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Infinit Tracks	Listen
1. SAJAN
2. WARIS SHAH
3. RABA
4. SANWAL
5. SAMPOORAN
6. DARBARI
7. YA ALI
8. LATE MOON

Most of my life, I have been fascinated by artists who forge an unmistakable stamp that is all their own without forsaking their heritage and influences. My exposure to jazz and rock from an early age right up to my time at The Berklee College of Music in Boston made it natural for me to incorporate rock and jazz influences in my playing and writing. What I love about jazz and its offshoots (that is jazz-rock and the 70’s fusion movement heralded in and championed by bands like Weather Report), was the color of the harmony, the rich textures in the arrangements and the interaction among the players where the music is shaped by each person’s personality, skill, interpretation and ingenuity. With my love for the harmony and jazz and my exposure over the last few years to eastern classical music, I gradually started to realize the immense and stunning melodic beauty of our own traditional eastern classical music.

With this in mind, the Mekaal Hasan Band was formed, not simply as a fusion band, but as a band that can work with fine musicians from various cultures who are interested in communication and creating something that builds upon tradition, but is still fresh to the ears and senses.

As I learned more about writing for the various people involved (there are 7 people in all, that I wrote for in the album), I realized that the traditional material I was writing around was a treasure not just for my generation but for music lovers all over. Some of the tunes on this record have been associated with prominent classical artists ( Ya Ali with Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, the tarana in Raag Darbari Yaray Mun Beya, with Ustad Amir Khan Indore Walay) , others feature the Kaafis of our Sufi poets, (Raba and Sajan and Kaafis written by Shah Hussain) and still more tunes like the Waris Shah are based on written extracts from writers such as Amreeta Pretum. Joining this traditional lyrical and melodic content, are those arrangements, which I believe provide the emotive backdrop for the artists on this record to work their magic on.

It is my sincere hope and wish that more people will go back and hear the traditional works we have reinterpreted here in this record, and along the way will perhaps delve into one of the most vital traditional musics of the century; jazz, and its many wonderful and varied offshoots.