ASFAR HUSSAIN | Voice of Bayaan | Aleph Podcast | 19

In this episode of the Aleph Podcast we had the pleasure of inviting songwriter and singer, Asfar Hussain from the band “Bayaan” who gained recognition after appearing in the first season of Nescafé Basement, 2012. The conversation is about Asfar’s journey into the Pakistani music industry starting from his childhood to what he is doing currently. Umair Dar gets into the details of Asfar’s musical endeavors, inspirations, achievements and future plans.

Growing up in the picturesque mountains of Chitral, where folk music and story telling through poetry is deeply rooted in the culture, Asfar spent his childhood observing his family friends and relatives singing the verses of his poet father in the musical get-togethers - Mehfils. Meanwhile, his elder brother played the Chitrali sitar. Asfar has been singing since he was in the 7th grade. He took the centre stage for the first time during his college days. While auditioning at his college, NCA for a show, the producer Zulfiqar Khan discovered him in 2012.

Asfar Hussain is the vocalist of the band ‘Bayaan’. The band formed after its members met in the music reality show, Nescafé basement. However, the band really struck stardom after winning the Pakistani music competition TV series ‘Pepsi Battle of the Bands’ (2018). It was Asfar Hussain who came up with the name Bayaan, which translates into a narrative. The name perfectly exhibited the band’s ideology of expressing the experiences and emotions in relation to different life situations.

In 2022, in the Pakistani musical TV show ‘Coke Studio,’ Asfar collaborated with the Brooklyn-based Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab to voice the song “Mehram.”

Directed, Shot and Edited by Ali Muhammad
Assisted by Zahra Hassan Shah

Chapters
0:00 - Musical Beginnings
8:11 - Bayaan And Other Solo Projects
10:27 - Pepsi’s Role In Bayaan’s Upliftment
18:48 - The Songwriting Process
21:30 - Healing Through Music
36:50 - Pursuing The Arts
48:45 - Plans For The Future

FOLLOW ASFAR HUSSAIN:
Instagram:   / asfarhussainofficial  
Facebook:   / asfarhussainofficial  

FOLLOW BAYAAN:
Bandcamp: https://bayaan.bandcamp.com
Instagram:   / bayaanofficial  
Facebook:   / bayaanofficial  
YouTube:    / @bayaanofficial  

FOLLOW A FOR ALEPH:
Bandcamp: https://li.sten.to/aforaleph
Instagram: https://li.sten.to/aforaleph
Facebook: https://li.sten.to/aforaleph
Twitter: https://li.sten.to/aforaleph
YouTube: https://li.sten.to/aforaleph
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