What made 4 band members leave Pakistan’s rising band, with all the fame in the world, numerous awards & a whole list of hit tracks? Did the leaving members left behind the band or was it Gohar Mumtaz they preferred not to continue work with? Pouring some light on Jal’s past, present, all the controversial split-ups & the future.
Atif Aslam, was the first one who decided to move on. Gaining quite handsome popularity, the band was beginning to grow its height when Atif chose to leave for solo career, a decision which made him more than he ever dreamt of, an icon. But what was the reason? Many say it was because Atif and Gohar wanted their brothers to manage the band, so on Gohar’s brother becoming the band manager, Atif left. We understand some gigs were missed managed because of the confusions between apparently the two managers but was the issue of who will be the manager worth to let go a singer who was to become Pakistan’s top voice in forthcoming years?
Next was Saad Sultan, a session player, or rather a regular session player of Jal for 3 whole years, also helped the band produce music and with the compositions, said Goodbye to Jal. Though Saad was a session player of the band, wasn’t known to be a part of Jal, the news didn’t gain much media attention but again an important member leaves, what was the reason? It was never told.
The most appalling split of band came with Farhan Saeed’s release of NFAK’s cover of ‘Halka Halka Suroor’. Jolholics were left grieved & many dismissed this fact until an official statement came from the withdrawing singer.
“When you’re in a band, it’s like being in a company where there is a board of directors and all decisions have to be made collectively” explains Saeed. “Being solo now is like being the owner of my own business. I can do the things I want and do them on my terms.”
The statement evidently meant Gohar was ‘Chief Executive’ at band, taking all the decisions himself. Farhan also protested about the Band’s slow pace at making new music.
“I think the pace was sort of slow because people need music and to serve music, you can’t really wait to release albums” says the singer.
Why didn’t Gohar produce much music to keep Farhan at the band? Why didn’t he do much to stop this split? Maybe the reason was Pakistan’s top TV music show Coke Studio Season 4 which featured Jal Band in two episodes, two tracks, but Farhan Saeed merely sat next to Gohar both the times seeing him sing the songs all by himself. Gohar should’ve made him take part in providing vocals, especially on platform as big as Coke Studio.
After another split up, Gohar promised an album which was postponed as Gohar went on to experiment with his acting skills, which unlike Fawad Afzal Khan (Former EP lead singer) didn’t proved to be a good decision as critics didn’t appreciated his acting skills much.
The splitting trend didn’t come to an end even after Jal released its latest album Piyaas in March 2013. Now it was Aamir Sheraz (Shazi) who announced that he was leaving band with a facebook status.
Jal, after being disbanded for four times is now only left with Gohar Mumtaz. What are the genuine and veritable reasons behind all the important members leaving the board? Is it Gohar’s feeling of superiority over others? Is it the thinking that he owns Jal by the ‘only-left’ member?
With a video still to come, will Jal continue or will Gohar too will start a solo career, keeping in mind that whoever left Jal for solo career has gained much more than at the band. Time should tell us.
