Khurram Waqar

Khurram Waqar is a lead guitarist and rock musician from Pakistan. He is also a songwriter and producer. Khurram has been part of various rock outfits over the years with a varying degree of commercial success. Currently Khurram is lead guitarist for the band Qayaas which in December 2010 was awarded the Best Rock Band of Pakistan award in a rock competition organised by Rolling Stone magazine India in collaboration with Jack Daniels, following which Qayaas has figured prominently in local media. The News, one of the leading English language newspapers of the country have termed Qayaas as "self-styled first progressive alternative rock band of Pakistan" and Khurram's skill on the lead guitars has been praised.

Khurram Waqar was born on 23 July 1975 and was raised and currently resides in the capital Islamabad. His father has served as a bureaucrat at the top civil posts of the country and his mother is a housewife. He has a younger brother and sister. Though artistically inclined in general, no one from his family had ever ventured into music. He has been supported by his parents, on the condition that he continue to excel at his studies and pursue a professional career in parallel. In turn Khurram fulfilled his promise of acquiring a professional degree from the Carnegie Mellon University where he obtained his masters in Information Systems Management (MISM) in 2003. After returning to Pakistan the same year Khurram started working in the capacity of an IT manager at a multi national organisation and since then has been associated as an IT and telecom professional with various organisations, while spending his spare time in the band.

He is married and has two sons.

Khurram described himself first picking up the guitar as "purely because of the magic woven by the music of Guns and Roses and lead guitarist Slash in particular". He credits the band for single handedly fostering his interest and lifelong passion for rock music, a musical form that had yet to become widely popular in Pakistan in the early 90s. He is also influenced by guitar artists like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jimmy Page, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson and Steve Morse and over the years has absorbed folk and classical influences in his musical repertoire.

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