Karavan’s next record will release by Jan 2010.

The man is a mean force on the guitar when he wants to be and can make it weep with equal grace. The man is Assad Ahmed, the backbone of the rock act that is Karavan. Rumours about the band releasing their album with Fire Records have been buzzing through cyberspace. But it is all false.

“We haven’t tied up with Fire Records. Yes, we did meet with them but after reading the contract, we decided to not go with them because we don’t want to give up our rights. We have signed up with The Musik Records and the album is all set to release in January next year.”

Titled Saara Jahan, this will be Karavan’s first full-scale studio record since Gardish released almost six years ago.

Explaining the deal with The Musik Records further, Assad told Instep Today, “We have retained all of our rights. We will get royalties and a lump sum payment as well.”

Karavan continues to do shows and while they may not be on a grand scale, they do get Karavan fans out. Asked if there any  concert plans anytime soon, “Are you joking?!” he said rhetorically. Concerts are rare these days, even from a proactive band like Karavan… due to the security situation in the country.

Speaking on the new record, Assad revealed, “The album is done, it is finished.” Then why not release it? “We are not releasing it now because Muharram will start and the kind of marketing that the album needs will have to be scaled back so we’ve decided to go with January.”

Assad Ahmed re-surfaced in a major way earlier this year with the return of season two of Coke Studio. And who knows… maybe Assad will make the Coke Studio house band again. And we really hope he does!

Source: Instep Today