MEKAAL HASAN
Musician, Producer, Festival Programme Director, Festival Technical Head, Audio Engineer, Studio Owner, Composer, Guitar Player
Mekaal Hasan is a Pakistani musician known for his recorded and live performances with the Mekaal Hasan Band and for his recording, audio mixing and production abilities which have seen him work with leading contemporary local and inter-national artists.
COLLABORATIONS AND PERFORMANCES
2018 Featured artist & representative of Pakistan on Bangladeshi TV music programme “Wind of Change”.
2006 As Bassist and Guest Artist with Junoon (Pakistan)
2005 As Guitarist with Mike Del Ferro (Holland) and CoCo York (USA). Organized by the U.S. Consulate, Pakistan
2002 As Guitarist & Composer featuring Billy Cobham (USA) on Mekaal’s solo album ‘Square One’
2001 As a Composer and Guitarist in a joint collaboration with percussionist Pete Locket (UK) - Organized by The British Council
2000 As Solo Artist playing material from solo record ‘Square One’ with Uk’s Zoe Rahman, Michael Mondesir, Danny Ansell and Justin Scott, in a Pakistan Tour of Lahore, Karachi & Islamabad
AUDIO ENGINEERING, MIXING, MASTERING AND PRODUCTION
Mixing and mastering engineer for TV show Pepsi Battle of the Bands winner, “Bayaan”, Season 4 in 2019.
Mixing and mastering engineer for TV show Coke Studio Season 11 in 2018.
Producer, Arranger and Mixing Engineer on nationally and internationally released records by Junoon, Zeb and Haniya, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Noori, Ali Azmat and Atif Aslam amongst others. The scope of the work ranges from live Qawalli recordings and Sufi Rock records to roots based folk and traditional music.
Producer Jingles and Commercials for multinational clients (Nestle, Sony Ericson, Telenor and Warid Telecom) , as well as retail outlets and stores (Sapphire, Zara Shahjehan).
Audio Mix and Mastering engineer for national channels including Indus TV, MTV, ARY’s ‘The Muzik’ and Geo’s ‘Aag TV’.
PRODUCER, ENGINEER: ALBUMS
2014 We Are Your Friends – Poor Rich Boy
2012 Qawalii Volume 2 – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
2010 Qawalii Volume 1 – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
2008 Klashinfolk - Ali Azmat
2008 Chup - Zeb and Haniya
2007 Boondh - Jal
2007 Apna Muqaam Paida Kar – Various Artists (National Sufi Council)
2007 Volume I & II – CoVEN
2005 Peeli Patti Aur Raja Jani Ki Gol Duniya - Noori
2003 Suno Ke Mei Hun Jawan - Noori
2003 Irtiqa - EntityParadigm
2001 Ishq – Junoon
1997 Not In Your World – CoVEN
PRODUCER, ENGINEER: SINGLES
2019 Beykhabar – Bayaan
2018 Younhi – Atif Aslam
2018 Preacher – Poor Rich Boy
2017 Sweet Dreams – Meesha Shafi
2017 Feeling Good – Meesha Shafi
2008 Gallan – Ali Azmat
2008 Aitebar – Zeb and Haniya
2007 Sajni – Jal
2006 Anarkali – Shoaib Mansoor
2004 Suno Ke Main Hun Jawan – Noori
2004 Neend Aye Na - Noori
2003 Supreme Ishq – Shoaib Mansoor
2003 Gana No. 1 – Noori
2003 Dil Ki Qasam – Noori
2003 Aadat - Jal
2003 Hamain Azma – EP
2003 Raba – Mekaal Hasan Band
2002 Tum Hans Diyay – Noori
2002 Jana Tha Hum Ne – Noori
2002 Sanwal – Mekaal Hasan Band
1999 Buleya – Junoon
1999 Sajna – Junoon
FRONT OF HOUSE SOUND ENGINEERING FOR LIVE CONCERTS
2017
Sound Engineering for ‘Art Langar Festival’ Islamabad
2015 & 2017
Engineer for ‘I Am Karachi Music Festival’
2014
Sound Engineering for Music Mela Festival, Islamabad
2011
Sound Engineering for Atif Aslam’s world tour between January & October
2011
Sound Engineering for Strings’ international concerts
DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS
With film maker, Bilal Sami, Digital Fidelity Studios and Mekaal have evolved into producing documentaries and shorts on Pakistani culture and arts and most recently, their short form documentary, ’Dhun’, based on the life and music of folk artist ‘Ata Ullah Esa Khelvi, was featured at the Alchemy Festival in London in 2017.
https://vimeo.com/bilalsami/httpsvimeocomdhun
The two have also collaborated on documentary projects for the Pakistani government, and recently created a documentary for the World Bank on the history and culture of the Punjab in 2017.
2015 Award winning documentary ‘Power’ by German documentary maker Jeanny Gering, featuring music score by Mekaal Hasan
http://www.jeannygering.com/documentary/
2011 ‘Folk and Film Music of Pakistan’ in 2011, especially developed for a live theatrical performance at The Globe for the Cultural Olympiad 2011 in London
https://mekaalhasanbandmusic.bandcamp.com/album/folk-film-music-of-pakistan
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SPECIAL PROJECTS
Movie Scores
2015 Title track and OST for ‘Main Bhi Pakistan Hoon’
2007 Original composition ‘Kinarey’ featured in ‘Khuda Ke Liye’
Theatricals / Musicals
2011 Represented Pakistan at the 2011 Cultural Olympiad by directing, composing and performing the music for ‘Taming Of The Shrew’ at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, UK.
2010 Mamma Mia – Made For Stage Productions (FOH Sound Engineer and Sound Designer)
Festival Roles & Curation
Since 2015, Mekaal has been program director and technical head of the annual ‘I Am Karachi Music Festival’ where he was in charge of curating the programming material, booking and scheduling the artists and executing the production for sound.
In 2020, Mekaal Hasan created ‘The Rivayat Series’ a performance project focused on reviving indigenous music in Pakistan.
Talent Show Judge (TV Appearances)
2008 Pakistan Sangeet Icon – Indus TV (36 Episodes)
2006 Mobilink Jazz icon – Aag TV (12 Episodes)