The story of Sketches’ inception goes back to 2003, when Samejo, an English Literature student, and Naeem Shah, a Fine Arts student met at Jamshoro University and bonded over similar tastes in music.
Shah would play the guitar and Samejo would hum along. Both musicians have a deep and abiding love for their cultural heritage and their interests range from sufi poetry and folk legends to the revival of traditional instruments and the indigenous music of the shrines.
Eventually their love for old folk stories and sufi saints fused with their taste for music by the likes of Vital Signs and Junoon, lead to the formation of a new sound.
“What we eventually created was a little different; our individuality is the developed taste of sufi and pop, a merger of East and West,” they say.
They released their debut album in February 2010 by the name of “Dastkari” meaning “one’s own creation” named out of love for what they had created.
The album, that contains songs in Sindhi, Saraiki and Urdu, bursts with ballads, alternative rock, sufi and folk.
Their approach to music is inherently experimental, taking combinations of different elements of all genres to form their sound.
“We don’t have one genre,” they say. “Music is our genre.”
To listen to listen to the band's interview click here.