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Polar Levine on Junoon
Sep 8, 2002
Polar Levine
1.Vatsala Kaul- That is a really touching poem Salman turned into song. when
did you write it? Much after 9/11 or just after? Or did you write the poem
at Salman''s behest?
Polar Levine-Thank you. I live ten blocks from Ground Zero. So when we hear
about the attack on America, I also experienced it as an attack on my
neighborhood, about two blocks from the field where my son plays soccer.
When the dust from the collapsed towers started to collect on my window
sills and on my floors it was upsetting in a mundane kind of way. Even war
has its mundane side. The ongoing TV coverage had a
report on the composition of the dust I''d been inhaling for days that was
giving me some respiratory problems. It was mostly crushed concrete and
wallboard. Along with that there was plastic from computers and the bones of
the people who were in the towers when they collapsed. I''d been inhaling the
remains of the victims of September 11. My lungs were filling up every day
with underpaid firefighters, police officers, cafeteria workers,
secretaries, mail room workers, word processors, graphic designers and
overpaid executives. I had, in my body, Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists,
liberals, conservatives, women and men from hundreds of countries,
heterosexuals and homosexuals. I was together with them. We had nothing to
disagree or fight about. They were part of my body. The planet Earth is one
body that houses us all in the same way. That realization gave added texture
to the whole nightmare. I wrote the poem then, a few days after the attack.
2. You saw it happen. it must have been like watching someone stop breathing
in front of your eyes. what was the foremost thought in
your mind at that time?
I don''t think I had thoughts. Events that are so large and immediate create
a kind of nirvana state, for better or worse, where thought is not a
possibility. Only experiencing the moment is possible. When I took my son to
his friend''s house I could not get back home because the police blocked off
the main street that borders my neighborhood. Nobody knew if the attacks
would continue. So I was homeless for most of the day. I wandered around the
streets all day in a thoughtless, numb daze. Like being drunk. But it was
drunk from too much incomprehensible experience rather than too much
alcohol.
3. How do you feel about a Pakistani band making a song about 9/11, seeing
as how inextricably entwined that region seems to be with 9/11?
Because of my journalism work I''d been introduced to Junoon a few weeks
before September. When my country sought out Pakistan as an ally, I knew
that Pakistan would become a very dangerous place. I emailed Shehryar Ahmad,
Junoon''s manager, to voice my concern for their safety and hope that we
would somehow create a personal bond whatever happens.
I feel that Junoon, by pure circumstance, has become maybe our most
important cultural force for peace and sanity in the coming years. They are
both Pakistani and American and have lived in both places. They are both
Muslim and Christian. They are politically aware and highly moral and their
musicianship is truly excellent. They have experience on all sides of the
cultural divide. I think they can foster understanding and compassion in
people whose only awareness of the issues is from TV which exists only to
sell products, not to inform people.
4. What kind of journalist are you? Have you written poetry before?
I am actually new to journalism. I author and edit a website called
popCULTmedia.com which is part of MediaChannel.org. MediaChannel is
dedicated to independent journalism free from the constraints of
commercial or state pressures. Half of its traffic is outside the USA. I
cover media issues concerning pop culture. But I am mainly a musician and
have written poetry as well as songs.
5. How long have you known Salman? What do you think of him as a person,
guitar player and composer? What do you think of Junoon?
I have known the band personally through email communication with their
manager, Shehryar, Salman''s brother. I met Salman and the rest
of the band when they played last year near Ground Zero. Salman is a person
who has dedicated his life to seeking truth in a very complex world that
would prefer that the truth not be sought out at all. He probably could be
making lots more money with his talents if he
wrote corny love songs. But he and the rest of the band have risked a lot by
trying to communicate larger issues.
The band is really impressive musically. I am very hard to please musically.
Since I was a child I have listened to every kind of music from every part
of the world. When you grow up listening to the Beatles, John Coltrane, Bob
Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Miles Davis it is very hard
to listen to pop bands that do not have high standards or talent. There are
very few rock bands that have the quality of Junoon''s musicianship and
songwriting. I never would have offered Salman my poem if I did not trust
his talent and intelligence. I knew that Junoon would create a song that I
would be proud to be part of. What I love most about Junoon is that they
have created a seamless blend of American rock and South Asian music. It
does not sound like one style stapled on top of another. In their case it is
in their blood and very natural. I love to hear their percussionist and
Ali''s Qawwali style of singing in the mix as much as the American rock.
5. The best thing about ''No More'' is that there IS more after it. a tag of
hope, a reconfirmation of the will to survive. do you really think there is
hope for the world yet. I mean for the whole world.
My poem was written in a state of shock with no message other than to
express the shock of a person who discovers he is still alive and breathing
-- breathing in the dead as the dust falls around him. Salman added a note
of hope in his version that is fine with me. We need it.
I look around and see a world on the brink. India and Pakistan are ready to
throw nuclear weapons at each other which would provide more lethal stuff
for me and my family to breathe in. Israelis and Palestinians are prepared
to kill each other forever. My country is ready to start a war with Iraq
based on the president''s personal political interests and not much more. A
whole region is ready to implode and take much of the world with it. At this
time in history we have some of the lowest quality world leaders than at any
point in history. Bush and Cheney, Sharon, Arafat, Mubarak, the Saudi
royalty. America currently is the driver of the global economic bus and our
interests are, unfortunately, only in the well-being of American
corporations. The muslim world is driven by its most insane fringe and its
leaders are happy with it as long as they stay in power and point their
people''s bombs in my direction. Much of Africa is a
constant state of civil war and pointless slaughter.
Do I have hope? We are a species that builds as well as destroys. I raise my
son to be a person who will live a long life and work to make life better
for everybody. I introduced him to Junoon and I expect them to be role
models for him. If I did not have hope for the future I would let him sit in
front of the TV all day and enjoy an easy life, expecting it to be a short
one. But he is not permitted to watch broadcast TV and I am very invested in
his future so, yes, I have hope that there will be a world for him to grow
into.
Thanks and peace,
Vatsala
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