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Junoon rocks to promote
peace
September 30, 2002
University of Kansas
The Pakistani rock band Junoon plays to more than 740 fans marking the beginning
of its six-week college tour. The KU Pakistani Culture Club brought the band to
the Lied Center Saturday to help deliver a message of peace.
The audience waved lighters, chanted for peace arm-in-arm and held up the
Pakistani flag Saturday night for Junoon, the Pakistani band christened the “U2
of Asia” by The New York Times.
The concert, titled “Building Bridges: Passion for Peace Benefit Concert” was
the first of Junoon´s six-week-long college tour, Shehryar Ahmad, Junoon´s
manager, said. Ahmad said the band´s goal was to deliver the message of peace
and that college students were especially receptive.
More than 740 people attended the event, brought to the Lied Center by the
Pakistani Culture Club. Tania Nazir, president and Overland Park senior, said
she hoped people received the message of peace awareness prevalent in the show.
“I hope people got something out of it,” she said. “It´s sort of like two things
for one event, music and a cause.”
Nazir said a significant portion of the proceeds would be donated to UNICEF and
Amnesty International.
All songs performed, except the last one, were written in Urdu, the dominant
language of Pakistan. The first song the band wrote in English was played at the
end of the show, titled “No More.” Ahmad said the song was written after Sept.
11, 2001, as a tribute to the victims.
Nazir said she told friends who had never heard of the band to come to the
concert, and that they enjoyed it, especially the last song.
The band has become internationally recognized for its humanitarian efforts and
original sound. The group was named Best International Group at the Channel [V]
Music Awards. Channel [V] is a music video channel for the Asia Pacific region.
Samara Nazir, Overland Park freshman, said she liked the band´s music because it
was different.
“Junoon has a different appeal because it combines traditional Pakistani sound
with rock,” she said. “It´s very cool, it´s music that attracts a younger crowd,
it appeals to teens.”
Coburn said it was difficult to attract non-Pakistani students to the show
because most of the songs were not in English.
“In general it´s hard to cross the culture barrier,” he said. “But I and the few
new people who saw them perform can help spread awareness.”
Geoff Coburn, Beloit junior, was one of the few non-Pakistani attendees. He had
never listened to Pakistani music before.
“They had a lot of energy and were very crowd-oriented,” he said. “Having never
seen them perform before, it was awesome to see how much the crowd was into
them.”
By Louise Stauffer
The University Daily Kansan
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