Credit goes to Junoon’s website!
2 years ago we were invited to Oslo by a Junooni
who was born and raised in Norway.amir sheikh had a dream for his adopted country and this was to
see the pakistani-Norwegian and the local Norwegian community share
in cultural activities. Amir’s view is to create more understanding between the two peoples.
He and his 24 year old fiance, Afshan,(another passionate junooni)are both members of parliament in Norway’s biggest
Political party, HOYRE.The both of them convinced their party that by bringing Junoon to Norway it will help in acheiving
HOYRE’S objective of cultural integration.That 1999 Junoon concert really clicked with the desi community in Norway and got us rave reviews by the Norwegian media.
But Amir and Afshan it seemed had a greater vision…they wanted a greater impact on mainstream Norwegians and got hold of Norway’s biggest music icon
Morten Harket of A-ha.They pursued him (short of stalking him)basically bugged him untill his management finally gave in and wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
This is where Amir unfolded his vision to Morten for this upcoming show in Oslo.amir and afshan both have a deep love for junoon’s message of cultural harmony,freedom
and tolerance.They “made” Morten listen to our music and once that was done Morten caught the “junoon bug”.He asked to hear all of junoon’s music,biography and decided to fly to London to personally see our wembley gig.It was in london,in may, that I feel that He and I
really “connected” instantly.We both have many common denominators…Jimmy Page for one,Jimmy was the guy who really turned me on to pick up the guitar when I was a teenager,Jimmy also happens to be Morten’s neighbor and close friend.
After that broke the ice between us I found that Morten is a family man,we also share a common love for spirituality,music and politics.In addition his father is a doctor his mother’s a professor and he happens to be a phenomenal singer.He invited me to Nuremberg
where A-ha were performing and totally blew me away with his sincerity and passionate delivery.I spent a week in norway at his place where we got to know each other better,we strummed guitars,went sailing,basically hung out and listened to music
I found that I could share my creativity with him without being selfconcious.I showed him songs I’d written and he played me some of his,I’m really inspired to work with him and Ali on the new stuff.
Morten’s a really sensitive artist and really curious about Pakistani culture and music plus he really believes in Junoon’s musical vision.This upcoming show will probably be the most high profile concert that we’ve done in Europe.We’re finalizing the set list
and it’s ironic that when I first started out playing with Vital signs we used to do the cover of “Take on Me”!Infact both Junaid and Ali have been huge huge A-ha fans!who would’ve known that fate would bring us together
in this way.For sure It could not have happened without the undying passion of two crazy Junoonis: Afshan and Amir.
“dil sey jo baat nikaltey hai,asar rakhti hai”
“par nahin magar,taqat-e-parvaaz,rakhti hai”
(the whisper of the heart is true"
(although it doesn’t have wings,it has the power to fly)
–Allama Iqbal