The moment I sat up and took notice of the Leo Twins was when they collaborated on the 2018 anthem of the Pakistan Super League team Peshawar Zalmi. Hum Zalmi, by the band Call, wouldn’t have been the song it is without the contribution of the twins. It fuses the hard rock sound of Call with thundering percussions and the twins on the cello and the North West’s signature instrument, the rabab.

But the twins, Haroon and Sharoon Leo (yes, that is their real last name), first broke on to the music scene much earlier, when they were featured in Nescafe Basement’s third season in 2014. Like most acts that the producer of the show, Zulfiqar ‘Xulfi’ Jabbar Khan, discovers, he took the twins under his wing. They were subsequently also featured in season four (2016) and season five (2019) of the show as well. They later went on to perform and collaborate with major music acts in the country, namely Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Meesha Shafi, Atif Aslam and Xulfi’s own band, Call.

And are they talented or what? They play a wide variety of instruments. Sharoon has focused exclusively on the violin and cello while Haroon has also predominantly focused on stringed instruments — he plays the guitar, ukulele, mandolin and the rabab. But that’s not where his skills end; he’s also an expert tabla nawaz, darbuka player and also plays the cajon. I wouldn’t be surprised if, by the time this article comes out, and with the time they have at home in this lockdown, they’d have mastered yet another instrument.

The Leo Twins, Haroon and Sharoon Leo, showcase their musical mastery through their latest cover, Sanson ki Mala

Their latest release, a cover of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s popular song Sanson ki Mala, is part of their ‘Quarantine Sessions.’ The violin has replaced the vocalisation of the lyrics in the song. In the video, Haroon starts out playing the tabla, which then continues on in loop, he steps back, sits down next to his brother and picks up the guitar while Sharoon picks up the violin. Through the rest of the song they don’t change any more instruments.

At the time of writing this article, the video of the song on YouTube had garnered over 600,000 views! An audio only version, along with a number of the duo’s songs and collaborations can be heard on Patari. The Twin’s cover of Sanson ki Mala is a simple, yet beautiful cover. The violin cannot entirely replicate the gravity in the poetry of the song but there is a lot of heart and soul in the twins’ performance and that definitely shines through.

This is only their latest cover in a string of covers that they’ve released. Some of their more popular covers include that of the Game of Thrones soundtrack, Shape of You (Ed Sheeran), Despacito (Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee), a mash-up instrumental of They Don’t Care About Us (Michael Jackson) and We Will Rock You (Queen). A major fan favourite (with over 890,000 views) is their cover of Junoon’s Sayonee. The video was filmed on the Attabad Lake close to Hunza in Gilgit Baltistan.

In fact, in the latter, Sharoon’s piece on the violin that precedes Sayonee’s signature intro (which Haroon plays on the ukelele) seemingly echoes in the mountains where the video was filmed. Here’s hoping the duo release more songs in their Quarantine Sessions and maybe that could include an original number as well.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 19th, 2020