Mustafa Zahid – Making Waves Internationally

Mustafa Zahid

Mustafa Zahid

Roxen is a pop rock band of Pakistan that is not just rocking the music industry here but also making waves across the border. Mustafa, is the vocalist, lyricist and the composer for the band; Haider on the lead guitar, backing vocals and composition, Jawad a.k.a Jodi is on the rhythm guitar, and Omar is the bass guitarist.

When Interviewer met him he was drinking PEPSI can, which had Annie on it and was half filled, they both had around 40 minutess together and Mustafa didn’t drink it. [The above Paragraph was not in actual interview printed in Magazine, this was told to Koolmuzone’s author by Interviewer ]

1) Tell me something about yourself and Roxen?

I graduated from PCBA and then I did my masters from National College of Arts (NCA). I formed Roxen in 2004 when I met Jodi through a common friend and then we started jamming together. I knew Haider already as he was a friend of mine. Together we made music and formed Roxen. We came up with our debut album in 2006 and then did a project for Bollywood in 2007.

2) Where did the name Roxen come from?

It is actually a Persian word which means a small window or a hole in a criminal cell from which the light gets in and provides hope and freshness. The basic idea behind the name is that our music is all about hope and freshness and that’s where the word Roxen comes from. So the whole point of making a band and naming it Roxen is to tell what the music signifies.

3) How was your experience working in India?

It was fabulous. We simply loved it. It was a new experience because back in Pakistan I use to sing what I wanted to and I use to write what ever I felt like and no proper story board was provided to me but in India it was a different experience. It was a different story all together as I was provided with a story board and I was told to portray those emotions that the actor will be acting later. I learned a lot of things. I learned how to put emotions and expressions in the lyrical content and how to add expressions in a song. So, it was fun.

4) Did you find a striking different in the market here and the market in India?

I think they are a bit more professional than us. Music is everything for them. They do whatever they want to do but for us, we think about something else and do something else rather than putting our focus on music. Here in Pakistan, music is still considered as a side job but for them music is the main thing. In India people are a bit, in fact a lot more professional and very well equipped. They are very much clear and they know what they want to do and hence they manage to do that pretty well.

5) What is the name of your upcoming album and what is it all about?

The name of the up coming album is ‘Na kar Dewana’ and it’s a pop rock album. It is going to be a bit more commercial than what we have done earlier as this album is partly for the Indian market and will be an album which can be played in all the clubs.

6) Almost every other singer is making pop rock, is this a phase?

Yes I definitely think that it’s a phase and it’s a phase where a trend of boy band is coming up which I think is very good that they are getting recognized all over the world. I guess it’s the sound of the era. Pop rock is what we would want to listen for another couple of years and even decades. It’s a pop rock phase because we, here in Pakistan, don’t have a club culture so that kind of music will not be popular in Pakistan. The reason why such songs are popular in India is because they do have a club culture. They go to clubs every night and that’s why remixes or the one’s that are hip hop get very popular in India rather than pop rock songs. So, I think pop rock is here to last because at the end of the day we would like to go to a concert rather than a party which are not even happening much in Pakistan.

7) Roxen has been very successful right from the start, what’s the secret behind this success?

I won’t call it our luck, we took our time. When initially we came out people had a lot of issues and they thought that we don’t have our original sound. We always thought that there is not one song in the album but 9 or 10 songs in total that people have to listen to before making any kind of judgement. This I think was quite clear when we came out with our video ‘Sapney’ everybody started saying that we have a sound of our own and they realized that we are not just another band from the market as at that time tons of bands were coming out. Another thing is that the band members do not share the music interest so we have a fusion. Another important thing is that we don’t fight and we are more like brothers. Even if I represent myself in India they never have a problem with it. They understand that every time the whole band cannot go to India just for one or two tracks. So that’s what keeps us going.

8) Where do you see Roxen in the next few years?

Definitely together as a band. This is important than anything else. I don’t mind if we don’t come out with another album in the next three years but I want my boys to be with me for years to come. We would love to bring out more albums, more music. We will be doing many Bollywood projects and I will also be doing my solo projects. Roxen on the other hand will do many international shows as well.

Conducted for a ISP