Khurram Waqar

Khurram Waqar (Urdu:خرّم وقار) is a multi-award-winning guitarist/producer from Pakistan who has recently also ventured into video direction and production. He has been part of various rock outfits for the last 2 decades with varying degree of commercial success. Currently, he is a part of multiple projects, from his award-winning band 'kW and the Facedown Movement' (kW & FDM) to guitar instrumentals, video logs, Facebook live jams and collaboration with various internationally renowned musicians. Earlier in 2019, kW & FDM won rock song of the year for 'Todi, the Smoker' at the annual Video Music Awards (VIMA) beating bands from countries such as India, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Previously, as part of the rock outfit Qayaas, he won Best Rock Band (Pakistan) at the Rolling Stones/Jack Daniels Annual Music Awards in 2010 and also won big at the IndieGO awards held in Malaysia in 2012.

'Stick Together', the second instrumental was released during the Cricket World Cup 2019 to support the Pakistani cricket team in their quest for the top cricketing honour. Like "I'll be with you' before it, 'Stick Together' was also entirely a one-man show. As Khurram puts it:

In June 2019, the band released their debut EP (Extended Play) called 'Facedown' which is available on iTunes, Amazon Music, and bandcamp. It features the following original numbers:

'Bazm e Rang' (2019) 'Bazm-e-Rang' is the brain child of Sarang Latif, son of Madam Abida Parveen, legendary Sufi singer, and a living Sufi herself. The main concept of the programme is to get artists from various genres and musical influences to give voice to Sufi kalam curated by Abida Jee and also set to music by her. Bazm-e-Rang has compositions by Abida jee from Kalams of legendary Sufi poets like Baba Bulleh Shah, Shah Niaz Barelvi, Bedam Shah Warsi, Amir Khusro and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.

With Taimur Khan and Sarfaraz Khan (2019) Of late, Khurram has regularly contributed his guitar skills in jams featuring Taimur Khan on sarangi and Sarfaraz Khan on tabla, among the country's finest on their respective instruments. They have presented their own take on Raag Charukeshi, Raag Basant Mukhari, Raag Multani and Raag Bhairon as Facebook live sessions with many more collaborations in the pipeline.

The first instrumental from the upcoming (yet unnamed) album "I'll be with you' was released in December 2018. It was an entirely independent initiative, every aspect of which was helmed by Khurram from the songwriting and music production to the hitherto untested waters of video direction, editing and production. In Khurram's own words 'This is a guitar instrumental and the idea originated almost 14 years ago when my eldest son was born. Now, this is for my three kids . They have been a part of the journey of the idea from inception to finish line. This is a completely independent initiative and I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to do it on my own'

kW & Nikhil (2018–present) In 2018 Khurram collaborated with Dubai-based musician Nikhil Raj Uzgare who is the vocalist of the award-winning rock band, Point of View, based in Dubai. Their collaboration resulted in the soft ballad 'Baatein', ostensibly far removed from the progressive rock sound of Khurram's other ventures but executed with the same degree of passion and attention to detail. The whole process was a unique experience, entailing cross geographical digital exchange of musical notes, long distance recordings and finally the in-person meeting in Dubai to shoot the video 'guerrilla style'. The Dubai meet culminated in a spontaneous acoustic gig before the video release. In the process, Khurram and Nikhil became good friends and are all set to release more songs in the near future.

kW and the Facedown Movement (kW & FDM) is a rock band founded in 2014 with Khurram yet again donning the multiple hats of guitarist, songwriter and producer, accompanied by good friends Solomon and Kami on the vocals and drums respectively. The band's rather unusual name refers to the members' complete belief in themselves, immersed heart and soul, or literally face down, into their art; original, off beat and totally independent. The band's off beat approach and the music generated as a result thereof was validated when their song 'Todi, the Smoker' won 'Rock Song of the Year' at the annual Video Music Awards (VIMA) 2019, beating bands from countries such as India, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Their debut album, Uss Paar, featuring 13 original songs, was released in 2011 to immense critical acclaim. In 2013 the band also contributed three songs to the soundtrack of Waar, the highest grossing Pakistani film at the time. Qayaas also composed the single "Vadero Pajero" for the award-winning animated show Burka Avengers.

In 2008, Khurram formed the rock band Qayaas with Umair Jaswal on vocals which, over the years, developed a cult following. The band received Best Rock Band (Pakistan) award at the 2010 Rolling Stone-Jack Daniel's annual rock awards including Best Rock Band (Pakistan). They also won big at IndieGO, held in Malaysia in 2012. In the same year, their song "Charkha Naulakha" featured in Coke Studio Pakistan. The song also featured in a special limited-edition CD of 'Coke Studio's Greatest Hits' and currently has more than 4 million views on YouTube.

In 2003, Khurram set up a home based music studio called the Root Gate Studio with the facility to record live drums. All of kNuMb's material, 70% of Qayaas' album Uss Paar and all of KW's recorded music since has been recorded there. Despite state of the art equipment, the studio is meant only for personal jams and recordings.

Since 2002, he has managed a full-time IT/telecom career (works at Afiniti) along with his musical ventures.

Lahore of the mid and late 90s had a vibrant underground music culture and was referred to as a 'contemporary rock hub' During this time Khurram was part of various rock bands that had a cult following. Initially he played a few gigs with Coven the band when their guitarist Hamza Jafri left for London. During this time he struck a lifelong friendship with Ali Noor, Ali Jafri and Abid Khan. Then came his stint with 'Entity' (later Entity Paradigm), featuring Ahmad Ali Butt, Qasim Khan and Salman Albert. Qasim and Khurram were to form kNuMb in late 90s. kNuMb played a mix of guitar instrumentals and original songs in gigs around the country. In 2001 Khurram left for the US to pursue his graduate studies.

While he has actively been part of various rock outfits since 1992, Khurram has also dabbled in solo guitar instrumentals in parallel, that has, over the years, resulted in a considerable body of work. A few instrumentals were released sporadically but the vast majority of these instrumentals lay unfinished. In 2018, however, Khurram retrieved all the material from the vaults and subjected it to the painstaking process of production, mixing and mastering. The result, thereof, is an instrumental album which is ready for release in the latter half of 2019.