Update:

Two more albums have been scheduled for January 2010. Devika Chawla will come out on 2nd of January while sketches are making their debut on 29th of January.

Original:

COO, Fire Records, Dr. Akbar Yezdani, has finally announced release dates for albums of Mauj (Now in Technicolor), Kaavish (Gunkali) and Nida Arab.

All the albums will come out with gap of one week between each other. Kaavish, being first in the queue, will hit Pakistani markets on 8th of January ’10. Nida Arab on 15th of January and Mauj’s debut will come out on 22nd of January.

Dr Yezdani also mentioned that the videos are also ready and the long delays weren’t really their fault. He states

Just pray that nothing drastic happens. We have been trying to do this for over a year now but each time there are either explosions, some political issue like elections, long march and what not. This time we are determined. Their videos are ready and hope all goes well. Do buy their CDs and support music

He also mentioned few upcoming releases which will include Sohail Salamat, Call, Annie & Noman Javaid.

Good luck Fire! We all hope that the albums actually come out in January. I personally have been desperately waiting for the release of Mona’s video and Gunkali.

As Overload and Mekaal Hasan Band release their records without the backing of a record label and pull it off without a glitch, Instep takes a look at the burgeoning music scene, record label battles and how the Internet just might be the way out

By Maheen Sabeeh

Throwing out the blame

Internet. The inescapable term that has become an intrinsic part of our lives. We tweet through our phones; share pictures and at times send pointed (albeit indirect) messages to people on Facebook… and that is just one small example. According to the CIA Fact Book, Pakistan had an estimated 17.5 million internet users in the year 2009. So if music sales are going down at stores, which they very much are, we can guess that fans are downloading and sharing albums online instead. {Read More…}

Omran Shafique

In Bahrain, a musical star was about to be born. At 18, Omran Shafique moved to the state of Texas in America. From visits to Pakistan, Omran was interested in Pakistan’s music scene, diverse in its styles and formats. Even from the old days, he always thought the pop/rock scene in Pakistan was interesting. Music as his passion, guitar as his favorite instrument, Omran had the talent needed to become a great musician. 15 years on, Omran Shafique (being a creative and talented person) decided to move to Pakistan to pursue music as a career.

Around 2001, Omran formed a band in Houston, Texas, named Mauj (translated as ‘Wave’), to further progress in his musical career. This ‘wave’ consisted of Omran himself as the vocalist and guitarist, Mohsin Atif, the bass player and a co-lyricist. Previous members had came and went but the 3 stood their ground. Once Omran moved to Pakistan, however, the line-up changed. Mohsin Atif couldn’t go to Pakistan with him so Omran started jamming with his old friends from Pakistan. {Read More…}

Artist Name : Mauj
Album Name: Now in Technicolor (I still doubt this name, though)
Reason for mentioning the above: Album Review, Of Course.

Since there are no online music stores valid for Qatar, I had to use the services of my brother to download the album, burn it and send it across to me along with “Zameer :From Under The Bleachers”, both of which have yet to be released in Pakistan, my usual resource for attaining
The music which I do. {Read More…}

Message on MAUJ’s Facebook page.

The album should be up on iTunes and Napster in the next week or so. In the meantime – all our international fans and friends can get it from Amazon right now. Pakistan will have to wait unfortunately until Fire Records decides to release it. Thanks for your patience and support.

Buy Now.

You can download few of the tracks released before album release from here.