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Back on home turf
On a cold Monday night, as freezing winds from the Arabian Sea blew across a
cluttered football field in Lyari, it seemed that all hell had broken loose in
the People's National Stadium. No tournament was underway, and the mighty
floodlights were unlit, lest all of Lyari got plunged into darkness to feed
them, but the place was abuzz with activity. The reason the sleeping stadium
(also serving as a hostel for the Rangers) had been brought back to life was to
shoot a new video for Pakistan's rock and roll granddaddies, Junoon. This was
the group's presentation for the World Cup caboodle, Maza zindagi ka, which just
coincidentally happens to be their sponsor's tag line for Pakistan.
Considering the cola conglomerate's falling fortunes in the Muslim realms due to
its alleged ties to Israel, what better way to work their ways into the warm
hearts of Pakistanis then to use one of the country's most popular groups as a
cheerleading squad for the adored (when they're not playing like day ladies)
cricket team.
Crowds of curious onlookers, busloads of supporters from various schools, a
gaggle of dancers, cast, crew, extras and plenty of lackeys - all this and the
band even managed to shoot a little video. If ever chaos was manifest on earth,
this was it.
One's thoughts immediately drifted towards Jazba-i-Junoon, the up and at 'em
pride-fest that the band wrote for the '96 Cup. But rather than cheer-lead for
the lads in green (Strings, Najam Sheraz and everybody else and their mammoo as
Salman Ahmad put it, are doing that, as well as the fact that the official
sponsors of the team happen to be an equally massive rival cola cartel), Junoon
has decided to dedicate this one to the fans, the real people behind Pakistan's
cricketing passion, (that's what the press release said). Musically, the tune is
slightly above average, and isn't quite what one expected from the band after
six months' dormancy. This is the same group of minds that, once upon a time,
gave us such defining moments in Pakistani rock lore as Talaash, Ehtasaab and
Khudi. It seems the creative juices are still there, but ever since the
lacklustre Ishq, they have failed to manifest themselves in creative surges (Garaj
baras being the notable exception). Not since Dharti kay khuda (the last great
Junoon song) has the band produced anything to make listeners stop, shake it off
and take notice.
But getting back to the video, the band is hoping that it will be the required
burst of energy needed to make them viable contenders in this country again.
Directed by Jaleel Akhter with wife Marina Khan in tow, along with Arjumand
Raheem handling the choreography, we witnessed the genesis of this production in
various convoluted stages. There were the roaring fans. There were the dancers
representing the various regions of Pakistan who boogied down during an
engineered pitch invasion as the band played on in the middle of the pitch.
Shehryar Ahmad, brother of Salman and band manager claims that at one time,
there were around 1,200 extras providing simulated support to the group. There
were even the colourful locals taunting the now Kojak-inspired Ali Azmat with
loving catcalls of ganjay. It will surely be something to look forward to when
this project comes to fruition.
Post-shoot, we discussed with Salman Ahmad just what the biggest band of the
country has been up to in its tenure away from the limelight. First off, there
were the undeniable break-up rumours fuelled by the band's inactivity in
Pakistan. Salman refuted the claims of the naysayers and revealed that the band
was very much together, alive and kicking, if in a state of change; a chrysalis
that might manifest itself with the birth of a new Junoon for a new age.
"It has been 12 years now (since the band formed). People grow. Since the last
12 to 18 months, we felt we needed to grow more. We've got so much love from
Pakistan. We've even been acknowledged by our peers, with people saying, 'here's
a band that were pioneers in developing a sound.' About 12 months ago I felt I
was in a rut. We hit a ceiling, and now, if we don't do something to change our
sound, to grow as musicians, then what's the point in being in a band? We agreed
to pursue music outside of Pakistan and spent eight months in America playing in
colleges," revealed Salman.
Apart from staving off creative stagnation, the guitarist felt that the band
could make inroads in changing the perceptions of common Americans as far as
Muslims were concerned.
"The American community is in fear of Islam. 'Who are these Muslims?' they ask.
There is a lot of scrutiny taking place, so when they see a Pakistani rock band,
it blows their mind because rock music is in the DNA of the American teenager.
That's what we want to explore. In Pakistan, we've given ourselves the freedom
to express ourselves individually as well. I'm doing a solo project for Hiv/Aids,
which could be musical or could be in a visual format. You don't have to break
up as a band, but you should have the freedom to do things on your own," Salman
explained.
He mentions that the mediocre results of Ishq were due partly because of the
band's label pressuring them to sustain the sound they had created on Azaadi and
maintained on Parvaaz. "There's a lot more diversity and dynamics to Junoon,
which wasn't there on Ishq."
The band is also planning to disseminate their English language single No more
(already freely available to inquisitive netizens) locally. While the concept
might have been noble and the video, shot on a Manhattan rooftop post-Sept 11,
was supposed to be in line with the worldwide show of grief for those grisly
events, one felt that already, many telethons and tributes have gone out to the
'heroes' of 9/11. Hadn't the world mourned enough for America? 9/11s are faced
day in and day out by countless thousands the world over, be it in the battered
wastes of Khost, the rubble strewn streets of Gaza or the bloody vale of
Kashmir. Didn't scores of innocent civilians suffer similar September 11s
throughout history courtesy the US war machine and its vassals? Hiroshima.
Vietnam. The death squads of Salvador. The list goes on. Why, then, did a
politically conscious Pakistani band with a voice opt to instead join the 9/11
bandwagon? Why wasn't there a No more for the innocents of Uruzgan in
Afghanistan?
"You probably haven't seen our VH 1 documentary. That covered the whole aspect
of it. In that documentary, I went to schools and colleges in Pakistan and
interviewed girls asking them, 'What do you think of America?' I addressed the
Afghanistan issue in that film as well in a very clear way. This isn't about us
trying to merge with the American Establishment. We are a band that is
multi-cultural and multi-religious. We can't be completely Islamic because we
have a bass player who's Catholic and who grew up in New York! In everything I
try to do, you have to take everyone along with you. No more was pointed to a
western audience. They are comfortably numb. The idea of a Pakistani rock band
blows their mind. We're bursting that bubble," Salman claims.
Looking back on their arguably storied career, we asked if Salman still
considered his band to be at the forefront of cutting edge Pakistani music.
"Without trying to be arrogant, Junoon right now signifies a force that is
carrying the message that there needs to be harmony in this world. That's been
the philosophy right through. I think we're a socially relevant force today. The
new album will really articulate what I'm trying to say."
This eagerly awaited new album should hit stores by June, though knowing the
notorious unpredictability of the band (remember the wait for Parvaaz?) anything
can happen. Salman did, however, allude to the fact that this time round the
album will have a much "darker" sound.
But for now, the band just wants a smooth reentry back into Pakistani aerospace,
and they are hoping that Maza zindagi ka will be the required element to place
them in the proverbial camera's eye.
"I'm passionate about cricket. It's the fans' passion that fuels this game. I'm
a fan and this is a song from a fan," Salman Ahmed concludes in his finest rock
man groove.
Qasim Abdallah Moini
Dawn News
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