Khumariyaan was recently selected by the US Department of State’s Center Stage Program to tour the US. How did this come about?
Center Stage is well known and very successful exchange program run by the U.S. Department of State. The program uses the performing arts to promote cultural understanding between American and (more than 160) international communities. Pakistan has been represented in the program for a few years now; Arieb Azhar and Noori made very successful tours of the United States under the program.
We had been interested in the program for a while and after establishing ourselves as a well-known and well-regarded band in Pakistan, felt that we were ready for Center Stage last year. We applied online, along with hundreds of applicants from all over the world, and were one of the seven bands that were selected.
One of the goals of the program is to encourage cultural understanding between the United States and the rest of the world. We believe that our music - modern but rooted firmly in the Pushtoon tradition - was suited very well for the program. We had been performing in Pakistan for years, chalking up as many as eight gigs a month at times, and had gained a lot of popularity in the last two years. The band hails from Peshawar, a city not known for music, and has battled a lot of odds to gain the success that we enjoy today. To sum it up, we believe that our music, our popularity in Pakistan, our experience in performing live, and our background helped us get selected for the program.
What do you plan to accomplish during the Center Stage tour?
We are very excited about our upcoming tour and find ourselves talking about it virtually all the time. Our primary goal will be to introduce our music to listeners in the States. One hope is to show the world that Pakistani youth has many talents and is not always engaged in religious fanaticism as is believed by some outside Pakistan. We want to get a better understanding of American culture and develop some friendships and relationships that will last a long time. Shopping is on the agenda as well. There are a lot of musical instruments to be bought. And finally, we want to have some fun. We really do!
How was Khumariyaan found?
The band was founded by Farhan Bogra, Shiraz Khan and Aamer Shafiq. Sparlay Rawail joined Khumariyaan about a year after it was formed.
The Pasthoon are people of Indo-European ethnicity, originally from Persia, but now settled primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our love for Pashtoon music and culture was, and continues to be, the force behind Khumariyaan. As a young boy, Farhan developed a fondness for the Rubab and took up upon himself to learn, teach and promote the ancient Pashtoon musical instrument. Shiraz developed a love for percussion and percussive instruments as a child and found himself gravitating towards the Zerbaghali, a Pushtoon drum, as he grew older. Farhan and Shiraz met each other while travelling separately in India. They became friends very quickly and started talking about forming a band whose music was based on the Pashtoon tradition. Soon thereafter, Aamer Shafiq joined the discussions about the new band. And Khumariyan was born a few days later.
The band has been together for a long time. What keeps the four of you together?
We think it is our shared values; all four of us are humble and down-to-earth individuals with no egos and few, if any, hang-ups. We have little desire for celebrity, fame and fortune. We have a great love for our heritage and work hard to preserve it in our own small way. We enjoy reading each other’s minds during live performances and are very happy when we create good music through collective inspiration and improvisation.
We have both love and respect for each other. That, probably, more than anything else, holds us together.
Was it difficult for you to make a name in music, being a band from Peshawar?
It was not. Our families are educated and provided us incredible support and encouragement. We never had to depend on our music financially. This allowed for a tremendous amount of artistic freedom and independence. We had the luxury of deciding the where, what and when of music; performing only where we wanted to, creating music that we liked to and being on stage when we felt like it. This is an invaluable luxury for an artist and we are grateful for having had it.
When not playing music, what do you like to do?
When not playing music, we like listening to it! We like to hang together and with other friends. We enjoy eating out. We enjoy traveling. We enjoy sports. We all claim to enjoy working out bit it is obvious who does and who does not. We love spending time with folk musicians. We value family time. But, music, is really the one thing that takes up all of our time. It is our passion and our life.
On a serious note, each one of us works to make a living. Sparlay is an instructor at the National College of Arts (NCA). Aamer works in disaster management. Farhan is with the Institute for Preservation of Arts and Culture and Crafts (IPAC) and involved in other philanthropic activities as well. Shiraz Khan studies and works at the same time. Life is busy and we like it that way.
Does your work come in the way of your music?
No, it does not. I do not think any one of us would ever take up a job that would not allow us the freedom to create and enjoy music. Music is our first love. Everything else is secondary.
So you really are simple guys with no airs?
Yes. We are so nice that we would be boring if we were not this good looking!
But let us say something serious. We have never felt the need to subscribe to the stereotypical image of musicians. The wholesome image we project is not a façade. Farhan is one of the nicest human beings we have ever dealt with. Honest, sincere, earnest and naïve to a fault, his values represent the core of the band. Shiraz Khan is a believer and a person of faith; not your typical believer, but a believer nonetheless. Aamer is the naughty member of the band. He has a huge fan following of an unfairly large number of girls and some boys. Sparlay is the worst human being in the band but, for some unknown reason, people like him.
Coming back to seriousness one more time, we are who we are, and for all the success that we hope to achieve in music, we are determined not to change. We will of course grow up, become mature, gain experience and be wiser; but we hope that our values will never change, not because of fame and not because of anything else.
Do you have a formal education in music?
Farhan Bogra, Shiraz Khan and Aamer Shafiq are self-taught musicians. Sparlay has a proper education in guitar playing.
The truth is that we are all ataayees. The Urdu terms is used to describe musicians who do not come from families of musicians. Meerasis, on the other hand, belong to families of musicians and are bearers of rich musical tradition. Pakistan does not have many institutions for the formal education of music. It is the meerasis who have kept musical tradition alive in Pakistan by promoting and teaching music to ataayees. Yet, they have no respect in our country where the term meerasi has extremely negative connotations and is, almost always, used in a derogatory manner. We are humbled when we compare our music to the great work done by the meerasis. We hold them in very high regard.
Photographs by Shaharyar Khan
The four of you are young men with tremendous promise. What do you hope to accomplish in your lifetimes?
We hope to become good, honest and sincere human beings. We also hope that in some way, through our music or in another manner, we add beauty and happiness to this world. That is all we want.
Ally Adnan lives in Dallas, Texas, where he works in the field of mobile telecommunications and writes about culture and the arts. He can be reached at allyadnan@outlook.com.
Music and information about Khumariyaan is available at:
https://www.facebook.com/khumariyaan
https://soundcloud.com/khumariyaan-the-band