Rider On The Storm

 Buried underneath a layer of dust in a forgotten corner of a bookshelf, I discover, after a considerable amount of searching, my vintage college yearbook. Each person in the 2001 batch at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU) has their personal page on this rather hefty extent. It takes me some time to discover the entry I am looking for: roll number 1413 – Farhan Saeed Butt.

Several of his pals have shared their feedback approximately him on his page. There is a fair diploma of ribbing going on.

“A man with a beautiful voice and zero coding talents,” one magnificence fellow jests. “I don't forget the time once I spent a whole night time teaching those guys assembly [language] and he were given a zero within the very last!”

“Jughatain jitne marzi lugwa lo, mazak jitna marzi karwa lo, bus kaam koi nahi kurna,” every other japes before warning all his girl lovers that Farhan “sukht flirt hai and buhat dhokay baaz hai.”

“Ego honi chahiye banday mein, according to bila wajha ki nahi,” but any other buddy writes: a caught-out tongue emoticon firmly in tow. So, a lot of sparkling testimonials approximately a promising younger man, basically.

All kidding aside although, there may be one component that nearly all the commentators agree upon: the dude has an splendid voice. It’s this voice that has propelled Farhan Saeed to fame.

The story, as he recollects, starts offevolved at the grounds of the aforementioned university wherein a reluctant overall performance abruptly ended up converting his lifestyles.

“There changed into an occasion at FAST that my pals had been arranging,” he reminisces, “and that they had a slot of ten minutes which they had been now not certain what to do with. They requested me if I ought to carry out. I was very dicey at the start, but when they had no different option, I agreed to sing. I did  songs and performed for about 10 to fifteen mins.”

One Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Xulfi) turned into within the target audience as properly. “I, of direction, knew that Xulfi turned into two years senior to me at FAST. Many contributors of the band EP studied there, including Fawad who became one year senior to me.” Xulfi heard Farhan sing and sooner or later added him to Jal guitarist Goher Mumtaz who had, by way of this time, parted methods with Atif Aslam. They quick bonded and commenced recording songs that would become on the group’s first album, Aadat. The rest, as they are saying, is records.

“Jal became one of the first-rate time durations of my life,” he states. “It seems like some different life now. I spent ten years with the band. Some of the exceptional instances of my life were with Jal. The band existence is, in itself, a exquisite aspect to revel in. And sure, we had numerous a laugh and Alhamdulillah, by the grace of God, we saw the first-rate instances as a band. We toured the arena, we saw hardships together and we skilled [success] together. I become a teenager once I joined Jal, and I left after I become 28, so a decade of my lifestyles, my top adolescents, turned into with Jal, and I cherished every little bit of it! I leave out it now and again, but it’s lovely and I want it to be like that during my memories all the time.”

Did he face any demanding situations even as navigating a solo career after his exit from the band? “It’s a new international altogether while you move solo,” he replies. “You must do everything your self. In Jal my function changed into that of a vocalist. When you pass solo, you need to compose, write songs, jam with different humans. In a band, while you’re working with one composer, your chemistry and knowledge develops. When you go solo, you need to paintings with numerous composers and teams. So yeah, it become quite hard on the start, however through the grace of God, it worked for me. In the early level of my solo career, Allah honestly helped me make precise songs that human beings definitely preferred. That notion and the fanatics’ agree with in my paintings – that gave me self assurance. It was difficult on the begin, however then things went easily. All that turned into due to fanatics accepting my track.”

Looking back at his early solo releases, he's proud of songs like ‘Pi Jaun’, his collaboration with singer Momina Mustehsan; the tune ‘Naam-e-Wafa’ which regarded at the soundtrack of a Bollywood film; and ‘Roiyaan’, a tune he wrote with Kumaar when he turned into in India, and which subsequently gained him the Song of the Year trophy at the Lux Style Awards and the Best Solo Single accolade at the Hum Awards.

His next musical launch is a collaboration with some other famous singer. “Because of COVID-19 and lockdown, I had time on my arms and become able to deliver time to my track. Very soon you’ll see my new singles coming out. One of them is with Aima Baig. It’s referred to as ‘Akhiyan’ and it will likely be out in per week or so. It could be followed by way of  to a few other large releases. Fans who love my music… I haven’t carried out justice to them within the beyond two to three years, so I’m going to make it as much as them. This 12 months and subsequent 12 months will see a whole lot of tune releases. I do desire COVID-19 is going away very soon and we will go back to the level and carry out for our lovers, due to the fact appearing on degree will always be my old flame.”

“The great is yet to come back. I’ll hold improving and I hope that human beings will like me inside the future too.”