JUNOON .......NOT QUITE

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desibaba

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ARTICLE IN AN INTERNATIONAL DAILY
A Rock star's struggle where militant Islam rules

The confrontations shown in "Junoon: The Rock Star and the Mullahs" are mild ones: conversations between Salman Ahmad, the leader and guitarist of the Pakistani rock band Junoon, and militant Islamic mullahs and students who believe music should be banned. But this documentary, which was broadcast on PBS stations as part of the "Wide Angle" series of international news reports, sees portents of greater repression.

In Pakistan Mr. Ahmad has become a figure like Bono of U2: a positive-thinking, hugely popular rock musician whose songs address both spiritual and social questions. He spent most of his teens in the United States, where he learned rock guitar, before returning to Pakistan to study medicine. But rock prevailed.

After winning a nationwide patriotic songwriting contest, he started Junoon in 1990.

Although the documentary doesn't mention it, Junoon was banned from Pakistani television and radio from 1996 to 1999 after recording a song called "Accountability," which criticized government corruption. The band's music, heard only briefly in the documentary, can sound like blues-rock, Santana, U2 or an electrified version of the vigorous devotional songs of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam. His faith, Mr. Ahmad says in the documentary, gives him "the confidence to try and form a modern Pakistani identity."

But the more restrictive Islam associated with the Taliban in Afghanistan has spread to parts of Pakistan. Anti-Americanism stirred up by the war in Afghanistan helped a coalition of militant Islamic parties win elections last year in the Peshawar region of northern Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is rumored to be hiding in the mountains. In June legislators voted to impose Taliban-like rules, requiring all women over 12 to wear veils and banning music on public transportation.

A Peshawar musician, Gulzar Alam, who carries on a long tradition of historical songs, tells the most ominous story. While singing at a wedding, he said, police officers arrived and stopped him, saying, "Don't you know that the government has banned music?" They insulted him, then arrested him when he slapped one in response. Police officers later searched his home and arrested his children. Mr. Alam, who is shown performing despite government pressure, says a 150-year-old bazaar in Peshawar, where musicians have long shared songs, has been shut down. Mr. Ahmad also visits a Peshawar record store with empty shelves and owners who have been told to find other work.

In Karachi Mr. Ahmad goes to one of the Islamic schools called madrasas. A student offers chilling justification for suicide bombings: "The more body parts of infidels that explode, the calmer the martyr's soul will be," he says calmly.

Mr. Ahmad sits with students who tell him, "The Koran absolutely forbids music." He replies, "If you have good intentions and bring peace to people's hearts, what's the harm in that?" And with the guitar he brought to the madrasa, he sings them a verse of the Koran set to his own melody. They listen politely, and grumble after he leaves that he has not respected their feelings.

Later Mr. Ahmad talks to an older mullah, asking him whether the 52 Islamic countries that do not ban music are all heathens. The mullah says, "They are all sons of pigs," and adds, "The whole world is America's stooge." The documentary shows anti-American rallies, flag burnings and defaced billboards; at one point, Pakistanis throw things at the camera crew.

Militant Islam, the documentary suggests, is both a religious movement and a reaction to the power, commercial impact and perceived vulgarity of the West, particularly the United States, and the war with Iraq heightened anti-Americanism. Mullahs repeatedly denounce the obscenity of imported films and music, sounding a lot like American fundamentalists. Mullah Hafiz Akhtar Ali, Peshawar's minister of minority affairs, describes music as "the mixing of boys and girls and making obscene movements." (Junoon is shown performing, however, at a concert where male and female fans are in separate sections.)

"Junoon: The Rock Star and the Mullahs" would be more effective without some manipulative images. As Junoon's music is heard, a bird flies skyward. Young men are shown hurling things that turn out not to be weapons but cricket balls. Mullahs and madrasa students are shown fidgeting, wiping their faces and crouching at communal meals and baths; other Pakistanis get more flattering shots. An ecstatic Sufi celebration, with dancers in brightly colored robes twirling to kinetic drums, is followed immediately by a shot of white-clad madrasa students lined up along a rope. The image is one of conformity and restriction, but they're like schoolchildren on outings everywhere.


Posted 17 Oct 2003

STANDARD says
this thread is not related to lollywood,I think this thread discuss in general section.ok
Posted 17 Oct 2003

MrDeath says
desibaba where yo get these fantastic stories from...?

anyways.. nice topic
Posted 17 Oct 2003

desibaba says
this article came in the uk edition of time. gives an insight into the pakistani world. it is really sad . that s why they all want to come to india because they can not thrive in pakistanb
Posted 17 Oct 2003

MR PERFECT says
desibaba, you're putting words in our mouth. this article has NOTHING 2 do with india or how pakistani's want to go there 2 'thrive.' i'm noticing you're tryin' 2 look 4 an argument with all these retarded posts u make. don't u have anything better 2 do?

this article is about music and how junoon's lead guitarist is pushing for it in certain strict REGIONS of pakistan. not the entire country. so how you get the idea that it gives 'insight into the pakistani world' is beyond me. u don't see us assuming a little girl marrying a mutt in a region of india gives us insight into ALL OF INDIA do u??
Posted 17 Oct 2003

junoon is the best band in asia...
Posted 17 Oct 2003

Dhaka_Desi says
desibaba said:

this article came in the uk edition of time. gives an insight into the pakistani world. it is really sad . that s why they all want to come to india because they can not thrive in pakistanb



This dosent make any sense at all...it seems like you just want to post this to make Pakistanis feel bad. Whatever that article was saying I dont see it happening! In Bangladesh yes it IS happening and I HATE IT!
Posted 18 Oct 2003

T.O_RAPTRZ says
Dhaka_Desi said:

desibaba said:

this article came in the uk edition of time. gives an insight into the pakistani world. it is really sad . that s why they all want to come to india because they can not thrive in pakistanb



This dosent make any sense at all...it seems like you just want to post this to make Pakistanis feel bad. Whatever that article was saying I dont see it happening! In Bangladesh yes it IS happening and I HATE IT!


uh forget D man......this guy wont stop at nothing to make sure people know india is somehow better than Pakistan. Anywayz what are some music bands in bangladesh....I have never heard of any!
Posted 18 Oct 2003

BibiJan says
Dhaka_Desi.. kaymun asho.. apni bari kothaey...
Posted 18 Oct 2003

Dhaka_Desi says
T.O_RAPTRZ said:

Dhaka_Desi said:

desibaba said:

this article came in the uk edition of time. gives an insight into the pakistani world. it is really sad . that s why they all want to come to india because they can not thrive in pakistanb



This dosent make any sense at all...it seems like you just want to post this to make Pakistanis feel bad. Whatever that article was saying I dont see it happening! In Bangladesh yes it IS happening and I HATE IT!


uh forget D man......this guy wont stop at nothing to make sure people know india is somehow better than Pakistan. Anywayz what are some music bands in bangladesh....I have never heard of any!


thats a good question....i should really find out one day...when they get music videos!
Posted 18 Oct 2003

Dhaka_Desi says
http://www.surerbhubone.com/pmember/index.phtml
Posted 18 Oct 2003

Dhaka_Desi says
http://www.bangladeshshowbiz.com/filmcelrb.htm

site "dedicated" to "show" bengali movies....I find it a disgrace to my country!
Posted 18 Oct 2003

T.O_RAPZ says
wow u guys make movies???????
Posted 18 Oct 2003

they doesn't know abt junoon a gayee beech pata nahi articel hai bi yah nahi. log kya kya nahi likhte agar koi news na ho.
Posted 18 Oct 2003

MrDeath says
shahrukh khan said:

junoon is the best band in asia...



sorry man ,,,, they werer only one song groupp... after syonee... nothin better come up fr those guys....
Posted 18 Oct 2003

STANDARD says
Junnon policy is previous Govt policy in 1998,but Present situatin is totally change in pakistan...pakistan Govt got Leberal,What in india?
Only Poverty,Poverty....and Poverty...True Pakistani never happy any foreign country...
Posted 18 Oct 2003

MR PERFECT says
mr. death sahib, junoon aint a 'one song group.'
1 million copies (of 'dewaar' their latest album) sold in the first week of release shows they STILL kick ass. can u name me any other asian (specifically in india/pakistan) rock band 2 sell even CLOSE 2 that amount?! didn't think so. 'sayonee' was a hit. many more were hits in between. and now we got 'PAPPU YAAR, TANG NA KAR'!!! EVERYONE'S boppin' 2 it - india included.

and why is your precious bollywood after them 2 do music for a lady named pooja bhaat and her upcoming movie?! junoon, out.....i think not.
Posted 19 Oct 2003

MrDeath says
hear my old frn..nfak roars again...

gott to say this...get yr fact book in front of yr eyes.

the best sellar album this year is Tera Chehra. fr adanan.of T-Series..

an yes..junoon dont kik asses like before...belive me...
Posted 19 Oct 2003

~Fragi~ says
Posted 19 Oct 2003

valandrian says
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