band called "Zzing". So why the sudden urge? Because the lead vocalist and guitarist is a very good friend of mine from GIK (for the uninitated read: Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology, i.e. my alma mater, refer to the post 'Nostalgia' in archives to learn more about GIKI). Immad Muzaffar, otherwise known as ganges due to his remarkably smooth shaven head, has come a long way from singing 'Mera Number' at GIKI gigs in his raspy voice accompanied by his twangy acoustic guitar playing.
Zzing is so new they don't even have a deal with a record label yet. And to my last knowledge had only recorded four songs, and I had the privilege of listening to the first cut of their first studio recorded number. Called 'Ghalib Blues' it combines Immad's love of classical Urdu poetry and Jimi Hendrix. Only he could sing Ghalib* to upbeat bluesy rock and get away with it, and that too in flying colors. Due to copyright nature of the song and more because I promised Immad to keep it a secret, i'm not going to give any details about it. I will say though that I'm appropriately impressed. If things go right for this guy and his band, I don't see any reason for them not to succeed. Especially since Pakistani music scene is very quickly getting dominated by rock, blues and metal. Zzing can give many of today's established bands a run for their money.
You go pal! :)
*Ghalib for the uninitated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Ghalib
