BORDER BEATS: Members of Pakistani band Jal

Little drops of water make the mighty ocean. And that is exactly how Jal, the Pakistani band now in the news for more reasons than one, was formed.

For Goher Mumtaz, the man behind the soft rock band, music happened by accident, literally, in 1998. “I was bedridden for more than half a year. So I decided to learn to play the guitar. In 2001, I composed the song Aadat sitting on the stairs of my college. But for a few friends of mine I would have never gone public. The response to the song was tremendous and I set out hunting for like-minded people to form a band,” the lead guitarist and vocalist told Goodlife from Lahore.

Calcutta now rings a bell with Goher and gang for Jal would be touring the city in early September. What’s more, the band has tied up with Calcutta-based event management company Mirage for the India-Bangladesh tour in September-October.

“Sponsorship issues have been sorted out and we have also finalised the venue for the Calcutta show. We are aiming for the first week of September,” revealed a spokesperson for Mirage.

Rewind to the past and Goher recounts how Shazi, the bass guitarist, and Atif Aslam, the lead vocalist, joined the bandwagon and the sound of Jal started to flow.

The unplugged version of Aadat was uploaded on the Net and became a runaway hit. The music video was released in August 2004 and the stage was set for them, here, there and everywhere.

But soon, some notes of Jal began to jar. “Its not at all pleasant when a band breaks up. Atif was not very comfortable sharing the success. He wanted to go solo and ultimately in 2004 he left the band,” says Goher. Atif headed for India and sold the song Woh lamhey to Mahesh Bhatt’s Zeher.

Soon, the song assumed the proportions of an anthem, being played everywhere from night clubs to marriage parties.

“The song belonged to our band. It was very sad that Atif clandestinely sold it to Maheshji. He wanted to make a career in Bollywood but he did not have any right to cheat both us and the director,” complains Goher.

“On our last visit to India we met Maheshji and he told us he was not aware of the entire controversy. In Pakistan, everybody knows that it was our song. In fact, when it became a hit here it was already fading out in our country. Now, in India also people know that we are the people behind this song,” adds Goher.

Jal joins a long list of boy bands from across the border giving Indian music makers a run for their harmony. From Junoon to Fuzon to Strings to Josh.

The simplicity of words (“the language that people use in their day-to-day conversations”) and the youthfulfness of sound (Goher, at 25, is the elder statesman of the group!) make Jal the latest craze.

“The music scene in India revolves around the Hindi film industry. That’s the reason bands are not as successful there as in Pakistan. There is a lot of ideation happening in the Pakistani rock scene,” says Goher.

The band draws inspiration from the works of Jagjit Singh, A.R. Rahman and Bryan Adams.

Farhan Saeed, 22, now the lead vocalist of the band sums it up: “Water is the purest thing on earth. And music comes second. That is why we decided to name the band Jal.” The sound of water sure seems to be working.