all it serendipitous [or not] but Asfar Hussain and Bilal Ali from Bayaan and Kashmir, respectively, seem to have a lot more in common. Apart from playing the role of chief vocalists in their respective music groups who emerged as the winners in Pepsi Battle of the Bands (2018) and (2017), they are also building a solo career, adding more variety to the music scene.

While Bilal Ali has confirmed that Kashmir remains his top priority, he is also pursuing a solo career as well that will culminate in the form of an album. But the same cannot be said for Asfar Hussain - just yet.

Unlike Bilal Ali, he has neither confirmed nor denied the possibility but the question popped up when he appeared as a solo artist alongside Arooj Aftab in Coke Studio 14 in the song ‘Mehraam’ – in 2022.

Collaborating with an artist called Misbah (whose work we will investigate soon), Asfar also released a single called ‘Urdh Ja’ last year. It is by no means a ‘Mehraam’ but the song is not an assault on your audio senses either.

What is good to see, though, is that Bayaan, who are also winners of Lux Style Awards, are not sitting pointlessly.

After the celebrated music video of ‘Teri Tasveer’, Bayaan perhaps knew they had to raise the bar for what they can offer in the visual field and how it needs to match their songs.

Their last release, the animated ‘Tayraak’ by Bayaan (with lyrics by Asfar Hussain), and direction by Hamza Bin Tahir, is another narrative-based music video and one that can steal your heart. Released in 2022, missing ‘Tayaraak’ is nothing short of a massive mistake.

The emotion in the song is its biggest strength. However, Bayaan hasn’t made music that is too ambitious sonically. With a sonic field around that offers versatility of musicianship, it is akin to an experience you want to indulge in as often as possible.

To be able to portray visuals that can do justice is a difficult idea in this content creation era. But to do so in a style that creates an existential journey, an audio-visual connection, and offers startling, gut-wrenching moments in animation within the same video format as seconds turn to minutes, is meeting the bar Bayaan had set for itself with ‘Teri Tasveer’.

With this release, the realization is obvious. This is a music outfit that has become a lot more mature since going truly national with PBOTB years ago and one that can fill the void left by many cherished bands.

While at it, find Asfar Hussain’s collaborative single, ‘Urdh Ja’. It is not a depiction of crisis within the band that but an illustration of the diverse orbit the singer inhabits.

– Bayaan released their debut album, Suno, 2020.