That Salman Ahmad remembers most about growing up in Lahore is watching the popular film song show Chitrahaar , thanks to a faint Amritsar Doordarshan signal that they used to catch on their TV set. “Helen’s dances, Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Pakeezah , Amar Prem , RD Burman… these are what my earliest memories are made of,” says the Sufi-rock musician, who used to dream of travelling to Bombay, the City of Dreams, and composing music for Hindi films. But life took him on a different journey.
A doctor-turned-guitarist/songwriter/musician, Ahmad reached the peak of popularity when he formed the Sufi-rock band Junoon in 1991 in Pakistan along with lead singer Ali Azmat and bass guitarist Brian O’Connell.
Junoon became a household name in India after they performed at the Zee Cine awards in 1998. Their songs ‘Khudi’, ‘Azaadi’, ‘Yaar Bina’, and, most of all, the cult single ‘Sayonee’, became anthems for an entire generation. As it happens with a lot of iconic bands, Junoon disintegrated. But Ahmad, based in New York since 2002, continues to perform as a solo artiste under the Junoon label.
Now, in the latest twist to the plot of his life, Ahmad’s Bombay dream seems to be coming true. He has composed two songs for a small upcoming film, Rhythm . ‘Kaisey Boloon’ and ‘Yaaro’, that has been sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, with his guitar providing the musical spine. There are snippets of Junoon’s other music in the film too, ‘Sayonee’ in particular.
Ahmad also gets to act in Rhythm , playing himself, a Sufi-rocker who inspires a young girl, the lead vocalist of a college band. “It is exactly how I felt when I first saw Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) play ‘Kashmir’ at Madison Square,” he says. “I decided that it’s what I would want to do for the rest of my life.” Ahmad had been intrigued by how Ranbir Kapoor in Rockstar seemed to have been modelled on him. “Now, I am taking my shot at acting. I am getting my toes wet with Rhythm ,” he smiles.
He wants to work more regularly in Bollywood as a composer but feels that music is receding in the background for contemporary Hindi films: “I knew films through songs. Now songs don’t stay in the head, they don’t register.” But he loves AR Rahman and the music from the film Queen .
For the interview, he insists on sitting in a hotel corner which offers a good view of the sea and the orange glow of the setting sun. And with childlike enthusiasm, he brings out the portable speakers to play us his new compositions.
He decided to support the film because it was an indie. “When we started off as a band, there were no big banners supporting us either. We were guerrilla musicians,” he says. Inspired by Bollywood, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Peter Gabriel, he has come a full circle. Ahmad will be collaborating with Gabriel yet again, this time for the title track and also the song ‘Munn Kunto Maula’ for an HBO documentary, Open Your Eyes , made by Oscar-nominated director Irene Taylor Brodsky. It’s about bringing sight to the sightless and the film premieres on television in July.
But, after all these years, ‘Sayonee’ still remains his ticket to fame. “I have done a lot of good work which gets dwarfed by it. But on the positive side, it works disarmingly at the immigration, or when am travelling in cabs here in India,” he says. Some things haven’t changed. For him, music continues to be a way to bring people together. “So much has been happening in the subcontinent. Film and music are even more important now in creating an understanding between cultures.”
His first feeling for India, he says, has always been that of love. “I don’t feel alien here. You won’t feel alien in Pakistan either. Ours is an interconnected world. We can build a gigantic industry if we come together for health, education, sports, arts, culture. We need to build a disease surveillance system for the entire region.”
Quite obviously, the philanthropic streak runs parallel to being a popular musician. As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Polio Eradication, he will be performing for UNESCO/ MGEIP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education For Peace And Sustainable Development) in New Delhi, jamming with Indian Ocean. All for peace and education. He finds similarity between the two iconic bands. “Both are authentic in their music, have social concerns. I don’t know why we never played together before.”
Ahmad is also preparing to celebrate 25 years of Junoon in Pakistan, recording a few songs with singer-actor Ali Zafar. “I remember the moment when the group was born as though it happened this morning,” he says.
He will be releasing an album of old and new songs to mark the anniversary and will be lining up a series of concerts in Pakistan. Meanwhile the group also continues have a permanent place in his sign-off message: “May the Junoon always be with you.”
Ahmad’s Bombay Dream seems to have come true with him having composed two songs for Rhythm
