This young musician from Islamabad, Yahya Farid is also a corporate lawyer. He was a former Law Clerk (Researcher) to a Supreme Court Judge and currently is a legal adviser to PEMRA. He also teaches Corporate Law at a local university in Islamabad and is a great example of how our youth can balance their hobbies and passion with their professional lives.
Just recently, he released his debut music album Mein Bolun, which he wrote and composed himself. The album took ten years for completion and throughout these years, he remained dedicated and committed to music regardless of all the tumults and downs music industry of Pakistan faced.
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The journey towards his album began when his mother bought him his first acoustic guitar at the age of 13. He would spend hours trying to learn the guitar grooves of tracks of Noori and EP. Those were the great days of Pakistani Music and Yahya was in awe of the new Pakistani rock bands. Later his father bought for him his first electric Washburn guitar from Korea, carrying the heavy guitar on his shoulders across different continents. His parents were highly supporting always letting him pursue his passion for music.
His early inspiration in Music was Ali Noor and Yahya would perform Noori songs in schools, colleges and universities at a very early age. At the age of 16, he formed a band with his school fellows and called it Xile (Exile). The band would soon become a school sensation and grant him the first opportunity to go on the stage and sing his heart out. Later, Yahya went to LUMS for his grad school and formed a band called XXI (21the band). Their first song produced by Ali Mustafa (Producer of Ali Zafar) was Dil Ki Baatein. 21’s moment of high was when the band was chosen by Ufone for their famed show Uth Records. The band was paired with Aahad Nayani (drummer of coke studio) and they performed their original Taaray. The song would go on to define the band’s identity and make them a budding pop rock band of Pakistan.
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Soon the band would release Chalo Utho featuring Ali Hamza from Noori and Taimur Rehman from Laal. Chalo Utho was a tribute to flood relief efforts of students all over Pakistan. The song erased the teen rock image of the band and they were recognized as the new upcoming sensation of Pakistani Music.
Later, Yahya teamed up with his old friend of LUMS, Naveed Masood and together they would record four more tracks eventually compiling all the music in the form of Mein Bolun. The album was released earlier this year and has been termed as the best thing to come out in Pakistani Music after a long hiatus of 10 years when musicians stopped releasing original music and albums. The album has diverse theme and the songs are pure, raw and melodic. Producers and Musicians like Ali Hamza (Vocalist of Noori), Ali Mustafa (producer of Ali Zafar), Gumby and Ahad Nayani (Drummers of Coke Studio), Taimur Rehman (Front man of Laal), Adeel (Guitarist of Strings), Shahan (Guitarist of Roxen) have all been part of the album. The album sounds fresh and yet also makes one feel of nostalgic of the great rock bands of Pakistan.
Apart from being a musician, Yahya is also a Corporate Lawyer and a graduate of LUMS. He was a former Law Clerk (Researcher) to a Supreme Court Judge and currently is a legal adviser to PEMRA. Yahya also teaches Corporate Law at a local university in Islamabad and is a great example of how our youth can balance their hobbies and passion with their professional lives.
