Lahore gives Junoon rousing welcome back

By Zainab Khar and Shoaib Ahmed

LAHORE: Junoon, Pakistan’s biggest rock band, had the crowds dancing in the aisles at a rare performance in Lahore at the Alhamra Cultural Complex on Sunday night.

Security was tight as police surrounded the amphitheatre. The crowd started building up outside early, some looking to buy tickets in the black. The wait was long, the show starting two hours late.

“We have been here since 7.30pm,” a Lahore Grammar School student cried out as she looked at her watch at 9.30pm.

However, once Salman Ahmed hit the first chords for ‘Garaj baras’, the crowd forgot their anger and jumped out of their seats. In fact, all hell broke loose: some jumped on the railings, some on their chairs, others stood and swayed their hands in the air singing with the band. One school student was so engrossed in his dance he almost fell of the railing into the audience below.

On stage, Junoon were belting out popular hits such as ‘Sayonee’, ‘Khudi ko kar buland’ and ‘Yaar bina’, driving the crowd into further frenzy.

At one point, vocalist Ali Azmat decided to address the audience to talk about the song ‘Pappu yaar’. “I want to take a minute and point out who pappu is,” he said, and then pointed to a picture of George Bush and asked the audience to repeat “George Bush pappu hai”. The ardent fans immediately joined in and the amphitheatre roared with “George Bush pappu hai”.

The band closed with ‘Taara jala’, a slow song which gave the crowd goose bumps.

This was Junoon’s first performance in Lahore for six months. It was evident from the crowd that they had been missed.

The event was sponsored by Daily Times, Mobile Zone, The Planet, Lakson and Tobacco and Thomson. The proceeds from the concert will go to HHCS, a charity organisation.

Latest Junoon video to be released on August 14: Junoon has completed shooting for its new music video, Ghoom Tana, in Patiala and Lahore and it will be released on August 14, Salman Ahmed, the lead guitarist of the group, said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference at The Planet, Mr Ahmed said the song was over voiced by Indian film star Naseeruddin Shah while the Indian actress Nandita Das played the main character. Saqib Malik directed the video.

Mr Ahmed said he had chosen Lahore and Patiala for the video because of the mass migrations between the two cities after Partition in 1947. He said the United Nations under secretary general had endorsed the song and he would visit President Pervez Musharraf to show him the video. He said the Patiala chief minister had been very cooperative in the shooting of the video.

Indian cinematographer Sanjay Kapoor, who has worked on several Hollywood and Bollywood films, was also part of the Ghoom Tana project. Mr Kapoor said it was his first visit to Pakistan and he was enjoying himself. “I have found no difference between the people of India and Pakistan,” he said.

Lead singer Ali Azmat said the band always enjoyed their concerts in Lahore because the crowds were very lively. “Lahoris become wild when they come to our shows,” he said.

Brian O’Connell, the group’s bass guitarist, said it felt great being back in Lahore. “Performing in Lahore has always been fun,” he said.

Mr Ahmed said he had won the first prize from the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) for his documentary Rockstars and Mullahs, screened by the Public Broadcasting Station in New York.

He said he would fly to New York on June 19 to collect the award. He said his documentary was about music, politics and religion. The documentary also spoke of the role of music in Islam and Pakistan. The film was directed by Angus Macqueen and British journalist Ruhi Hameed.

Mr Ahmed said he was always happy to be in Lahore, his hometown. He said Junoon had performed all over the east coast, west coast and in Texas during their recent tour of the United States. He said it was their biggest tour to the States ever and came at a time when the media frenzy about Muslims and Islam was at its peak.

He said they had a big show in Karachi two days ago where a large number of people turned up. “That showed the people of Pakistan are not afraid of terrorism,” he said.

He said the band would be busy in an advertisement campaign for a soft drink company from July to August.

Mr Aslam, the owner of The Planet, said the store would introduce Disney Land to Pakistan at a cost of $16 million.

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