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The Pappu Yaar
dilemma
Trust Instep to raise controversy where, many allege, there is none. The 26th
October 2003 Instep carried a story 'The unwavering Pappu' by our correspondent
Adnan Mehmood. And on the 27th of October we were called up by a seemingly
perturbed Junoon's manager Shehryar Ahmad who wanted space to reply to Adnan's
'allegations'. We agreed readily. So here is Shehryar's reply to Adnan's
original story followed by Adnan's reply to Shehryar's allegations. In an effort
to be very thorough we also brought music's pet whipping guy Nadeem Farooq
Paracha to pitch in and give an expert's overview.
'This is the way of transmitting a heritage.'
Says Shehryar Ahmed:
"To clear the record, if this was not Pakistan, Mr. Adnan Mahmood would be
facing charges of libel. The quotes he has attributed to me are not my own, and
it speaks volumes for his journalistic ethics and objectivity. I got a call from
Mr. Mahmood saying 'Pappu Yaar' is a rip-off. So when I asked, "of what song?"
Mr. Mahmood replied "What do you mean of what song?" I told him that I have
heard that 'Pappu Yaar' is a rip off of Madonna's 'Papa Don't Preach' (as quoted
by a noted journalist Khalid (cant remember if it was Hasan or Ahmed) from the
Daily Times, who himself quoted an "anonymous Pakistani Doctor in the United
States"!!!). I have also heard that the song is a rip-off of Elvis Presley's
'Jailhouse Rock'. Both allegations are a joke, as they have nothing in common
with 'Pappu', except that there's a blues riff in every Elvis Presley song. Mr.
Mahmood could therefore also make an argument that every Elvis song is a rip off
of every black Mississippi Delta Blues player from Robert Johnson to Howlin'
Wolf. But that is another story. 'Pappu Yaar' however, does feature a blues riff
as its hook, so Led Zeppelin get ready to face the music by Mr. Mahmood, as all
their songs had blues riffs!!
"It is so simplistic an argument, akin to saying Dewaar is a rip-off of Pink
Floyd's 'The Wall', or that 'Sayonee' is stolen from Hall & Oates 'Say It Isn't
So'. We still don't really have any real music critics in this country despite
the tremendous growth in our music industry over the last decade and a half.
"Mr. Mahmood charged that Junoon had ripped off 'Pappu Yaar' from another track
altogether by legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The track in question was
one that I was not familiar with, so he said that he would send it to me and
then I should comment. I still await his promised mail. For this reason, his
argument smacks of sour grapes. How can a song be a copy of THREE totally
unrelated songs? 'Papa Don't Preach' is a pop song harkening back to the 50's,
Elvis' 'Jailhouse Rock' is a Blues standard, and Hendrix's track I still have to
hear. But it is not possible to lift three songs in one song and have it called
a rip-off. That would be an artistic feat worthy of notable mention by itself!!!
At the same time that Junoon's music ('Garaj Baras') is being used in Pooja
Bhatt's directorial debut in a film entitled Paap, our self-flagellant music
scribes such as NFP and Mr. Mahmood are busy beating us up.
"And by the way even if the opening riff of 'Pappu Yaar' is similar to an old
Jimi Hendrix lick, (even though Jimi himself has lifted many old blues riffs*),
that in and of itself does not make 'Pappu' guilty of plagiarism. Last time I
checked, Jimi Hendrix did not speak Punjabi very fluently. This is like saying 'Yaar
Bina' is stolen from Led Zeppelin's 'Communication Breakdown'. The riff may be
similar, but the song is a completely different beast altogether. Your argument
holds no water Adnan! I direct you to take heed of the title of a future Junoon
hit single (which will be an alleged rip-off of the Eagles' 'Hotel Meh-tho-rona',
or was it Elvis' 'Hearbreak Hotel''??) called: "HASAD NA KAR, KAAM KAR!!!!"
"Through the success of 'Pappu Yaar', Junoon has single-handedly popularised the
Blues to the region of South Asia, as nobody has ever made blues riffs as common
in our region before and probably no-one will do so after as well. Similarly
they have communicated Qawwali and South Asian folk to the South Asian diaspora
as well as a growing number of Non-Desis around the world from Tokyo to Glasgow,
and from Vancouver to Beijing. Everybody knows that Ali sings a Pathaney Khan/Abida
Parveen inspired 'Yaar Di Garoli' in the live version of the Rock Qawwali Junoon
favorite 'Saeein'. Do you call that plagiarism? If so, Mr. Mahmood, I'd advise
you to take a Music Appreciation 101 class!!
Footnote on the Blues for non-guitarists: "The Blues, much like most South Asian
('Hindustani' or North Indian) classical music, is taught primarily through the
"call and response" method, what is called the Ustaad-Shagird pattern in our
region. This requires the student to repeat exactly, phrase for phrase, the
guitar notes and lines that the Master is trying to teach the student. The same
happens with Sitar Ustaads, Tabla Ustaads, etc., and even Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,
when he used to sing with Nusrat, repeated exactly Nusrat's phrases in live
performances. Take any of the Blues greats, from say BB King, to Eric Clapton,
or from Jeff Beck to Muddy Waters, or arguably the greatest Blues Guitarist of
all time, Jimmy Page, and I will show you where they have been inspired by
earlier greats, where some smart-aleck Pappu will try and tell you they STOLE
that riff or this lick. However, this is the way of transmitting a heritage.
'Perhaps 'Pappu Yaar' should be referred to the Hendrix estate to see if they
consider it necessary to follow up on it?'
Says Adnan Mehmood:
'Pappu Yaar' should be referred to the Hendrix estate to see if they consider it
necessary to take it to the court'
I continue to be flabbergasted by Mr. Shehryar Ahmad and his latest reply to my
article. Most of the matters mentioned in the letter do not even merit response,
but some of the points raised I believe are serious and addle headed enough to
require a reply.
Mr. Ahmad's own ignorance of the difference between plagiary (which I alleged)
and copyright infringement (which he seems to think I was alleging) is
startling. Plagiary is an ethical issue (taking someone else's work without
acknowledgement - which clearly is the case here) and copyright infringement is
an actionable wrong. The latter is almost always the former but not vice versa.
Surely the manager of the so-called biggest band in Pakistan should know the
difference? Mr. Ahmad even seems to acknowledge that the band committed
plagiary, which was precisely my point, when he says "Everyone else does it and
does not get sued for it, so what is wrong with us copying a riff?" The
difference is in the ethics of the matter but, of course, he seems to overlook
that.
As regards copyright infringement that is for a court to determine. Perhaps 'Pappu
Yaar' should be referred to the Hendrix estate to see if they consider it
necessary to follow up on it? I have had some legal training and it is my
opinion that it does seem to even constitute copyright infringement. Ultimately,
however, I think this should be taken to a court. That no one in Pakistan has
been sued to date on a copyright issue, I put down to just pure luck.
As regards the allegation that I misquoted Mr. Ahmad, I have my notes from the
day for the record and they bear out for the quotes that I used. I couldn't
believe what he said: that he was not aware of the hullabaloo over the lift
from, Who Else, by Jimmy Hendrix. In the past he had argued at length with
Junoon fans over this fact at www.myjunoon.com under his nickname of Gandalf.
Mr. Ahmad has thereafter proceeded to confirm that he is indeed the poser known
as Gandalf as prior to sending this letter he produced pretty much all of it on
the said site under the same nickname. Moreover, Mr. Ahmad should by now have
had a chance to brush up on his listening to 'Who Knows' by Hendrix as a link to
the same was provided recently in response to his posts on the said forum.
Otherwise since I do not condone Internet music piracy, I suggest he go and
purchase the Band of Gypsy's album, which contains the said song. It is an
essential album and every music lover or even a person who claims to be a music
lover ought to have a copy of the same.
This letter is of course without prejudice to my legal rights to sue the band
for having defamed me.
'I wonder how many critics of today are ready to take on the multimillion
dinosaurs and their spiritual sidekicks?'
Says Nadeem Farooq Paracha:
Hey, Adnan, welcome to our nightmare. The 'our' being us. The 'us' being the
music critic. And Sherry, how's Salman? Remember how Salman and I used to go on
and on like two possessed 'angry young men' back in the early '90s trying to
revolutionize pop music in Pakistan? You'd just come out of your shorts, lil'
brother. And I doubt you really ever understood what your elder brother and his
weird journalist friend were going on about.
But now I see you've grown up. But not quite, sir. I would have appreciated a
bit more originality in your argument. But you preferred to use that same damn
cliche that I've been hearing from musicians for the past ten years: "There are
no 'real' music critics in Pakistan!" Tell me how many 'real' musicians are
there in the local pop scene?
So, Adnan, you may be a rookie in the field, but do not cringe every time you
hear a 'real' musician/manager grumbling the mentioned words. Just believe you
must've done something right!
And by the way Sherry, I absolutely never mentioned anything about 'Pappu Yaar'
being a rip-off in my review of Deewar. Why? Because personally speaking I
really don't give a damn. I know how hard it has become in this day and age to
do something totally new, so the line I took had more to do with something far
more serious: i.e. Junoon now seeming like a burnt-out outfit, short of ideas
but still big with its favourite brand of cola. Now that's a REAL rip-off!
Adnan, yours was a well thought-out reply, but I'd suggest you (and many other
young critics out there), should look beyond matters like ripped riffs as
issues. Issues they are not. Irritants yes, but not issues.
Here I would like to agree with Sherry. It wasn't such a massive event, as such.
It was something like how back in the mid-90s we at Vibes were raising issues
like corporate greed and the lack of socio-political anthems in our pop scene,
only to be left scratching our heads when realizing that to most other critics
and fans the 'real issue' was that whether Vital Signs uses a DAT machine in
their concerts or will Junoon use a drum machine on their albums? These are not
issues at all.
But do remember: Once you do start talking about the 'real issues' life for you
can get even worse! Because talking through experience, let me tell you then it
just won't be irritated managers or bands sending in their protests. Their
business and 'spiritual' interests shall also come into play, if you know what I
mean? Remember that whole JJ/Junoon/Cola vs. Vibes controversy back in 1995?
I wonder how many critics of today are ready to take on the multimillion
dinosaurs and their spiritual sidekicks? Hell, I was even called a "corruptor of
youth" and a burnt-out commie!
It all boils down to issues, man. We have got to look for, study and then expose
the 'real issues.' And this goes both for the musicians and as well as the
critics.
Sherry, nothing is 'real' without these values ... in spite the fact that Junoon
is sponsored by 'the real thing.'
Jang News INSTEP Magazine
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