Exclusive Interview: Salman Ahmad talks about Rock & Roll Jihad
With 30 million record sales under his belt, and with fans including Bono and Al Gore, Pakistan born Salman Ahmad is renowned for being the first rock & roll star to destroy the wall that divides the West and the Muslim world. Rock & Roll Jihad is the story of his incredible journey.
- Simon and Schuster
LiB: Salman, thank you for speaking with us…
SA: No worries. I really like what you are doing. Trying to bring together our cultures is always a good thing and I’m happy to Support you. I think the way forward is to viral the idea out and meet with people who love music & culture to connect with them to spread the word out.
LiB: Let’s talk about Rock and roll Jihad. What is the idea behind Rock and roll jihad?
SA: The idea of writing the book has come much earlier because in my journey where I chose passion over profession, music over medicine, this resonated a lot with the young generation of Pakistan who want to follow their passion. This was due to the elders and seniors in the family telling them to always pursue engineering or medicine; you need to make money, and so on and so forth. There had to be a break in this.
I just thought I need to tell this story and so, got down to writing the book. It took me almost 3 ½ years to write the book and my focus was really about my Musical journey. Once I was done with the book, it just came naturally to me to release the album which really complemented the book and it, all in all, made a lot of sense. The book released in January while the album launched this June.
LiB: Your top 3 reasons someone should read the book?
SA: Well, firstly, if you believe in listening to the whisper in your heart and want to follow your passion, you have to read the book. Secondly, if you love Junoon, you should read the book and lastly, if you love how culture and politics go hand in hand and make a world of difference, you should read the book.
If you want to know about a boy who never touched a musical instrument growing up and was never into music, whose family wanted him to become a doctor, all of a sudden dropped it all and decided to pursue music, follow his heart and found his true calling, you should read the book.
And I can’t really summarize the idea or inspiration in a sentence because there’s so much build up and backdrop the book has that it just doesn’t seem fair. This is the first time an artist from the subcontinent has told a story. Musicians release albums all the time but I’m not sure too many musical artists tell the story. I’m sure at least no artist from Pakistan has done this before.
LiB: How do you connect the book with the album?
SA: The album has 5 studio tracks. David Cole (Record producer and studio mixer for artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Tina Turner, Richard Marx, Bob Seger) got a chance to listen to them and said he’d love to Produce the album and mix them. One of them is a funk version of Bullesha/Lonely Heart, which has done very well. Coming to the question though, for people who read the book and who aren’t familiar with my work and who want to get an understanding of my influences, my culture and style, the album fills that gap. It’s about how I’ve grown up listening to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Santana and I wanted to write songs which would reflect that style and influence. The music depicts the culture, the struggle and the passion which also comes through in the book. That’s how they connect.
LiB: And how has the album faired so far?
SA: It’s been doing really well and it’s gotten some positive reviews. In fact, A R Rahman got a chance to listen to it. He really likes it and he did mention that when he comes to New York this summer, he would love to get in touch with me. I’m a huge fan and colleague of Rahman and I would love to collaborate with him.
LiB: Your favorite track from the album, if you had to pick one
SA: So I really like the new version of Bulleya. The other song that I have to mention is ‘Love can you take me back’ which has some nice Poetry to it. It sounds like a good rock song which has elements of Beatles meet U2 with an obvious layer of Junoon in there. I really like the mix and what we’ve achieved with the song.
And I also believe the live version of Sayonee deserves a mention here. This was performed at the UN General Assembly Hall in September ’09 to raise awareness of Refugees in Pakistan.
LiB: Coming to the lighter side of things, what’s keeping Salman Ahmad busy these days? We read that you teach at Queens College?
SA: Yes I do. I teach at Queens once a week. I teach Islamic Music, Poetry and Culture of South Asia. I really didn’t know if I had a teacher in me when I was asked by a colleague of mine at Queens. This was 3 years ago. Now, I have one of the biggest classes at Aaron Copland Music School at Queens! The best part of the course is its diversity. We have students from almost every race, nationality and faith, and that’s how it should be. That’s the power of Music.
The rest of the week, I’m busy writing music, shooting for music videos and spending time doing Social work at SSGWI Organization – The Salman and Samina Global Wellness Initiative
LiB: Any upcoming tours and Collaborations?
SA: Right now I’m preparing to leave for a concert in Alexandria, Egypt. Here I would also speak about my work and my book. I just got back from UK where I was on a book tour. I tell stories, play my acoustic guitar and generally have a good time spreading the word. I’m going to continue to go around and continue by book tours for the next 6 months at least. And if all goes well, I’m hoping to setup a Junoon tour across the United States, sometime September or October.
Regarding Collaborations, Faisal Kapadia (of Strings) got in touch with me recently and we’re talking of performing together sometime in the near future. It could be at end of July. I’m also hoping to continue my talks with A R Rahman and we’ll see how it goes on that front.
LiB: Salman Ahmad, Thanks a lot for speaking with us. It was truly a pleasure to get an insight into the world of Salman Ahmad and Junoon and we’re looking forward to hearing more from you!
SA: Thanks and Peace!
For regular updates from Salman, Catch him on Twitter: Sufisal
