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Aamir Zaki Passed Away

DanishJamil

DanishJamil

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One of country’s top guitarists Aamir Zaki passed away on Friday. He was 49.

The former Vital Signs member’s death was confirmed by relatives including his brother Shahid Zaki.

A family member told The Express Tribune that the cause of Zaki’s death was heart failure after a prolonged illness.

“We are still shifting the body. The funeral will most likely be held tomorrow.”

The musician, who made his overdue debut on popular Pakistani music show Coke Studio in 2014, was last seen in action performing at the two-day long I Am Karachi Music Festival. He recently collaborated with Saleem Javed, another legend of the Pakistani music industry, reworking the singer’s classic Tum Mere Ho.

Source: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1425773/guitarist-aamir-zaki-passes-away-49/
 
Absolutely shocking news. Zaki was the quintessential tortured genius. Another part of my childhood died today.

He started playing professionally over 35 years ago. If you watch videos of Alamgir from the late 70's, there's Zaki, not even in his teens at that time. And after that he sessioned for every single big name in the industry. However, he couldn't (or wouldn't) translate all that talent to commercial success, and there was always the air of the brooding, misunderstood maestro about him. The feud with Rohail Hyatt, the divorce, the trip to Vegas where he blew away his life savings, all were part of the mystique. And now he's gone.
 
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. He was still young. A great artist.

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Both of the songs [MENTION=137893]enkidu_[/MENTION] posted are from his only commercial album, Signature. It came out in 1995, and apart from two songs, the rest were instrumentals. That was a bold move at the time. The two songs with vocals were actually the same, but with English and Urdu lyrics: "Mera Pyar," arguably the only Zaki song most people know of, and it's English translation, "Do You Really Love Another." Those two, alongside "The Day She Left" (in the post above) were all inspired by the divorce.

The tragedy is that his best work isn't available. All those jam sessions with Gumby and other obscure, unheralded talents amongst the Goan community were never recorded. The album pales in comparison to those.
 
"Every Person Is a Story" brings back a lot of memories for me, because it was actually the first song I learnt to play. It is the only song on the album that uses a classical guitar, and he actually talked about it at length on a TV show, demonstrating the classical guitar technique of simultaneously playing the bass and melody lines.
 
Nostalgic said:
Absolutely shocking news. Zaki was the quintessential tortured genius. Another part of my childhood died today.

He started playing professionally over 35 years ago. If you watch videos of Alamgir from the late 70's, there's Zaki, not even in his teens at that time. And after that he sessioned for every single big name in the industry. However, he couldn't (or wouldn't) translate all that talent to commercial success, and there was always the air of the brooding, misunderstood maestro about him. The feud with Rohail Hyatt, the divorce, the trip to Vegas where he blew away his life savings, all were part of the mystique. And now he's gone.
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Source? More info on this?
 
The article in the OP mentions his being part of Vital Signs. I believe he was part of the band for barely a year or so, and that time was between albums. He joined after 1993's Aitebar, and left before 1995's Hum Tum. Yet again, whatever little he played for VS isn't available, except for two tunes, the live and unplugged versions of Aitebar and Teray Liye:



He did not play on the rest of the album, which instead featured Assad Ahmed as the session guitarist.
 
Badsha said:
Source? More info on this?
Click to expand...

I doubt I could dig up a source from that far back (early 90's), since there's hardly anything on him online. But it was well known in music circles at the time. He got divorced, wasn't making ends meet, and "invested" what little he had left at the Vegas casinos, either as an exercise in masochism or an attempt to make some money. Or both.
 
Nostalgic said:
I doubt I could dig up a source from that far back (early 90's), since there's hardly anything on him online. But it was well known in music circles at the time. He got divorced, wasn't making ends meet, and "invested" what little he had left at the Vegas casinos, either as an exercise in masochism or an attempt to make some money. Or both.
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Interesting. Did his wife leave him for someone else?
 
One major contribution of his to the industry was the discovery of Gumby, drummer extraordinaire.

Gumby was part of the band at the Avari Hotel in Karachi, playing in the background while people dined. It was there that Zaki discovered him, and brought him to the limelight. It could be argued that a talent such as Gumby would've been discovered eventually, but Gumby himself credits Aamir Zaki for that initial impetus to his career.
 
Wow

I can't quite believe it

I'm literally lost for words

In my opinion he was as good as any internationally acclaimed guitarist out there

It's a bit mind numbing for me at this point

RIP
 
Shocking news, he was a genius. JJ and Amir Zaki have passed away less than a year. Now I am worried about Alamgir.
 
This video from a few years ago dwells a bit on the Zaki-Gumby history and dynamic:

 
Going back to his time with Vital Signs, his departure from the band is a story too. They were playing a show in London, and while they were there, Zaki accompanied Rohail to a Pink Floyd concert. The story goes that Zaki spent the show criticizing David Gilmour's guitar work, which offended Rohail, who counts Gilmour as a great influence. Zaki and Rohail never got along after that, and Zaki left the band soon after. This also explains why he never got to play on Coke Studio during the Rohail era.
 
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


This puts a full on damper on my mood. He was only 49 years young.

A major part of my childhood passed away today.

Inna lillahi wa inna illahi raji'oon
 
DanishJamil said:
One of country’s top guitarists Aamir Zaki passed away on Friday. He was 49.

The former Vital Signs member’s death was confirmed by relatives including his brother Shahid Zaki.

A family member told The Express Tribune that the cause of Zaki’s death was heart failure after a prolonged illness.

“We are still shifting the body. The funeral will most likely be held tomorrow.”

The musician, who made his overdue debut on popular Pakistani music show Coke Studio in 2014, was last seen in action performing at the two-day long I Am Karachi Music Festival. He recently collaborated with Saleem Javed, another legend of the Pakistani music industry, reworking the singer’s classic Tum Mere Ho.

Source: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1425773/guitarist-aamir-zaki-passes-away-49/
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DanishJamil said:
I cant believe he passed away :( :(
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Noooooooooooooooooooooo :'( :'(


Inna lillah e Wa inna eleh e rajeoon :-( :'(


Very sad :-(


May Allah bless him in the afterlife & grant his family forbearance. Aameen.


I haven't been a regular music listener rather its been rare but back in the day I did watch many of his songs on PTV, NTM etc.


" Mera Pyaar Tumhee ho, Tum He tou Ho " :-/



We all have to meet our fate (Death) one day.
 
Mamoon said:
Shocking news, he was a genius. JJ and Amir Zaki have passed away less than a year. Now I am worried about Alamgir.
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Alamgir has been fighting with Kidney failure for more than 15 years. So sad :-(


May Allah bless him.
 
He was also a terrific bass player. There was a period in the late 90's and early 00's where he switched to the bass almost exclusively. There are a few videos of his songs from that period with him playing the bass, which he treats more as a melodic instrument than a rhythm one.
 
enkidu_ said:
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. He was still young. A great artist.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_VSNJ47-XGQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-cxqxd9unY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Rest in peace.
Wow these two songs are absolutely fantastic. Any more suggestions guys?
 
TM Riddle said:
Yeah already listened to them.Actually been listening his tracks on you tube for past two hours.What a talent!
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Sadly his best is nowhere to be found. The album was hampered by the fact that no one in Pakistan had the facility to record live drums until Mekaal Hasan opened his studio in the mid 90's, so the album has synthesized drum loops. And his latter work with Hadiqa etc is patchy. He was at his best live, but none if any of those jams were recorded.

But if you liked the instrumentals, I recall a couple of other tunes: You Need That Fire, and Serial Time. With vocals, he did a humorous/sardonic song called Money.
 
Nostalgic said:
Sadly his best is nowhere to be found. The album was hampered by the fact that no one in Pakistan had the facility to record live drums until Mekaal Hasan opened his studio in the mid 90's, so the album has synthesized drum loops. And his latter work with Hadiqa etc is patchy. He was at his best live, but none if any of those jams were recorded.

But if you liked the instrumentals, I recall a couple of other tunes: You Need That Fire, and Serial Time. With vocals, he did a humorous/sardonic song called Money.
Click to expand...

Will look into these.Thanks man.
 
Apparently Amir Zaki's body is resting all alone in the Edhi Morgue with no visitors except the most hated Waqar Zaka,who said that the family couldn't keep him at home,even though they wanted to,because of no electricity.
 
His song Mera Pyaar was the thing back in the day. RIP. What a talent.
 
Arham_PakFan said:
Apparently Amir Zaki's body is resting all alone in the Edhi Morgue with no visitors except the most hated Waqar Zaka,who said that the family couldn't keep him at home,even though they wanted to,because of no electricity.
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Thats just sad.Unbelievable to see how we treat our legends.Amir Zaki was the best guitarist Pakistan had ever produced.
 
The Vital Signs discussion reminded me about another song on the Hum Tum album, called Unn ka Khayaal. This song had a Zaki connection too, but not to Aamir. His sister, Abida Zaki, was featured in the video. She was an actress who appeared in quite a number of TV serials back in the day, before she immigrated to Canada.

I haven't been able to find the video, and going by Abida's Facebook condolence posts on Junaid Jamshed's death, neither has she. The uploads of the song on YouTube are audio only, which is a shame because I remember it being an innovative video for its time. She did say back in December that she'll try to find it the next time she's in Pakistan, but of course right now that's probably the furthest thing from her mind.
 
Another thing I remembered was that Junaid Jamshed's friendship with Aamir Zaki survived the latter's departure from the Vital Signs. That was just about the time Junaid was moving on to his solo career, and both his albums, Tumhara aur Mera Naam (1994 if I remember correctly) and Uss Rah Per (circa 1999) featured Zaki on a number of songs. Luckily, the songs from both those albums are readily available.

The very first JJ (as opposed to VS) song, posted below, features a searing Zaki solo, which we used to rewind and replay over and over and over, back in those days when audio cassettes were still the norm and CDs were only just beginning to make their way into the market. I can't believe both these gems are dead.

 
This was my favorite song on JJ's second album, Uss Rah Per. Zaki is on both the acoustic and electric on this track. This isn't perhaps the best known of JJ songs, but its incredibly poignant given the circumstances.

 
[MENTION=22846]Nostalgic[/MENTION] did you read the article on Express Tribune where the author wrote about his last conversation with him? It's so heartbreaking. The poor guy had been addicted to drugs in the past but never got the help for it. He also says he was suffering from extreme depression and taking heavy meds for that. The saddest bit is that he was completely bankrupt and was struggling to pay the rent!

I feel like you've followed his career and life so, were musicians just making less money back in the day because I'm surprised that after playing gig's all his life, ever since he was a young child, he still does not own a house for himself. Shocking and incredibly sad.
 
One more post before I call it a night. One of my favorite albums from the 90's was Najam Sheraz's Roop Nagar (1999 was a good year for music albums). Najam put his heart and soul into it... and then it flopped commercially, and he resorted to churning out hackneyed techno and bhangra remixes instead. Anyhow, this album was full of Aamir Zaki's guitar work. Instead of posting videos, here's the entire audio album:

http://patari.pk/home/album/5428813356838c0200ad48d6

Speaking of videos though, the one for "Pal Do Pal ki Chahat" from this album generated quite a bit of controversy and was banned on PTV, and Najam had to rework the song lyrics too, to get it past the censors.
 
ExpressPacer said:
[MENTION=22846]Nostalgic[/MENTION] did you read the article on Express Tribune where the author wrote about his last conversation with him? It's so heartbreaking. The poor guy had been addicted to drugs in the past but never got the help for it. He also says he was suffering from extreme depression and taking heavy meds for that. The saddest bit is that he was completely bankrupt and was struggling to pay the rent!

I feel like you've followed his career and life so, were musicians just making less money back in the day because I'm surprised that after playing gig's all his life, ever since he was a young child, he still does not own a house for himself. Shocking and incredibly sad.
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He was bipolar too, and I'm sure that was diagnosed only recently, because awareness and recognition of mental ailments wasn't what it needed to be during the bulk of his life.

Yes, I've been a keen follower of the Pakistani pop/rock music scene, because its emergence coincided almost exactly with my boyhood and beyond. Music didn't pay well at all. Most of these guys had jobs outside of music and couldn't devote their entire time to it. There was rampant piracy, and it was impossible even for Junoon, the biggest act in the land, to actually make a profit from album sales. They relied on concerts, and in recent years, even those have dried up. As far as Zaki goes, the shows he mostly played, with proper artistes in front of discerning but sparse audiences, didn't pay much at all. And then like most artistes, he was careless and profligate with whatever money he did make.
 
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Nostalgic said:
He was bipolar too, and I'm sure that was diagnosed only recently, because awareness and recognition of mental ailments wasn't what it needed to be during the bulk of his life.

Yes, I've been a keen follower of the Pakistani pop/rock music scene, because its emergence coincided almost exactly with my boyhood and beyond. Music didn't pay well at all. Most of these guys had jobs outside of music and couldn't devote their entire time to it. There was rampant piracy, and it was impossible even for Junoon, the biggest act in the land, to actually make a profit from album sales. They relied on concerts, and in recent years, even those have dried up. As far as Zaki goes, the shows he mostly played, with proper artistes in front of discerning but sparse audiences, didn't pay much at all. And then like most artistes, he was careless and profligate with whatever money he did make.
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Absolutely pathetic. Piracy is a huge problem around the world but looks like profit from album sales is close to nothing in Pakistan. I feel like the industry completely forgot about him even though he was still there. There's many artists who look towards new horizons and go into the unknown themselves but Zaki was forgotten about. We don't deserve such heroes. His compositions are out of this world!

Turns out, he was addicted to drugs too, in the past.
 
Quite shocking at such a young age, heard poor guy was having financial problems as well and didn't want to beg people for money was stuggling with financial issues.
 
Mera Pyaar was a great, great song and I really like 'The day she left' too but frankly, in my opinion, 'People are people' is his greatest song ever and possibly the greatest English song to come out of Pakistan. He was more suited to singing in English anyway and this song was pure lyrical genius. Honestly, it always reminded me of John Lennon's 'Imagine'.

Had Amir Zaki been the star of some other country, he would have surely gone down as one of the greatest musicians of the era.
[MENTION=22846]Nostalgic[/MENTION] what do you make of people are people?
 
Amir went into severe depression after his divorce and I feel like he lost the passion to live. He was only existing and not living. Not even existing, barely surviving. Guys please check out Bhula Dena by Amir Zaki. This is one of his songs that often goes unnoticed.

Most of his songs were really depressing and about his divorce. Even his greatest instrumental, "The day she left" is about his wife.
 
Nostalgic said:
One more post before I call it a night. One of my favorite albums from the 90's was Najam Sheraz's Roop Nagar (1999 was a good year for music albums). Najam put his heart and soul into it... and then it flopped commercially, and he resorted to churning out hackneyed techno and bhangra remixes instead. Anyhow, this album was full of Aamir Zaki's guitar work. Instead of posting videos, here's the entire audio album:

http://patari.pk/home/album/5428813356838c0200ad48d6

Speaking of videos though, the one for "Pal Do Pal ki Chahat" from this album generated quite a bit of controversy and was banned on PTV, and Najam had to rework the song lyrics too, to get it past the censors.
Click to expand...


I don't know if you've heard this before but that guitar piece by Amir Zaki in the last 3 minutes of this song is probably one of the best I've ever heard.
 
Hadi Rizvi said:

I don't know if you've heard this before but that guitar piece by Amir Zaki in the last 3 minutes of this song is probably one of the best I've ever heard.
Click to expand...

That was Strings' modus operandi during Season 7: let a Zaki solo rescue an abject Zohaib Hasan vocal performance. However, one song where the vocals were stellar, as was Zaki's playing, was Israr's:

 
Hadi Rizvi said:

I don't know if you've heard this before but that guitar piece by Amir Zaki in the last 3 minutes of this song is probably one of the best I've ever heard.
Click to expand...

Well since this thread has turned into an Amir Zaki appreciation/guitar playing thread I want to comment a bit on this - maybe his more seasoned fans like [MENTION=22846]Nostalgic[/MENTION] can enlighten me: The random clips I see of Amir Zaki playing solos or improvising to me seem very basic. Often he is just roaming through the pentatonic scale with little creativity from what I hear. This solo is another example imo. It's the most cookie cutter guitar solo you can come up with. I don't hear any character or uniqueness to it.

If I compare this solo to his original the day she left (I think it's called that?), it sounds more thought out and is more creative. I could be missing something here about Amir Zaki with these solos but I just don't get it and maybe you guys do so I would love to know what it is.

Like I said though, I love all his original material including his songs with vocals. Those songs alone place him as an icon in our music industry.
 
Badsha said:
Well since this thread has turned into an Amir Zaki appreciation/guitar playing thread I want to comment a bit on this - maybe his more seasoned fans like [MENTION=22846]Nostalgic[/MENTION] can enlighten me: The random clips I see of Amir Zaki playing solos or improvising to me seem very basic. Often he is just roaming through the pentatonic scale with little creativity from what I hear. This solo is another example imo. It's the most cookie cutter guitar solo you can come up with. I don't hear any character or uniqueness to it.

If I compare this solo to his original the day she left (I think it's called that?), it sounds more thought out and is more creative. I could be missing something here about Amir Zaki with these solos but I just don't get it and maybe you guys do so I would love to know what it is.

Like I said though, I love all his original material including his songs with vocals. Those songs alone place him as an icon in our music industry.
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The CS one can be easily explained. Unlike Rohail, who allowed a fair bit of creative leeway to the artistes, Strings don't. They decide, you play. A number of other artistes have complained about it too. Also towards the end of his life, Zaki was beset with more existential concerns: how to make enough for room and board. You can almost sense the jadedness, the get-this-over-with mentality.

He was actually very adept at the jazz technique of choosing a different scale for each underlying chord. So if you gave him a standard I-IV-V progression (or any other run-of-the-mill progression), he wouldn't simply stick to the root scale, he would choose a different scale with each chord shift, as long as the chord notes fit in that scale. Or he would stick to the root scale, but really emphasize the mode the chord fit into.

Just today I was listening to Najam's Roop Nagar album (see post #36), and you get a sense of that jazz-influenced playing on that album. The album sounded a bit dated (it has been eighteen years), but I do recommend you listen to it. There are places where Zaki's playing shines through.

Also I've said this a few times but it bears repeating: most of his best work is nowhere to be found. It was never recorded, and not many people were lucky enough to have heard it.
 
Just paying my condolences.

Looks like all the idols of my adolescence are leaving in a hurry, riding off into the sunset. First JJ and now Amir Zaki. What a shame. So much talent, so much potential. One succumbing to a tragic accident, other...I guess when the soul is dead, the body follows.

I remember when the "Signature" album came out and I had recently started playing my electric guitar with some consistency. Those days I was into following the numerical guitar tabs and playing old/well known rock songs, the guitar tabs courtesy of the old/used Guitar/Rock magazines I used to buy from my local thelle walla portable book shop stall. His biggest seller were the seedy paperback novels in english, openly on display cause they had no pictures in them and it was highly unexpected for a policewalla to come browse through.

In any case, I was immediately hooked to the instrumental "The day she left" after listening to the album and painstakingly made my own guitar tabs for that song one night, practicing and playing and editing and playing all through the night. I clearly remember it was one of those typical cool breezy summer nights of Karachi. The widows of my room open, cold breeze wafting through as I was lost playing this song. I forgot that my parents room upstairs could hear the guitar. A few days later, my Dad casually mentioned to some Uncle in passing, oblivious that I was listening, telling him how persistent and focused I am, whether in studies or whatever hobby I took up, example "poori raat guitar bajata raha, aik hi gana bar bar ". My Dad not known to be generous with his praise and certainly not at all when it comes to anything to do with guitar playing (I had to persist like never before for him to finally acquiesce and buy me the black Fender Strat as he thought guitar is something owned and played only by lafangas) it was a pleasant surprise to hear him say that. I must be playing something right, something melancholic, haunting or vaguely melodic for him to tolerate that amateur solo guitar session all night.

Zaki may have not reached his potential or been the "star" people like NFP wished him to be, but he like many others during those adolescent days of Pakistani pop/rock scene was one of my hero. A guitar God. Cool, moody, temperamental and brilliant. Someone I wanted to be.
 
Nostalgic said:
The article in the OP mentions his being part of Vital Signs. I believe he was part of the band for barely a year or so, and that time was between albums. He joined after 1993's Aitebar, and left before 1995's Hum Tum. Yet again, whatever little he played for VS isn't available, except for two tunes, the live and unplugged versions of Aitebar and Teray Liye:



He did not play on the rest of the album, which instead featured Assad Ahmed as the session guitarist.
Click to expand...

Have the live recording of Aitebaar unplugged :'(

One of my all time favorite songs.

Was sad listening to that song after JJ's passing, will be sadder now.
 
saadibaba said:
Just paying my condolences.

Looks like all the idols of my adolescence are leaving in a hurry, riding off into the sunset. First JJ and now Amir Zaki. What a shame. So much talent, so much potential. One succumbing to a tragic accident, other...I guess when the soul is dead, the body follows.

I remember when the "Signature" album came out and I had recently started playing my electric guitar with some consistency. Those days I was into following the numerical guitar tabs and playing old/well known rock songs, the guitar tabs courtesy of the old/used Guitar/Rock magazines I used to buy from my local thelle walla portable book shop stall. His biggest seller were the seedy paperback novels in english, openly on display cause they had no pictures in them and it was highly unexpected for a policewalla to come browse through.

In any case, I was immediately hooked to the instrumental "The day she left" after listening to the album and painstakingly made my own guitar tabs for that song one night, practicing and playing and editing and playing all through the night. I clearly remember it was one of those typical cool breezy summer nights of Karachi. The widows of my room open, cold breeze wafting through as I was lost playing this song. I forgot that my parents room upstairs could hear the guitar. A few days later, my Dad casually mentioned to some Uncle in passing, oblivious that I was listening, telling him how persistent and focused I am, whether in studies or whatever hobby I took up, example "poori raat guitar bajata raha, aik hi gana bar bar ". My Dad not known to be generous with his praise and certainly not at all when it comes to anything to do with guitar playing (I had to persist like never before for him to finally acquiesce and buy me the black Fender Strat as he thought guitar is something owned and played only by lafangas) it was a pleasant surprise to hear him say that. I must be playing something right, something melancholic, haunting or vaguely melodic for him to tolerate that amateur solo guitar session all night.

Zaki may have not reached his potential or been the "star" people like NFP wished him to be, but he like many others during those adolescent days of Pakistani pop/rock scene was one of my hero. A guitar God. Cool, moody, temperamental and brilliant. Someone I wanted to be.
Click to expand...


Welcome back Sadi bhaee.

Great read. " Memories "
 
saadibaba said:
Just paying my condolences.

Looks like all the idols of my adolescence are leaving in a hurry, riding off into the sunset. First JJ and now Amir Zaki. What a shame. So much talent, so much potential. One succumbing to a tragic accident, other...I guess when the soul is dead, the body follows.

I remember when the "Signature" album came out and I had recently started playing my electric guitar with some consistency. Those days I was into following the numerical guitar tabs and playing old/well known rock songs, the guitar tabs courtesy of the old/used Guitar/Rock magazines I used to buy from my local thelle walla portable book shop stall. His biggest seller were the seedy paperback novels in english, openly on display cause they had no pictures in them and it was highly unexpected for a policewalla to come browse through.

In any case, I was immediately hooked to the instrumental "The day she left" after listening to the album and painstakingly made my own guitar tabs for that song one night, practicing and playing and editing and playing all through the night. I clearly remember it was one of those typical cool breezy summer nights of Karachi. The widows of my room open, cold breeze wafting through as I was lost playing this song. I forgot that my parents room upstairs could hear the guitar. A few days later, my Dad casually mentioned to some Uncle in passing, oblivious that I was listening, telling him how persistent and focused I am, whether in studies or whatever hobby I took up, example "poori raat guitar bajata raha, aik hi gana bar bar ". My Dad not known to be generous with his praise and certainly not at all when it comes to anything to do with guitar playing (I had to persist like never before for him to finally acquiesce and buy me the black Fender Strat as he thought guitar is something owned and played only by lafangas) it was a pleasant surprise to hear him say that. I must be playing something right, something melancholic, haunting or vaguely melodic for him to tolerate that amateur solo guitar session all night.

Zaki may have not reached his potential or been the "star" people like NFP wished him to be, but he like many others during those adolescent days of Pakistani pop/rock scene was one of my hero. A guitar God. Cool, moody, temperamental and brilliant. Someone I wanted to be.
Click to expand...

What a beautiful post.
 
I can't see the youtube videos from where I am posting so don't know if someone had already posted that but he did a song "Money". Just type "Amir Zaki Money" in youtube search bar and it will come up. The lead in that song is sublime. A hint of Clapton, a dab of Jeff Beck and a whole lot of Stevie Ray Vaughn. That was the genius of Zaki. Taking a relatively simple foot tapping tune and taking it to where the eagles soar.

There used to be a music show back in late 90's or early 2000's on NTM, one of the first private TV channel to arrive in Pakistan back when PTV ruled. It was called Music Channel Charts. It was a take on the popular Top 10 chart topper shows on MTV. A lot of bands and singers were introduced on that show. While most of them were ordinary and forgettable, there were a few good ones introduced as well. I think Fakhr-e-Alam got his break on that show, the chorus of his rap/bhangra ditty still echoing in my head like a bad dream. In any case, the video of this song Money was featured on that show. Its just him playing the guitar with some 80's special effects. I think "Mera Pyar" was also featured on that show. I used to record the show on VHS and play it constantly. Oh the good old days....
 
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