Meet the boy band from Pakistan 'Bayaan' courting global fame
Bayaan is going global — literally. The boy band from Pakistan, whose rise from being an underground entity to winning the Battle of the Bands (2018) and making a stellar debut on Coke Studio (remember 'Mehram' with Shae Gill?) has been phenomenal, is now headed for Bangladesh for a series of concerts.
Lead vocalist Asfar Hussain told Gulf News that the band had been touring Pakistan since December last, following the release of their sophomore album, titled Safar. No wonder they named it 'The Safar Tour.' With their concert in Dhaka, which takes place on April 27, Bayaan will be taking the tour out of Pakistan.
Hussain also hinted at touring 'another country afterwards,' but didn't reveal much about it. All he said was, 'Now, wherever we go, we try to perform [songs from] the new [ Safar ] album as well as our previous hits. You can say that Bangladesh is Safar 2.0. Similarly, there will be Safar 3.0, and so on.'
Hussain, who hails from Chitral, in northwestern part of Pakistan, is one of the rare pop singers in the country who pursued music at the university level — he graduated in Musicology from National College of Arts, Lahore, with distinction. Though he is adept at guitar, harmonium, and a lot of other instruments, he loves to play rubab, which is native to his hometown.
Over a decade ago, Hussain formed Bayaan with a group of friends. He's not just the face of the band, but is also the chief lyricist and composer. Hussain's — as well as Bayaan's — forte is chaste Urdu and soothing melodies. Think 'Farda', 'Nahi Milta', 'Mehram,' and most recently, 'Maand'.
Dhaka will be Bayaan's second international concert. They have previously performed at Dubai Expo. 'There were people of different nationalities at the venue — Bangla, Indian, Pakistanis, and others. It was quite a multi-cultural thing,' he added.
Hussain also spoke of Bangladesh being a huge market for Pakistani music. 'We've a great audience there. Actually, the organizers of this tour reached out to us over a year ago. We were in talks for months, but every time something or the other came up and we couldn't make it.'
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