Mekaal Hasan

Mekaal Hasan

Mekaal Hasan (born 1 December 1972) is a leading Pakistani musician and record producer from Lahore. He has worked in the capacity of a guest artist and/or record producer in the music industry of Pakistan with many Pakistani bands and solo artists at home and abroad. He is also the leader and composer for perhaps Pakistan's most critically acclaimed band, Mekaal Hasan Band.

Life and career

Mekaal Hasan was born in Lahore, Pakistan. His parents are Masood Hasan, a well-known and widely read writer/columnist and also an advertising professional who runs Publicis Pakistan, and Prof. Ira Hasan, a renowned and one of the most sought-after teachers of English literature.

Mekaal Hasan was surrounded by music from childhood. His father's passion for jazz influenced him throughout his early years. After graduating from Government College, Lahore, Mekaal studied music at the Berklee College of Music, Boston. His stay exposed him to a wide variety of music and musicians, many of whom are influences to this day.

He returned to Pakistan in 1995, before he could complete his degree at Berklee , Mekaal set up a state of the art recording facility, Digital Fidelity Studios where many of the top artists of Pakistan record. Mekaal formed The Mekaal Hasan Band towards the end of 2000 and the Sampooran record features his long standing writing partnership with keyboardist Javed Akhtar. Apart from leading MHB, Mekaal also played bass as a guest artist for one of South Asia's leading rock bands Junoon for a period of a year from 2005 to 2006.

Mekaal Hasan is also known for his production, record engineering and mixing talents and has produced/engineered the biggest names in Pakistan's music scene as well as engineering for jazz artists from The UK and Europe.

Mekaal Hasan Band is still on the music scene and released their album Andholan in 2014.