Anyone who is involved in the music scene in Pakistan on a somewhat professional level respects (and fears) Mekaal Hasan. He is one of the very few academically trained rock musicians around. His band called the Mekaal Hasan Band came into the lime light during the very famous Battle of the Bands (BOB) – the event responsible for putting acts like EP and Aaroh on the map. Mekaal’s band never made it to finals of BOB even though some say that his band is as good as it gets. I agree.

Mekaal Hasan is also one of the leading music producers in Pakistan and runs his own studio (Digital Fidelity Studio) in Lahore. He has been involved with two of the finest albums released this year - Noori’s Suno Ke Main Hun Jawan and EP’s Irtiqa. He was also the man behind the cult record Not in Your World by Coven.

Back with a brand new video (available for download in the right hand side column of this page with a number of other must hear tracks). Mekaal Hasan Band is out to give musicians a run for their money. Their debut album Sampooran due to be released in 2004 is expected to be music at its best. One can ask for nothing better. Feared by many because he has a reputation of being very blunt and respected because he is true to his art – this is Mekaal Hassan…

Mekaal, you are known as one of the few academically trained musicians around. Tell us about your higher education in music.
Basically I was a jazz composition major at Berklee College of music in Boston. I learnt a lot from my peers, more by hanging out with them and listening to what they had to say about music and composition than going to classes. However my main thrust was harmony(the study of the art of using chords with melody and how to extract a scale's sound via the various chords found within the scale), and I feel that the courses I covered in harmony at Berklee really helped my writing and composition skills immensely.

This may be one of the reasons why I can write around eastern classical and some other styles because if your harmony is strong, then any melody has a number of interesting harmonic choices you can color it up with.

What happened once you were a music graduate?
Technically speaking, I did 2 years at Berklee, because I didn't have enough money to finish off the degree and also set up my studio. I knew the degree itself would just be a piece of paper with which I really couldn't do much in Pakistan, and since I intended to come back here and set up a studio - I knew this place could do with a studio of some standard. It made natural sense for me to split my education money between the study of music and the actual setting up of a place where I could record what I had learnt at Berklee.

When did you set up Digital Fidelity studios? How would you rank your studio as compared to other studios around the country? And how would you rank it as compared to studios around the world?
Digital Fidelity was setup in 1995. I can't really tell you what I think about the studio, but some of the people who have recorded here with me were not exactly strangers to good studios and they were more than happy with what we were getting. The most overlooked aspect of studios is the engineering and studio design, not to mention that you have to really know your engineering in order to extract world class results.

The other most overlooked factor is the musicians. If someone has not got their craft down, it will show in the recording. With most of our musicians especially in the rock and pop scene, just getting a performance that is happening is an accomplishment because people do not practice their craft and as such their output is compromised. Given good players working with good songs and arrangements, the results can be as good as anything out there because the fundamentals are all in place.

When did the Mekaal Hassan Band (MHB) form? Are you the sole source of creative input in the band?
MHB was formed in the year 2000. With the Sampooran record I was writing with my old friend and associate, Javed Akhtar. Basically since the bulk of the material was traditional, we wrote around pieces like the kaafis and the classical stuff, then we tried to incorporate a more fusion-esque sound for some original compositions (such as the title track) while still keeping it in a classical framework (that particular song stays in aiman, while still being somewhat daring in its time signatures and motifs).

With the inclusion of Javed Bashir as the vocalist, we now have a more active compositional role within the band where Javed Bashir will actively participate in the composition process.

Why did you choose classical music? Why not make a head banging rock band because kids these days seem to love that.
I chose something that I felt represented where I was from. I believe that the melodic invention found in classical is unequalled, yet the harmonic beauty found in jazz is also breathtaking. It was a very natural transition for me, having an affinity for composition, to incorporate the best aspects of both styles.

The rock thing is not for me. Stylistically and compositionally, I wanted to do something fresh and vibrant where improvisation balanced with strong composition was a trademark of the music I would be making.

I also wanted to have a band where the line up could evolve and interact on record and on stage and I don't think that can really happen when you are playing loud rock and roll because the emphasis is on sonic overkill rather than dynamic subtlety which happens with group interplay.

How would you describe yourself? A producer, a guitarist or a composer? You do it all but what do you feel most at home with?
I have always considered myself a composer first. It's just incidental I play guitar. Not many people know this but I always write on keyboards… never guitar, because the guitar is not geared towards being composition friendly, whereas it seems keyboards are made to compose on.

The production bit is something which really depends very heavily on the people I am working with and has more to do with arrangements and the sounds one picks for the recording at hand. One thing's for sure... the best production job will not rescue a bad composition, but a good composition is not necessarily ruined by a weak production!

You are currently working on two albums. The Square One record and the MHB record (Sampooran). Any release dates in mind? What will be released first?
Actually Square One was finished ages ago! It's just that I’m not pushing it right now because I really would like to see MHB start out on a solid footing. We do occasionally sneak in Square One tunes, but I find playing the MHB stuff more enjoyable and less tiring, since it's more open ended and has more group interaction than Square One. Having said that, the level of focus required to execute Square One is pretty intense and I don't quite know if there will ever be enough work for that kind of music to actually start getting gigs with.

What has taken the albums such a long time?
Sampooran took long because it was done in 3 stages. We wrote half the material first, which was showcased on the Pete Lockett/Mekaal Hasan tour in March 2001. After recording Pete's parts here in Lahore, we then went back to writing, did more tunes, which we now needed to record drums for. This other half was completed by Gumby last year. Then, we had to finish off the bass parts, for which I had to go to London to have Mike Mondesir play his parts on.

I then came back, started mixing, and finished the record. In the meantime, we replaced Riaz Ali Khan with Javed Bashir, which, after hearing how well Javed was singing on the tunes we had initially written around Riaz's voice, meant I had to redo the entire record and which also meant I had to remix the entire thing.

Along the way, Sameer Ahmed joined up and ended up adding his bass parts to the record as well. So after all these various people had done their parts, I had now to mix the entire beast again, which, I am happy to inform you, has finally been done.

Square One has been tracked up and there is a sequenced drums version which I have had lying around since 2000. However, Gumby's playing on the Square One record is phenomenal, so once I have some time off from MHB, I will be looking to bring that into the mix stages as well.

Square One is very different from the classical music that will be on Sampooran. What kind of music do you prefer more?
Square One is focused primarily on my composition skills and on my guitar playing. There are tons of compositional things on there which I cannot attempt with MHB because of the nature of the music we do. I should point out, Sampooran has a classical element, but it is really a record made in the spirit of the classic Weather Report albums. The focus is on the composition and band interplay as it pertains to a fusion group. Each player is bringing his personality into the music and thereby making it a collective sound experience.

In that respect Square One is all about my own experiences and personality, so it's really a solo outing rather than a band record. I personally find myself tired of listening to guitar based music. I never was too into it anyways and even the guys I liked, like Wayne Krantz, seemed to be more about improvisation and group interplay than some of the other established guitar players. In fact, I can't remember the last guitar based record I purchased to be honest. So I guess you could say I’m very much into the band thing and seeing how the other guys add life to the music through their personalities and stylistic interpretations.

MHB is known to be one of the tightest live acts around. What makes you guys so good at it? What are you doing that other bands are not?
MHB is good because each person is a disciplined, professional musician in the band. If the standard of playing is such that no member of the band is a weak link, and everyone is playing not to grandstand or to hog the stage, than you will always have a band that is mindful of playing for the song and is willing to listen to its individuals.

Once a band can get so tight that you can give space to each other on stage, you will have some very positive musical experiences. So other than each of us being very conscious about our practice and our respective roles in the group, there's nothing that we do that is any different from any good band anywhere else.

It is often said that Mekaal Hasan is hard to work with. Do you think you are hard to work with?
I'm considered difficult because I really push people to do more than they ever thought possible. I'm also not the most diplomatic person, but then again, I feel that if someone is coming to record something , then that thing is going to be there for a really long time so why not give it 200%? If someone can't sing in tune, should they be recording in the first place? If someone can't tune a guitar, or play a guitar in tune, should they be attempting long guitar solos? I think not.

The question boils down to being honest with your craft. If someone is inherently lying to themselves by believing they really are that good (and in truth they are not), then of course problems crop up. The frustrating part is that people don't practice and get there stuff down cold, so that when they come in, your job as a producer/engineer is to make it a fun, creative experience. More often, it's more of a rescue operation where you are desperately trying to salvage either the singer's bad intonation, or a drummer's lack of dynamic control, or inability to play in time, or you are just scratching your head wondering how to exactly tell the bass player he absolutely has no rhythmic control and he sounds like he's playing a totally different tune!

These kinds of problems are commonplace and I’m sure other people experience these too. There have been plenty of times when the production work aspect has been great, because the artist was prepared, knew what he could and couldn't do, had a clear idea of the fact that his talent was not in question, and wasn't scared to go out on a limb and try something different.

My best work experiences have been with people like Hamza Ali Jafri and guys like Gumby and Javed Bashir, because they are so focused on what they want to achieve within the song. With artists like those, you won't hear of many complaints, I assure you. On the other hand, if someone expects to sound like Steve Vai, and can't even play in time, then issues will arise. The problem really is that the number of really cool musicians is too few and the number of weak musicians is vast.

Which artiste or band has been the most difficult to work with so far?
Each band has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s easier for me to tell you about whom I have had a blast doing stuff with and that person is Hamza Ali Jafri. We've done about three different recordings over a few years and it's always been a rewarding, enriching experience. I'm not really counting the people in my own band in this by the way. Those guys are also so much fun to work with that it doesn't feel like work at all.

As a producer, apart from your own albums, what albums are you happy to be associated with?
I haven't done that much work that has been out commercially. I really like the work I did on Faraz Anwar's solo record and on the Noori and EP record. In fact, now that I recall, the Coven "Not in your world" record also is one of my favorites although it never came up for commercial release.

If you were to name one album that you worked on (other than yours), which one would be your favorite from strictly a production point of view?
Depends on the genre, but the best produced records need not be the most polished. In fact, slick productions are not my favorite sounding things because they sound so lifeless. I like the way the Noori and EP records sound because we really managed to achieve a whole new level of production ethic on those two records. Other than that, although I didn't work on it, I really like the way the Jeff Buckley record Grace sounds and you'd never believe it, but the guy who produced that record (Andy Wallace) also produces Slayer, so like I said, it varies from genre to genre.

What is your all time favorite Pakistan record?
If the Coven "Not in your world" recording can be considered a Pakistani record I’d go for that definitely.

Shahzada Faisal’s album was recorded at your studios. How was that experience?
I wouldn't know. I wasn't the one who recorded it because I had an assistant engineer working at my place when that record was done and he was the engineer for that session. But apart from that I have heard many people say why did you let this person record in your studio, but to be honest, he's got a right to record wherever he wants. If talent was the sole criterion which got people into recording studios, I don't think you'd have much of a pop scene would you?

Do you think you would turn down an artiste from offering your services because you didn’t think he/she was good enough?
Yes. I not only think this, but I have many times turned down recordings where I felt that I could not contribute much by way of my skills to the kind of record the client wanted.

You’ve said time and time again that you aren’t happy with music critics in Pakistan. Where do you think is the problem? Do they not know enough?
They definitely do not know much. It's not that I’m unhappy, it's just that I find the so called critics completely sensationist and thoroughly ignorant in their knowledge of music. It's unfair and unjust that someone who wouldn't be familiar with music would choose to be an authority on it.

Many critics get totally personal in their reviews. Some go as far as to put in their own fictional accounts of "what happened". In any other country, the newspaper could get sued, but guess what, it's not going to happen here because no one is accountable. It also doesn't say much for the kinds of editors we have, since it’s those guys who should know better than to take in the kind of trash that passes for a review. Just because someone can write a sentence of English does not make them a critic. And just because someone knows the names of so and so record by so and so band, also does not entitle them to be a critic.

The sad part is there are many people who can write on the many records which are out there, but it's up to them to come forward and take charge. All I can suggest to people is to read real critics so that you get a sense of what criticism involves. By all means read Bill Milkowski's book on Jaco Pastorius titled "Jaco" so that you get a sense of how a critic writes.

Are there any music critics in Pakistan that you think are doing a good job?
Omeir Qazi at Bandbaja writes very well. His review of EP's record was very balanced and it seemed that after eons, someone who actually had a feel for music had decided to write on it instead of snickering at the badly written, hack reviews one reads nowadays. Some other names of people who have a solid understanding of music that’s come to mind are Mohammad. Ali Jafri, Zahid-ur-Rehman, Mateen Kaul and Usman Chaudhry.

How do you feel about corporate sponsorships? Would you like to be sponsored by a cola giant?
I think sponsorship would have been a great idea, if only they had created diversity in the market. Unfortunately, no sponsor wants to get involved with developing acts. They simply want to cash in on your current popularity. So personally, while a sponsorship would help out in the cost factor, I am not too keen on selling myself on every billboard just in order to get a better video!

I would love for a cola giant to sponsor a bunch of concerts which happen each month year round, where people could go and play and interact with other musicians. This can be taken a step further by establishing festivals where people come to check out the new music and bands could get signed on the basis of their live act rather than on the basis of a video which runs 24/7.

Until corporate sponsors wake up to the need to provide players with infrastructure, we will never see any real progress, because the emphasis will be on making a fast sell and not on making a contribution to performing arts.

What is next on the Mekaal Hasan to do list? What shall we expect from you in the coming year?
I think you will be seeing some new productions coming out along with some videos for the current record. And of course, I hope to be playing live with MHB much more in this upcoming year.

Source: BandBaja.org

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