 Haroon Rashid, during his college years at Washington D.C., thought of the name "Awaz" for the band and after graduating with a degree in Business Administration from the George Washington University he returned to Pakistan.First, he recruited keyboardist and friend Faakhir Mehmood and then the former The Barbarians lead guitarist, Asad Ahmed, whom he met at a performance in Marriott Hotel, Islamabad, in November 1992.Awaz was formed in December of that year.