Aah, that Hans dhun! Who can forget that sterling sound? It only came from the great semi-classical, jazz and Sufi rock band from Pakistan that brought forth, for the first time, nuance-perfect singers like Javed Bashir into this pop-crazy music world of the last 27 years. The Mekaal Hasan Band has kept up the good work since the first time I saw them perform at a five-star hotel in Karachi. They have been truly appreciated in India many times for their brilliant music and renderings. Nowadays, they are being vocally led by a very talented Indian singer, Sharmistha Chatterjee. Their Sampooran and Saptak albums were hits. Their latest compositions in their third album, Andholan is going equally well. Numbers like Ghunghat, Champakali, Bheem, Maalkauns etc are irrefutably brilliant. Due to their unfortunate episode with Global Indian Music Academy in India, where their band was excluded from the list of awards, they were very disheartened, but, to their credit, they continue to invent. They have, surprisingly, performed rarely in the Coke Studio, but their presence is always felt on the music scene inside and outside the country. But, for the moment, what concerns me the most is their musical project, titled Parhlo. In this project, Mekaal is encouraging youngsters from all over the country to learn how to indulge wholeheartedly into music and enjoy their talent to the point of living it. It is a great musical offer, and a wonderful project that could bring those youngsters out of their shells who hesitate to pursue their creative aspirations just because they are supposed to go for mainstream careers.