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Mention
the name "Junoon" to any young Pakistani or Indian, and
you're almost certain to get instant recognition and, in most cases,
appreciation. How is it that a rock band, blending classical Western
rock with traditional and recent Sufi poetry, has become an
otherwise oft-divided country's most recognizable product?
Junoon
- an Urdu word that can roughly be translated as
"passion," "madness," or "insanity" -
is a band more than ten years old, that has long since taken the
Subcontinent by storm. Mixing the tabla, a thundering guitar,
intoxicating vocals and an altogether maddening sound, Junoon is,
without a doubt, the world's first successful Muslim rock band. The
lyrics, the songs and the spirit are Eastern; the form, the speed
and the delivery are patently Western.
Album
sales are through the roof.
Very
recently, Junoon released a live album: Daur-e Junoon, "The Age
of Junoon”. The band also recorded a VH1 special this past fall,
in light of the events of September 11th,
spreading the message that there is much more to Islam than simply
violence and agitation.
Pakistan's
pre-Musharraf "democratic regimes" banned Junoon; most of
its fans knew why. The band's provocative hit, Ehtesaab, or
"accountability" trashed the corruption of Pakistan's
generally very corrupt elite. So influential was the song that the
self-declared president of Pakistan, General Musharraf, tried to
justify his coup on the grounds that his reign would be one of
accountability.
When
a band shapes the discourse of politics, you know it has something
significant to say. And that is precisely the point. The music and
the lyrics are, in and of themselves, artistic gems. However, the
band's message and the band's identity are more significant,
especially for Pakistanis throughout the world, struggling to relate
themselves to what cynics often describe as a "failed state”.
So
why does Junoon work so much better than the country it hails from?
Perhaps because it reflects a solution to the country's malaise.
Junoon
works because Junoon represents Pakistanis better than anyone else.
Ali, the lead singer, has a voice with mysterious range and effect.
Salman, the lead guitarist, pours an infinite stream of energy into
the music. And Brian, the bass guitarist, offers the band a rhythm
that helps the music ascend to religious rapture. If you wish to see
ecstasy, go to a Junoon concert and watch the crowd's reactions.
Allama
Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938), ideological father of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan, argued that it was the underlying world-view of Islam
that necessitated that the Muslims of India have a state of their
own. The Muslims of India evolved their own course and their own
direction, producing a phenomenal culture, highly sophisticated
language, strong sense of identity and astounding architecture.
Pakistan
emerged as the result of a movement that tried to advance the
Muslims of India by combining three trends that represented a true
hope for the revival of Islam. Though Iqbal may never have
elucidated these strands separately, he promoted a similar
conception of Pakistan as a state.
The
movement for Pakistan combined (1) fluidity, or the ability to see
Islam as the flexible and timeless religion it is; (2) Ummah, or the
social and communal aspect of Islam that helps it create a spiritual
society (or, in this case, a nation-state); and, finally, (3)
identity, that aspect of the religion that promotes native culture
within the limits of religious law (what we might otherwise call
patriotism or regionalism). Junoon is so successful because beyond
the good product, it also successfully - and perhaps, entirely
unintentionally - combines, to a large degree, these three elements
of the vision of Pakistan.
Junoon's
music strikes the deepest depths of a Pakistani's soul, precisely
because it is proof that Islam, as a cultural force, can unify a
people, produce a state, and a creative, dynamic one at that.
Furthermore, this image of Islam could be radically successful,
because the elements of Pakistan's identity that Junoon has captured
can, with a little modification, be introduced into the rest of the
Islamic world.
Iqbal's
philosophy stresses that Islam cannot be against positive change.
Universality, after all, lies in flexibility. Junoon emphasizes that
one can be new, creative and radical, without losing ties to one's
culture. This force in music is sparking new movements within
Pakistan's cultural scene, exercising a force not seen since the
late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
And
Junoon's existence is, furthermore, a message of hope for those who
despair of Islam's survival in the modern-day as a cultural and
social reality. All the achievements of Islamic art and architecture
that we see today in coffee books and on historical documentaries
were realized in a specific day and age. The beautiful spiritual
imagination of Muslims drew endlessly from the Infinite Well that is
Revelation. Junoon is a recent incarnation, no matter how small, of
that very same spirit.
Not
only is Islam the Truth - it is a beautiful one at that.
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