Saakin’s Parham Faraid, the impeccable bass player and brother of Varqa Faraid, revealed that the brothers (who are in more than one band) have released a record. Both Parham and Varqa are members of Saakin as well as VIP. But first, let’s talk about Saakin.

The band’s newly released animated music video of their original single ‘Intebah’ ft. Amir Bresler and Ismail Lumanovski feels like a throwback to George Orwell’s 1984 and Franz Kafka’s The Trial. Saakin’s also renowned for co-producing the music of Sarmad Khoosat’s Zindagi Tamasha with Shamsher Rana.

Saakin had a bonafide hit on their hands with their debut single, ‘Saqi-E-Bawafa’ followed by an appearance on True Brew TV and the OST of Zindagi Tamasha. Their new single – unlike previous efforts – is an original song, written by Ali Hamdani and Nimra Gilani. And after two spiritual tracks, this one is a socio-political commentary, made stronger by its music video.

It’s another win for Saakin.

As for the VIP album, it features music VIP played before Ibrahim Akram (also in Saakin) left for the US. It is from their last concert. According to Parham, they were joined in the show by Shamsher Rana.

Titled Recollection – Live, VIP’s new record features five tracks in total including ‘Outro’ which is a tribute to Red Blood Cat.

Speaking to Instep about VIP and Saakin, Parham Faraid noted, “VIP is like a child to me. 10 years down the road, we will look back and say ‘we did this’. It’s for our own sakes. We can’t promise or commit that a Saakin album will definitely come out in 2021 but that’s the target. However, more Saakin singles are planned.”