Naseer & Shahab

In 2010, Qamar Shahab and Naseer Afridi both met online through Facebook, having an origin of Pakhtoon ethnicity. Qamar resides in Australia while Naseer lives in ISB. However they came across and recorded their first two single through internet, "Rise on Your Broken Knees" and "Za Pakhtoon Yam", in an interview Naseer stated, "For our first two songs, "Rise on Your Broken Knees" and "Za Pakhtoon Yam", Shahab used to send me his music. After that, I would record my vocals on it and send it back to him. That's how we started."[5] Among their first two singles duo release 'Rise on Your Broken Knees' first which wasn't a hit and did below the average at topping charts, however this gives the duo enough recognition so they would upload their second release. Overwhelming response from the audience led the artist to eventually meet and work on their second single for a better music video and re-release of the "Za Pakhtoon Yam", for the video the maximum shot was done in Peshawar, while the rest was shot in Karachi. The song is entirely sung in Pashtu language, giving an inspirational message about Pakhtuns, according to duo its about giving them their identity, speaking about song Naseer explained, "The song is thematic. The reason why we recorded it in the first place was not only because we wanted Pakhtuns to relate to it but also to encourage like-minded Pakhtuns to celebrate their identity."[6]

Success of "Za Pakhtoon Yam", established the duo as a music band in the industry, cherishing the success Qamar says, "The most exciting part is the non-Pakhtuns coming in and expressed their genuine feelings and I think that is our biggest achievement to date", while Naseer who penned down the song summarize, "I have tried my best to put the true Pashto identity in a compressed form in these verses. We have had so many peace loving people in our cultural history but sadly we never promote them. People aren't even aware of the fact that musician Haroon Bacha was threatened by conservative parties that he would be banished from Pakistan if doesn't stop making music in K-P."[2]

After the success of "Za Pakhtoon Yam", the duo released "Za Sata Pashan Nayam" (I am not like you), which added further acclaim to their success which leads them to national success earning wide spread acclaim. The duo sung this song in the seventh installment[7] of Pakistani music series Coke Studio,[8] in the series finale episode[9] It was well received by critics, earning critical acclaim, song was declared as a hit[10] and was among the Top 10 songs of 2014.[11] In 2012 duo released their first Urdu single "Meray yaar", song was also a major hit[12] and duo gets it first nomination at 12th Lux Style Awards as a Best Emerging Band.[13] The duo then digitally released single called "Pakistan" on their official Facebook page.[14]

In 2013, duo released their fifth single "Ghalti Mein Shta" (It is my fault),[15] which added further acclaim[16] and was ranked on number ten in top songs of 2014.[17] Song gets the duo two nominations at 3rd Hum Awards.[18] The duo released their sixth single "Born a Dead Man" on April 13, 2015, for which they have earlier released a prologue[19] and currently the band is working on their first studio album.[20]

On January 26, 2016, duo announced on their facebook page about their sixth single "Hero" from their upcoming album to be released on February 5, 2016.[21] In an interview with The Express Tribune, Naseer explained, “Our latest release is primarily a rock song infused with elements of electronic music and electro-rock,” shared Naseer. “The idea behind the track is for people to acknowledge that every person is the hero of their own story."[21] Talking with same publication Sahab describe their experience for making the video visually aesthetic and strong animation, he said, "The main challenge was to learn most of the VFX from scratch, which involved spending hours watching tutorials for chroma key [green screen] and 3D, online,."[22] Shahab said their influence behind "Hero" was "deep spaces, supernovas and alien landscapes".[22] According to Shahab, ambient, spacey synths were the triggers behind the concept which took shape after discussions with band member Naseer Afridi saying, "I shared the initial draft with Naseer and asked what sort of emotion it stirred within him. He came back to me with a few paraphrased lyrical ideas which helped narrow down my visual approach,."[22]