Radical rock

Radical rock

Rajiv Vijayakar
Posted online: Friday, April 28, 2006 at 0000 hours IST

He is Salman Ahmad, the songwriter and lead guitarist of the top-selling Pakistani band Junoon. And he is back - with his first solo album Infiniti. After more than a decade of leading Junoon, Salman, who calls hismelf a musical junooni decided to follow a personal calling and carry on the musical mission of his erstwhile band. With his passion for peace, love for rock music and the alchemic belief that "When you seek out your own personal legend the universe conspires to help you along the way". Salman wants to sing songs of freedom, love and hope in a world wrought with poverty, violence and religious extremism.
Born in Lahore, Salman is a doctor by training. When his father's job took him to live in the United States at the age of 11, Salman completed High School but trailed behind school bands, discovered Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, and bought his first guitar. It was an event that was to define his later life.
Sent back home for college, Salman got his medical degree from King Edward Medical College in Lahore. While in medical college, he became a member of Pakistan's first pop band,Vital Signs (note the medical term) whose debut album sold a million copies and included the mega-hit 'Dil dil Pakistan...'. And the stethoscope gave way to the guitar.
In 1990 Salman left Vital Signs and founded South Asia's biggest rock band, Junoon, which has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. With its new and distinctive sound of electric rock fused with Pakistani folk music, and lyrics that drew on Sufi poets like Rumi and Baba Bulleshah, it included the clt song 'Sayonee...' in the 1998 album Azadi, which stormed the Indian music charts and won the band the Channel [V] award for Best International Group.In 2001, Junoon became the first rock band ever to perform for the United Nations General Assembly by the personal invitation of the U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan. Typically, Salman had requested that Indian band Euphoria (headed by another doctor-turned-singer, Palash Sen) also perform with them on the same platform.An iconic figure for young people in Pakistan, Salman was chosen to be a United Nations goodwill ambassador for HIV/AIDS in 2002.
Post 9/11, as the world got polarized between Islam and the West, Salman felt a responsibility to bridge the widening chasm between the community of his birth and the culture he grew up in. Junoon paid a special tribute to the 9/11 victims with their song No more...'. As a pivotal figure between moderate and extremist Islam, Salman appeared in two noteworthy documentary films, 'It's My Country Too, which looks at Muslim-Americans post 9/11, and The Rockstar And The Mullahs, a SAJA award-winner film that brings him together with fundamentalist religious leaders to discuss the meaning of Islam. Both films have been broadcast worldwide on PBS and the BBC.
And so, Salman's music has an agenda - of fostering world peace. Screen talks to the musician in a rapidfire chat. Excerpts. What was your contribution to Junoon? And why was it disbanded?
I would generally write the basic melody and contribute to the lyrics, besides being the lead guitarist. Now Ali Azmat continues to work alone in Pakistan, while Brian, our third and Amerian member, left in 2002 for personal reasons. So you are now based in America?
Yes. I work alone, and I am also playing with different musicians in New York. In the last 12 months I have performed in Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. What is the concept in Infiniti?
Infiniti is a guitar heavy album and cannot be slotted into any category. 'Nachoongi...' blends the common folk's dhol rhythms and a New York City nightclub-cum- fast rave dance sound. The song is a tribute to Sufi poets and their surrender to God, with dance as a celebration of life, love and passion. I use the rock concert format since most of my audiences are non-Asians. I want to promote peace . In today's world peace is something for which you have to fight, you do not get it passively. In my song 'Ghoom tana...' I celebrate the realization of peace between India and Pakistan. Another track, 'Yaar main nachoongi...' celebrates abandon and freedom. 'Sayyoni...' in 1998 was in itself a peak, so I needed to go to a deeper plane now. I am a very emotional guy like most of us South Asians. So another track, 'Alvida...' was inspired by a courageous lady from Lahore whose husband died of AIDS, so her neighbours wanted to destroy her happiness and kick her out. She fought instead and at just 30-plus, she became the first-ever AIDS activist in Pakistan. How do you compose your music?
My songs are based on my experiences, like my travels. Many of my songs are written while in an aeroplane, and inspired by being away from loved ones and living all alone in hotel rooms. Your life underwent a major change after 9/11.
Yes. I thought a lot about the tragedy, and so there I was, going back to USA when Muslims were actually leaving America out of fear. I even spoke about peace there, and so Junoon got banned in Pakistan then. But I firmly believe that politics demonizes while culture humanizes. I therefore made my two short films. You also crusaded for peace on the Indian subcontinent.
For me, peace is paramount.The love we got from India whe Junoon first came here as a band in 1998 and the similar affection shown to Indian cricketers in 2004 when they played a Test series in Pakistan shows clearly what Indian and Pakistani people feel about each other.
'Ghoom tana...' is to celebrate the realization of my longtime dream of harmony between India and Pakistan. My songs of peace had resounded equally on stage and street way back in 1998, long before peace became a fashionable word between the two neighbours. At the first opportunity, two years ago,I had rushed to Bassi Pathana, a village near Patiala, which my mother had left as a little girl during Partition. So warm was the welcome that I got there that my determination to bring the two countries closer became even stronger and I sought to express it in the best way I could: through music. I have collaborated with Shubha Mudgal-ji on the song and with Nandita Das on this video. Even the video crew had both Indians and Pakistanis. Besides rock, what have been your musical influences?
I was very lucky to have studied the qawwali with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for two years. He is a major influence because in his music modernity and Sufi tradition blended perfectly.
Another major influence is R.D.Burman, yet another is A.R.Rahman. These music makers were way ahead of their times and seamlessly amalgmated different cultures.

One of my favorite bands. Thanks.

Some Junoon music videos:

Azadi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TywU-DDkGc

Sayonee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONiLbKSX3k

Bulleya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRuor8MafTA

Heer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNZ3QRE35FU

Garaj Baras: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU7jVdC192k

Thanks for Sharing!!

I seriously miss the band. they rocked when together. after the seperation the main element is lost.

Star profile:Salman Ahmad

As a child, Salman Ahmad – now the lead guitarist of Junoon, Pakistan's top rock band – would listen avidly to stories of India told by his maternal grandfather, a refugee from the other side of the subcontinental divide. As an adult, he has risked his career – even his life – to promote peace and sustainable development in the two countries.
'India was always in my mind as a child,' he says, 'and the need for peace in the subcontinent has been part of me. I have always strongly felt the need to find a resolution to the conflict. India and Pakistan constitute one fifth of humanity and the conflict that we have continued to harbour over the last half century has stunted the growth of people.'

After training as a doctor, he took up music 'as the most powerful expression of peace I could find', and soon he and the fellow members of the band were putting their ideals into practice. Their fusion of Western rhythms and Eastern styles took off – they soon sold 20 million albums worldwide.

While touring India, in May 1998, they spoke out against the subcontinental nuclear arms race.

'Would it not be better for India and Pakistan to try and inspire each other in the areas of education, health and economic development?' said Ahmad. 'In Pakistan, we don't have clean water, health or employment. How can we afford a nuclear bomb?'

Junoon was promptly banned from Pakistani television and radio and the band members received death threats. But they stuck to their principles, and the next year were given an award by UNESCO for 'outstanding achievements in music and peace'. In the same year the regime changed and they were able to operate freely again. President Musharraf has appeared with them at concerts.

Ahmad now says: 'There is a gradual realization that South Asia cannot progress in economic and health terms if we don't resolve our conflict. Both countries are nuclear armed and in the past six years there has been a flexing of the nuclear muscle – but it has not helped either country.

'Poverty alleviation should be the number one priority. An emergency should be declared on literacy. Most people in India and Pakistan are living day to day with the problems facing their immediate families. I have tried to address that communality through music and whenever I get a chance to speak in either country.'

'The people of both countries are way ahead of the governments as far as conflict resolution is concerned. It's now up to both leaderships to listen to the loud voices for peace in the subcontinent and resolve all disputes.'

The group has also taken up environmental issues. 'The worst thing you can do as a songwriter is to be didactic or try to be preachy, but we have tried through the music to make people more aware of their environment.'

In 2004 Ahmad was appointed as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador on HIV/AIDS, which he describes as 'a gigantic problem – greater even than nuclear war, if you think about it'. He adds: 'It is beginning to threaten the whole subcontinent, but is also a way of bringing into focus the common threat we face.

'Goodwill Ambassador is a big, glorified term, but I am just a footsoldier. The role of people in my position is to keep shining a light on the problem and to try to get as many people on board to coordinate and cooperate as possible. The disease does not know any boundaries and the first step is to better coordinate our efforts in fighting it.'

And do their fans follow their message as well as their music? He says that their following is 'very, very loyal' and understands, after the band's outspokenness on the nuclear tests, that 'if we talk about something publicly it is not just to gain publicity.

'I don't know if there's a measure of how many of them resonate as passionately as I do, but they do listen. And it's the power of intention. If you are doing something from the heart it touches people – and if it touches only one person it will be worth it'. GL

CNN SUNDAY MORNING

Interview With Salman Ahmad

Aired October 28, 2001 - 10:17 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Junoon (ph) , a leading pop band in Pakistan has been helping the United Nations raise money for the campaign against AIDS and HIV. Now the group is in New York to perform at a fund raiser for the victims of the World Trade Center tragedy. Joining us now is Salman Ahmad, Junoon's bandleader. He is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations. Good morning to you. SALMAN AHMAD, GOODWILL AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: Hi, Martin how are you? SAVIDGE: Fine, thanks. Tell us, for those who don't know, a bit about the band. What type of music you play, and more importantly, how you got involved here? AHMAD: Well, Junoon's a South Asian rock band. We've got three main members: Myself, lead singer Ali, and an American friend of mine, Brian O'Connell, who I went to school with in New York in junior high and high school. And we've been working out of Karachi, Pakistan and we -- since September 11, we have shared that sense of sharp disbelief of how the world has turned upside down, and what we've tried to do in our own humble capacity was to set up a peace concert in Islamabad on the October 9, which was a concert to raise funds for the victims here and the Afghan refugees coming into Pakistan. And I chose October 9 because of John Lennon's birthday, and it was wonderful to see, you know, a girls' college where we held the concert, where everybody was singing, "Give peace a chance." And there were -- the people -- it wasn't just Junoon, I got artists from music, television, film, sports stars, doctors, lawyers all on one stage to show the silent majority of Pakistan. SAVIDGE: Well, you mentioned that this is all in your humble way. But there's a great deal of significance of where you are from. The group also has a number of religions that are connected to it. What is the message that you are trying to get out there for people to understand? AHMAD: Well, you know, the underlying ethos of Junoon's music is Islamic Sufi poetry, and for those who don't know, Jalaluddin Rumi is one of the best-known Islamic Sufi poets. And the Sufis sang about harmony, tolerance, peace, self-discovery, simplicity, and they were really, sort of, totally, the antithesis of the religious extremists that you see nowadays protesting on the streets. SAVIDGE: So you're sort of counter the message that we have seen played up in the media regarding those that are opposed to this action. You have a different message then. AHMAD: Well, Martin, if you think about it, it's not just our message, it's the message of Pakistanis everywhere. It's a country of 140 million people; 10-30-40,000 people constitute a real huge minority who you see on CNN in America and elsewhere, and unfortunately, the great silent majority, which has been suffering silently for 50 years, because they were -- can't go out on the streets and face being shot by the religious extremists; they obviously aren't supportive of these protests, because this terrorist attack is an un-Islamic act. The hijacking that took place wasn't just a hijacking of an airplane -- an entire religion was hijacked by the terrorists. In Islam, you can't kill innocent civilians; it's murder. In Islam, suicide is prohibited, and the prophet Mohammad said that the ink of a scholar is far more precious than the blood of a martyr. So this whole radical image of Islam which is being portrayed is, I think, a minority view and it doesn't really have to do with Islam. SAVIDGE: Salman Ahmad, that was very well put. Thank you very much. The name of the group is Junoon. We wish you very good success in all of your concerts. Music goes a long way to heal in many of the problems in the world today. Thank you. AHMAD: Thank you.

SALMAN AHMAD Musician (Pakistan) https://www.freemuse.org/sw11317.asp 22 November 2005

Salman Ahmad was a member of the Pakistani rock band Junoon, until he moved to the US. In this video interview he tells about his experience of meeting with clerics in Pakistan and discussing with them whether it is true that music is prohibited according to Islam.

This is an excerpt from an interview with Salman Ahmad which was conducted by Freemuse's Kristina Funkeson in connection with the Freemuse conference on freedom of musical expression held in Beirut in October 2005. In another excerpt Salman Ahmad tells about the videos he has produced, and about how and why Junoon was banned and received death threats in Pakistan in the late 1990s. This excerpt (below) is available in a short and a longer version:

1. Music censorship in Pakistan 1.54 Watch interview (short version) 5.47 Watch interview (long version)

SufiRock of Salman Ahmad >>

Hey Junoonis, welcome to i SufiRock.com!

This is the beginning of a music site with passion, diversity and a site that will ALWAYS only provide kickass music!

SufiRock's first release is going to be Infiniti so get all your i-pods ready to download the music of love, joy and ecstasy.

peace out!

—Salman Ahmad

Listen to samples from Infiniti & read lyric translations

Pakistan and India's leading composer and musician, Junoon's Salman Ahmad releases his debut solo album, Infiniti.

"Music journalists originally coined "SufiRock." For me it's the bringing together of two of my musical passions: qawwali (Sufi devotional singing) and classic rock — Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan meets Led Zeppelin."

"The title Infiniti is about humans living a paradoxical life — we limit ourselves in relationships on the basis of materialism, power and a narrow vision of love and life...we think we are defined by our skin, bones, hair, our winnings, or our guitar riffs...the irony is that we're infinite beings who are here on earth for a short journey...our imagination is unlimited and our power to change our environment is immense.

Infiniti tries to straddle the east west divide; it's a search for beauty and truth and a yearning to communicate with people a message of hope and freedom amongst the chaos."