the New York Times called Junoon "the U2 of Pakistan" and Q magazine dubbed them as "One of the biggest bands in the world". Junoon became the first rock band to perform at the United Nations General Assembly Hall and only the second Pakistani act to perform at a Nobel Peace Prize Concert. The early 2000s saw the arrival of progressive metal, progressive rock, and psychedelic rock with bands such as Entity Paradigm and Mizraab. Mekaal Hasan Band, Call, Karavan, Jal, Roxen, Mizmaar, and Qayaas also exploded onto the music scene with different brands of rock including alternative and soft rock. The television series Pepsi Battle of the Bands was instrumental in launching Entity Paradigm, Aaroh, and the Mekaal Hasan Band, all of whom competed in the inaugural edition of the show in 2002. The resumption of the Pepsi Battle of the Bands in 2017 after almost 15 years, heralded the resurgence of Pakistani rock with the rise of Kashmir, Bayaan, and Badnaam. Although the heavy metal genre began to rise in popularity after the 1997 general elections, Pakistani heavy metal music can be traced back to the new wave of British heavy metal of the 1980s and 1990s with bands such as Black Warrant (band), Final Cut, and Barbarians. In recent years, numerous heavy and black metal bands including Overload, Saturn, Saakin, Karakoram, Burq - The Band, Taarma, The Nuke, and Aag have amassed followings in this niche rock music in Pakistan. Hip hop music Pakistani hip hop is a blend of traditional Pakistani musical elements with modern hip hop music. Filmi music Pakistan's film industry known as "Lollywood" is based in Lahore and Karachi. Notable artists Singers Zeek Afridi - pop singer Arooj Aftab - singer and composer Salman Ahmed - pop music performer Naheed Akhtar - film playback singer Gulzar Alam - folk and ghazal singer Alamgir - singer and songwriter Ghulam Ali - composer and performer Sajjad Ali - composer, singer, songwriter and performer Waqar Ali - film and TV composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar - film music composer, musicologist Humaira Arshad - singer Shani Arshad - TV & Film Composer M Ashraf - film music composer Atif Aslam - pop singer and performer Rasheed Attre - film music composer Fareed Ayaz - qawwali music performers Ali Azmat - rock singer, formed Junoon band with Salman Ahmad Haroon Bacha - classical and semi-classical singer Badnaam (band) -