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Brilliant Rhythms of the Indus enthrals
full house at Albert Hall
London : At long last, there has been something other than cricket for British
Pakistanis to cheer about and bring back the feel good factor - something so
rare that most Pakistanis would have forgotten the taste of it !
Junoon at Royal Albert Hall of London on June 18, 2003 at the Rhythms of Indus
music festival
'Rhythms of the Indus' a music and fashion show celebrating Pakistan's cultural
diversity staged at the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of the President of
Pakistan and a full house, did Pakistanis proud. the show, sponsored by the
Pakistan High Commission and the Bestway Group, featured rhythms ranging from
the Soung Fakirs to Abida Parveen and the pulsating beats of Junoon, was very
planned, beautifully presented and included some top class performances by some
of Pakistan's top artists. Abrar Ul Haq also put in a guest appearance during
which he sang some of his popular songs, including 'Bale hi Bale' which almost
brought the house down. but there is more to Abrar than just his pop music for
he is a thinking artist and a poem read out by him reflected the vista of hope
that many Pakistanis feel.
Most professionally hosted by Art Malik and Atiqa Odho, the show also featured
some of Pakistan's top fashion designers including Rizwan Beyb and Deepak
Perwani who unleashed a plethora of colors which conveyed in wonderful pictorial
images the variety of a civilization that goes back some nine thousand years.
But the evening belonged to Junoon, Pakistan's most outstanding pop band and
indeed one of the best in the world. their superb fusion of Sufi lyrics and
mysticism with modern rock rhythms represents one of the most enthralling
musical fusions ever made. the trick, not by any means the easiest one to
perform, is to get the balance right between two contrasting cultures and music
traditions and this remarkable trio have got the fine balance this mixture
demands with something coming as close to perfection as makes to difference. The
anguish of the mystical identity of the individual was superbly depicted by the
haunting melody of "Bulleya" to be followed by the even lilting beauty of "Sayonee".
The evening was concluded, most appropriately, by Junoon with an outstanding
rendering of 'Pakistan hamara hai' in which the President, who had earlier been
given a standing ovation, also joined in.
In keeping with the tenor of an outstandingly successful evening, the crowd was
also excellently behaved and those in charge to manage to tick to a schedule,
which are not factores automatically with Pakistani events.
All in all, it was a show which, as the T-shirt says, made one proud to be
Pakistani and while everyone associated with it deserves credit, the lion's
share must go to Junoon and their superb music. theirs is the sort of music the
memories of which linger in the mind and pulsate in the head not just through
the evening, but through a lifetime.
Shahed Sadullah
Jang UK
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