Pakistani rock band, Junoon is often called the U2 of the Muslim world. They played last night (Wednesday) at the Seattle South Asian Independent Film Festival. One of their messages is promoting peace between Pakistan and India. Reporter Priyanka Joshi has more.
“JUNOON” MEANS “PASSION” IN URDU. THEY’RE FROM PAKISTAN BUT WERE BANNED THERE IN 1997 FOR WRITING A SONG DEMANDING POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN THAT COUNTRY. JUNOON’S LEAD SINGER AND GUITARIST IS SALMAN AHMED. HE’S CONCERNED ABOUT THE WAY INDIA AND PAKISTAN HAVE BEEN IN AN ONGOING NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN SINCE 1998.
AHMED: “We had a hit song called Sayonee. It was because of that hit song that we had a chance to visit South India, North India and come across, you know, Indian audiences, young kids, who held up banners saying ‘We want cultural fusion, not nuclear fusion.’”
THE POLITICAL WINDS ARE CHANGING AGAIN IN PAKISTAN. GENERAL PARVEZ MUSHARRAF HAS REACHED A POWER SHARING AGREEMENT WITH BENAZIR BHUTTO. BHUTTO WAS A FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND IS NOW POISED FOR A COMEBACK. AHMED SEES THIS AS A STEP BACKWARD. BHUTTO AND HER POLITICAL COLLEAGUE NAWAZ SHARIF WERE BEHIND BANNING HIM FROM THE AIR WAVES.
JUNOON IS HEADED TO OSLO TO PERFORM AT THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE CEREMONY IN DECEMBER. PROMOTING PEACE IN THE SOUTH ASIAN SUB-CONTINENT IS THE GROUP’S PRIORITY. AHMED SAYS POP CULTURE IS A TREMENDOUS TOOL OF SOCIAL CHANGE. HE BELIEVES THAT IN A POST 9/11 WORLD, POP CULTURE CAN COMMUNICATE COMPLEX IDEAS TO AUDIENCES WORLDWIDE.
AHMED: “I think the openness that’s happening between Pakistan and India is also as a result of pop culture, because Indian films as you know are hugely popular in Pakistan and Pakistani pop music is huge in India.”
Muslim world is not limited to the arab world so get this thing out of your head that whenever someone talks about Muslim world, it has to do with the arab world. And Salman Ahmed is not phata wa dhool. Actually he is dong some amazing stuff with music these days. And if you don’t know what exactly he is doing then maybe don’t start bashing him.
when the album is his then why the songs wouldn't be composed by him and i pretty much like all the songs from his solo album. Now if you can't understand the message it carries then that is different.
Anyway, if you get peace by calling him phata howa dhool then continue and keep your ice cream to yourself.
when the album is his then why the songs wouldn't be composed by him and **i pretty much like all the songs from his solo album. Now if you can't understand the message it carries then that is different. **
Yea unfortunately, he drove Brian away. Then got into a very low life fight with Ali. Now he runs around the US “touring” and whats worse, is that he lets his ticket sellers deceive the people who buy tickets by calling it a Junoon show. He is tarnishing what was left of Junoon, with his god awful singing, which catches concert goers by a surprise.
Yea unfortunately, he drove Brian away. Then got into a very low life fight with Ali. Now he runs around the US "touring" and whats worse, is that he lets his ticket sellers deceive the people who buy tickets by calling it a Junoon show. He is tarnishing what was left of Junoon, with his god awful singing, which catches concert goers by a surprise.
he never drove brian away nor did he have a fight with Ali. And he is not deceiving people, people know that Ali is no more part of Junoon. Actually he has been pretty decent about it and it was Ali who went around whinning, etc. Anyway, knowing that this forum is filled with aniti-salman sentiments, I wouldn't agure....
His singing wasn't the best siging but he has come a long way and he is doing great at it.
I liked Salman Ahmed before because he was acting like a rock star. His decision to go a different way from Vital Signs. Rejecting the cookie cutter image and making his own music gave respect. He is very talented. The first few albums were excellent because it was about junoon as a band, since than Mr. Ahmed has taking it to a new level. He became bigger than junoon, mainstream and giving speeches on political and global issues like he is an expert. This is where he lost it.
He should have stuck to making music. Even if there is no Junoon, Salman is talented enough to produce great tracks. Right now he looks very distracted.
to be honest yes ali doesd have a better voice and salman is doign better as he moves on, but salman ahs a musical vision, and more than that he is using his fame to do good, and not because it makes good news, because he genuinely believes in it.
good music, good vision, decent voice, reminds me of someone else...oh yeah bob dylan.
salman ahmed is a grade A loser and a pathetic singer to say the least. no doubt he was a good musician but thats a thing of the past. listen to his latest crap infiniti and all you can do is and
work for UN? what an awesomely credible and effective org to work for. i stand corrected…he is confused…and works for a confused org. and his singing is just as horrible as UN’s record on major issues
and so is every other group salman has worked with? lets not get carried away.
zobia, i think you are intelligent enough to seperate the general assemblya nd secuorty council type stuff from things like UNICEF and WHO and realize that the UN even being a very ineffective group in terms of global politics, has done great work in UNICEF, WHO and other groups.
sorry saeein, i forget he would be more effective had he grown a beard and was singing naats and hanging with tableeghi jamaat
I would refer you again to differentiate between UNs work in political arena versus development initiatives. sure they are not very efficient, but the impact of the work can not be simply ignored. Lack of knowledge may be coming in the way there.
regardless, what u are saying is that all the magazines, papers, and groups that invite him and cover him must be complete duffers yeah?
in the end, some ppl like some singers some dont. nothing to split hairs over
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