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Washington D.C Concert
Oct 5, 2002
At Lisner Auditorium
Junoon at George Washington University
It's possible that every country in the world with access to electric guitars
has its own U2, launching messages of humanism and spiritual aspiration via
heaven-bound choruses. Pakistan's U2 is Junoon, which performed Saturday night
at Lisner Auditorium. Although the Karachi quintet is little known in the United
States, it is preparing a crossover action: The band's next album will be its
first in English, and it is preceded by a new single, the keening, Sept.
11-inspired "No More."
A video for "No More" was shown before the concert, and Junoon (which means
"passion") premiered one of its new English-language songs as an encore. The
bulk of the two-hour set, however, was older material that was clearly familiar
to the eager audience, which was predominantly of college age but included "Junoonies"
from 6 to 60. With one fan waving a Pakistani flag, the spirit was patriotic,
but not unquestioningly so. Junoon has courted controversy with an
anti-corruption song, "Ehtesaab" ("Accountability"), and by opposing nuclear
proliferation on the subcontinent.
The band's music was as eclectic as guitarist Salman Ahmad's playing, which
incorporated funk, hard rock and surf music with much skill but less character.
The basic guitar-bass-drums format was supplemented by pakhawaj and tabla,
traditional Indo-Pakistani percussion instruments, but the most Eastern aspect
of the music was Ali Azmat's vocals, which melded anthemic Celtic-rock and
Sufi-style chanting. The effect was soaring, but the music was brought partway
back to earth by the ads for local Pakistani-owned restaurants, butchers and
travel agencies that flashed on the video screen as Junoon performed the ode to
freedom that ended its main set.
Mark Jenkins
Washington Post
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