Rambling through rock with Omran Shafique

By Amar Ayaz

The man who gave us those iconic Stop and Eject signs was not into art for art’s sake. For him, it was a way of life. Instep pays tribute to a rare shooting star…

At around noon on a Sunday, Omran Shafique sits in his apartment next to the neighbourhood bakery, above a carpet store, getting ready to listen to the latest album he downloaded onto his iPod. Always in search of new tunes and sounds to broaden his experience of music, the lead vocalist and guitarist of Mauj sits on a revolving computer chair gazing into his iPod as though in search of a lost track.

While noontime is not early for most, after a long Saturday which involved running between a photo shoot in the morning and a Coke Studio session at night, Omran should be resting at midday, Sunday. Instead he decides to call me over to chat about his longstanding love affair with music.

Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt at his cosy apartment in Defence, chilling on a Sunday, Omran cuts a different figure from the rebel onstage. As front man for Mauj, he is electric. The soft-spoken, unassuming professional musician has a chameleon like quality, on stage he plays for affect. The sneer, the raised eyebrow, the groove, the rhythm obviously coursing through his veins as he plays the guitar, Omran is every inch a rock star, perhaps the best performer we’ve seen since Ali Azmat. You can also see it in the Mauj videos, be it ‘Khushfehmi’, ‘Paheliyaan’ and the newest release ‘Mona’. Omran plays to please you and that is why you watch him.

However, there is another side to this multi-faceted musician. He plays in the Coke Studio house band, there for both seasons and on for the third. He is also a guitarist for Co-Ven, Hamza Jafri’s underground band that made its mark on listeners. He also played guitar on both of Ali Azmat’s solo albums, Social Circus and Klashinfolk. He’s also collaborated with Zeb and Haniya and Kaavish. Omran likes to play music, and he does it at every opportunity he gets. Music is his love, his profession and his lifestyle. He’s not in it to be a star –  that’s just a by-product of what he does.

“That was the fantasy,” he smiles. “That was the dream. It wasn’t being a rock star, it was playing music day and night.”
Still a keen learner and an avid student of music, Omran speaks of how his elder brothers had a major influence on his journey. Growing up in Bahrain as the youngest of four brothers he tried to emulate them as any young boy idolizing his older siblings would.

When they were away from home, Omran would sneak into the basement and try to replicate the beats his brother thrashed out on his drums. The eldest two of the four brothers were musicians, whereas the third of his older brothers, who was relatively closer to his age, was more interested in musical theory, as opposed to playing an instrument. It was thanks to the third brother, who instilled perfection and a meticulous understanding of composition in him that Omran’s knowledge of and approach to music evolved. This evolution is still evident in the heavy riffs and weeping solos that his guitars croon on the multitude of tracks he has worked on.

While Omran talks about his family, he takes a break to introduce me to his wife Eva who enters the living room to offer us drinks. Greeting us with a warm smile she brings us some thirst-quenchers and tidbits to eat before Omran continues where he left off.

x “The three elder brothers had a huge influence on me making the kind of music I am making,” he recalls between sips of soda. He further explains that amid his brothers’ diverse taste in music and his father’s ear for ghazals, that he “took all those influences and absorbed them.”
With no formal education in music, Omran, who believes that the “best teacher is experience”, moved to Houston, Texas where he formed a cover band called Hemlock Society. There he jammed with experienced and superior musicians whom he claims raised his own caliber of music as he continued to consume from an ocean of melodies.

Like most Pakistanis he joined university as a business major but quickly realized that he had “no business acumen at all.”
“I don’t understand the comings and goings of money, so I dropped out of that and became an English Literature major,” he echoes  the sentiment that many creative minds have over the years.

Due to his computer skills, a friend of his convinced him to join an IT company soon after. While the job helped him pay bills, his true calling was elsewhere. He continued to jam with many musicians in Houston, and his thirst for music eventually led him to the production of his first track ‘Khushfehmi’.

In 2002, with little finance and no inclination to record in a high end studio, Omran “pimped up” his computer and pushed the advances in technology to record a demo. While the track sounded good initially, he didn’t realize its true potential till he came to Pakistan where he met up with his friends Ali Noor and Hamza Jafri who at the time were in Co-Ven. In the same trip he also visited Mekaal Hasan’s studio and after hearing the track in a more controlled environment, he realized Mauj’s true potential. A few conversations with Hamza and Mekaal about relocating to Pakistan, a video release and the immediate hype surrounding a new sound from a new band proved to be enough evidence for Omran to start work on an album and consider coming to Pakistan.

“By the time we got to finishing the album it was 2005-2006 and then I had to make the big decision of leaving everything here, take my American-born wife and move back to Pakistan.” Having been back for close to four years Omran recounts, “It’s been a fun ride since.”

And what a ride it’s been! Since being back Omran has launched himself into every project that has come his way. He thrashes the strings on his guitar for Rohail Hyatt’s Coke Studio Sessions, Ali Azmat’s tracks and on a soulful tune by Zeb and Haniya, just to name a few. Apart from Mauj and Co-Ven he also started a unique project with Taha Malik called Kostal that gave us the groovy ‘Jaan Jaye’, for which they will soon begin work on an album. In the near future Omran plans to do some work with Gumby, with whom he jams at the drummer’s LJP Studio.

Devoting himself to a large number of projects, Omran’s schedule is littered with production work, jam sessions and recording sessions. It’s why he moved to Pakistan and he’s making the most of it, with no hang-ups about being a rock star hankering for exclusivity. Perhaps it’s because of this attitude that the industry has taken to him. He has worked with everyone and no one has any issues working with Momo, which is how music industry insiders know him.

“I’m always looking for another outlet, another challenge or genre of music,” he explains. “I like so many types of music that I’d like to eventually be able to play them all.”
After taking a sip of his soda I see a smirk across his face. “Whether you like me or not, you’ll be listening to me,” he playfully adds.

At present we can hear his soulful, funky tunes, heavy rock riffs and vocals in the recently released Now in Technicolor his band’s first album. The songs on the compilation vary between straight-up rock and funk, the latter of which is more identifiable with Mauj. With a new album soon to be in the works, Omran plans to “keep Mauj funky” while separating the heavier rock tunes into yet another venture.

We take a break so Omran can attend to his phone which erupted into a distinctive ring tone. While he replies to his message I realize that on the living room floor lies a copy of The Lovely Bones, a movie based on a critically acclaimed novel that never got the attention it deserved. Apart from his knowledge of music his taste in film seems to be fine as well.

As Omran turns back he continues the discussion we were having on his band’s sound and its inspiration. Of late the world has seen a mini resurgence in the feel-good rock that many grew up listening to. Roused by the revival of the ‘80’s trends and tunes, many bands are trying to replicate that same emotion with a fresh feel. This very aspect is evident in many of Mauj’s tracks and the vision that Omran has of the band.

“We grew up listening to ‘80’s pop-rock and grunge, and that is what you see coming out in our work,” he says.

For once however, Pakistan had a slight jump on the west as the tunes Omran and his band-mates were producing were headed in the same direction. But that’s where the advantage stops.

As we tackle the touchy topic of the music scene in Pakistan, it is clear from the look in his eye and grin on his face that we are on the same wavelength.

Omran agrees that while our industry has tremendous talent, “it lacks a certain sense of unity, direction and professionalism. It has to become a recognized entity by the state, by the government and by the people.”
“They have to recognize that it is a proper business and treat it as such.”
One of these obstacles is piracy, which can only be curtailed if corruption is erased. Until this is dealt with the conditions of our industry will remain stagnant.

“It’s a matter of nurturing the young musicians that are coming up so that they don’t get disheartened.”
The awareness of the industry’s needs and wants are not lost on Omran. Though he has been back a short while, he has immersed himself in his passion and plans to keep driving forward – entertaining audiences and quenching his  thirst of music in an ocean of melodies.

Similarly a dialogue on music is oceanic and on another day we would have had a more philosophical and comprehensive discussion on the wonders of soulful refrains. For now time is short and the record that is our conversation spins to an end. Side-A might be wrapped for now but despite the many components that represent the roving rock star that is Omran, there is still a Side-B. For that we’ll have to wait for a future release, and judging by our midday banter that prospect is not too distant. At present though, like the  frequently strummed strings on his guitar, this man of music will just ramble on.

Source: Instep Today