What got you all into music? How was the band formed?
The love and passion to express through music. We are a group of adamant kids who love to create music by listening to our hearts. The band was initially founded by Saad Ali Khan, Rafay Siddiqui and Me. Then as we set onto this beautiful journey of creating fusion music, we found some amazing like-minded musicians who completely changed the sound and dynamics of the band.
What is the story behind the name ‘Darvesh?
Darvesh is someone who is in ecstasy of love and has completely submitted themselves to love! We’ve done the same, our music is all about love, peace, harmony, oneness, inclusion and submission.
What inspires your music and you as a band?
This is a very long list. We are inspired by all the beautiful work around us. Nature, Poets, Musicians, Artists. Just to mention a few names:
Eastern: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab, Abida Parveen Jee, Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad, Amjad Sabri and many others.
Pakistani: Mekaal Hasan Band, Junoon, Ali Azmat, Fuzon, Karavan, Laal, Sounds of Kolachi, Faraz Anwar, Amir Zaki and many others.
International: Dream Theater, Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Hans Zimmer, Guthrie Govan, Tool and many others.
Poets: Hazrat Amir Khusro, Baba Ghulam Farid, Baba Bulleh Shah, Sayien Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Pir Mehr Ali, Allama Iqbal, Rumi, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Hazrat Shams Uddin Tabrez, Rabia Basri and many others.
Being a musician what you enjoy the most?
Stage!! Live performances and the adrenaline rush that comes with it is the best thing ever for us! Performing live in-front of an audience and then experiment live on stage brings such great joy and happiness to us. After that, creating new tracks by incorporating unorthodox ideas to our music.
What is the most favorite song that you would like to perform?
To be honest, we all have different personal favorite songs that we resonate and relate with on very personal level. I personally enjoy playing Husn E Haqiqi, Sawaali and Khuda Jaane the most. Fun Livin
The best memory about any musical gig you performed?
One thing that we’ve done together which we’ll always cherish is make memories. Every show has a story attached to it. We’ve made so many memories that if I start sharing them, this interview will never finish. But will definitely share one, we were opening for Abida Jee at IVS and shared the same green room. The way she welcomed us all, gave her blessings and told her that she would be here listening to us perform. This statement put us in such great pressure. As soon as we got done with our set, she called us back and gave us her blessings saying she was very impressed. This brought us all to tears. We even gifted her a whirling Darvesh, which she accepted with such excitement that it was overwhelming for the entire band.
If you had a chance to collaborate or perform with one musician who would it be?
We’ve collaborated with a lot of musicians from the industry but would love to collaborate with Zulfi, Bayaan, Strings, Junoon, Atif Aslam & Abida Parveen Jee.
How would you want the world to remember you?
A bunch of musicians who denied to give up their dream and only listened to their heart to express thousand different emotions through a song. A band that took on a journey of love with them through their music.
What’s next on the bucket list of “Darvesh”?
For now, loads and loads of music releases. We’ve brewed a lot of music which is still unreleased. We need to release that music now! We believe in our work and we want our fans and audience to get onto the roller-coaster ride of emotions with us.
