Latest Interview by Salman/Melissa Etheridge

[Spock]

Throughout her career Melissa has worked with, influenced and connected with people from all walks of life. In December 2007, she met Salman Ahmad, founder of Junoon - South Asia's biggest rock band. Salman and Melissa formed a bond that day and went on to collaborate on “Ring The Bells” from Melissa’s new Christmas CD, A New Thought For Christmas.



In our exclusive interview Salman shares his views on the power of music, being a musician in Pakistan, his admiration for Melissa and her music and much more.

***********



We’ll get started with the question that is at the top of America's consciousness....Sarah Palin. Where does she fall on your list of the Top Ten Hotties of American politics?

Salman: (laughs) The first garage band I was ever in was called Eclipse. My friend and musical brother, bass player, and guitar player is Brian O'Connell. Brian’s whole family voted Republican all their lives. He sent me an email with this photo of Sarah Palin who is a very attractive and accomplished woman, but the picture was doctored. (laughs) He said, 'Who would you rather have as a vice-president?' I said, 'If we just wanted a hot babe and didn't need her to lead the country.....' (laughs) So what do I think of Sarah Palin? I think she is a natural, talented television personality. She's a celebrity but I don’t think America needs celebrities in power.



Let’s switch gears and talk Melissa. Before you met her at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December of 2007, were you familiar with her music?

Salman: Of course. I have friends in the States who are musicians and they were always doing covers of Melissa's songs like 'Come To My Window.' But where I really had an awakening was when I took my wife Samina and my boys to see the Live Earth concert at Giant Stadium. I have three boys who are aspiring musicians and I wanted them to experience the feeling artists coming together for a cause. But for me it was more of a global juke box where none of the artists seemed like they were really interested in what the team was about. They were just out there to strut their stuff. It was good to see The Police and Bon Jovi and everyone else, but the only person that day who really got it was Melissa. Her set was what I call electric church music. It was about awakening, it was about what we have to do. Bear in mind that it was late afternoon when she came out on stage, and people didn't want to wake up at that time. (laughs) That was in July and I was really fortunate that I went to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December. I didn't know her but I am a big mouth so I told her how much I loved her set. (laughs)



You guys must have hit it off pretty well because she invited you to L.A. to stay at her home.

Salman: It was just the way she put herself out there at the Oslo Spectrum. We were doing sound checks and I was sitting with my tabla player Sameer and my wife out in this empty hall and it was just the three of us in the Spectrum. Melissa hit this note that sent shivers down my spine. I was thinking, 'I have to tell her that’s a frequency that she needs to remain tuned to.' I got up and said, 'Melissa!' She had just finished the song and was at the edge of the stage and she came over. I said 'Stay tuned to that frequency' and she held out both of her hands and we held hands. We didn't really know each other and we're holding hands (laughs). She goes, 'I live there.' When two artists have that kind of a connection, something has to come out of it.



You guys then wrote 'Ring The Bells.'

Salman: Yes, we jammed and sat across from each other telling stories and had acoustic guitars in our hands. Out of that intense dialogue came 'Ring The Bells.'



Are you looking forward to performing it live with her in Atlantic City?

Salman: Wow. What an honor. She's one of the greatest voices in rock and it is a huge honor to support her.





So the acceptance of music in Pakistan hasn't completely opened up?

Salman: Well, it opened up but then after 9-11 there was another invasion and so whenever there is violence, whenever there is war, it gives the extremists the opportunity to clamp down on society. What has happened in the last two years is suicide bombings right across the country - they are blowing up hotels. People think of a hotel as a five star place to stay but it was also a place of culture. My band Junoon's earliest gigs were at the Islamabad Marriott hotel and now it was razed to the ground. The artists and poets are an endangered species. They can't go out and perform anywhere. I don't know which way it is going to go but there is a great love for poetry and music in Pakistan. There are close to two hundred million people in Pakistan so I believe in the Pete Seeger song 'God Bless The Grass.' You can put concrete over it and grass is going to grow up. Music is going to come back.



You recently went to India and performed. Can you share that experience with us?

Salman: Yes, in the valley of Kashmir. Let me set it up. This is the place where Ravi Shankar gave George Harrison his first sitar lesson. It sits at the edge of the lake surrounded by the Himalayan Mountains and yet for 20 years there has been violence. The Indian soldiers outnumber the civilians seven to one and the people, the population have been caught in this cycle of violence. We had this one chance, this lucid moment to do a concert in the capital of Kashmir and it was done guerilla style. There were death threats issued and I just said, “To hell with it; we are going to do this gig.” thousands of kids jumped over barbed wire to see their first ever rock concert. It was the power of music.



Do you see your music as a message of hope and peace?

Salman: People say music can save your life. It literally did save my life. Had I been in med school in the first year and I didn't have my guitar, I don't know if I would have survived those five years. Music saved my life. I realized, though that songs that I want to write and sing about have to be connected to the experience I have lived. I believe music opens doors and it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe and I'm hoping that 'Ring The Bells' is going to open peoples minds.





You have some really amazing shows on your resume: The first rock band to play a concert at the U.N. General Assembly Hall, Noble Peace Prize Ceremony, Global Insight Summit. Talk about those experiences and how it feels as an artist to perform at such prestigious events?

Salman: Obviously it's an honor to be on a high profile platform where you are visible, but what I'm more proud of is that we made these statements when the stakes were so high. The first concert that you spoke about happened right after 9-11 on October 24, 2001. I remember that in July we were touring here and we met the then Secretary General Kofi Annan. I said, “The U.N. talks a lot but why don't you put your money where your mouth is? Rather than having speeches at the General Assembly why don't you have a rock band perform?” He said he would take me up on it and asked if I wanted to do it. I said, 'Absolutely but I would rather not just be a band from Pakistan but would like to invite somebody to come from India as well.' So I got an artist called Euphoria and we were set to play the U.N. date.



Then 9-11 happened. Now it was mayhem. There was a media explosion in Pakistan and it seemed like all the cable channels and the newspapers and magazines had just come down and settled in Islamabad and anything which was Muslim or Pakistani would not be let in to the U.S. borders. I am an American citizen and we landed at Kennedy Airport around October 17 and the kind of interrogation we had to go through, the kind of profiling we had to go through, made it seem like we were on a different planet. Kofi Annan said he would understand if we didn't want to come and perform and I told him there was more of a need now than ever before. And so it was under those circumstances, just a month after 9-11 with people's emotions and feelings conflicted. It was a bad time and we came and we performed. I remember that all the delegates and their families from all the countries were dancing. It seemed like the music made people forget the reality of that time just for those moments. I feel privileged that I have had the opportunity to do these shows.



There was a clip on line of that performance and you were telling everyone 'loosen your ties!'

Salman: (laughs) They needed a little bit of help. I remember we did an encore of John Lennon's 'Imagine' and I everyone had tears in their eyes and goose bumps. It's the power of the lyrics and the music and people connect to that.



Very much the way Melissa's concerts feel. She really sends out a gospel message, especially on this last tour.

Salman: When we saw her at the New York shows we were just blown away. The feeling that she creates at the shows is amazing. I don't know if you guys have heard of qawwali but it is the devotional style of singing in South Asia and the whole idea of that is to destroy the wall between the performer and the audience. The same as rock & roll. Melissa is a qawwali singer. She gets everyone in this great vibe and there is no other there. We had such a great time and we went two nights to see her. I can't believe I am going to be on stage with her!



Your music is labeled as Pakistani Sufi rock. How would you describe Sufi rock?

Salman: Sufism is that branch of Islam which is introspective and it's tolerant. What it looks to do is build bridges with all people. You can't get close to the divine spirit if you are not close to humanity. The Sufi's were these very eclectic troubadours, minstrels, poets, musicians living in what is India and Pakistan now. I've used their classic poetry and I have written songs inspired by that poetry. My first ever rock concert was Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden. Here is a 13 year Pakistani kid who has no idea of what rock music is and he sees Jimmy Page on stage with dragons painted on his pants and a double headed guitar playing 'Stairway To Heaven' (laughs). You can't be the same after that. That's where my inspiration comes from - qawwali and the blues and Zeppelin. It's in the music.





Who would you consider your contemporaries in life and in music?

Salman: Wow. That's a tough question. Art is something that is so personal that you can't measure it. In the press we like to say that we've sold 25 million albums and won these awards but that is not where the artist is. I have so much respect for Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bono, Melissa Etheridge, Bob Geldof and artists who are committed. You try to be inspired by their commitment to music, the commitment to their art and the commitment to humanity that they have. I don't know if I can give you a clear answer on that one. We are just doing our thing.



Junoon has been called the U2 of Pakistan. How does that feel?

Salman: It's a double edged sword. On the one hand there is the great respect for what U2 has done but at the same time I think Junoon's music is totally original in the fact that we are taking the spirit of the blues and rock & roll but also the great eclectic folk music, qawwali music, the poetry of the Sufi faith which I don't think anyone else has done. So it's a good label to give people a snapshot of what Junoon is but it much deeper. It's layered.



Melissa has made environmental issues and the green movement a large part of her message for peace. Is that something you connect with?

Salman: I respect what she has done with the song 'I Need To Wake Up.” I've met Al Gore on a couple of occasions as well and we live on the same planet and we need to be aware of the degradation that we are causing the environment. But the kind of work I've been doing is related to conflict resolution and HIV/Aids awareness. I do that work for the U.N. as a good will ambassador.



What do you see as your next adventure or goals for the future?

Salman: You mean after Nov 8? (laughs) I'm writing a book which is a memoir and should be coming out on Simon & Schuster in late 2009 or January 2010. It is going to talk about my musical journey. Along with that book I am writing new Junoon music which I would love for people to get a hang of where Junoon is in the 21st Century.



If you were going to be something completely different than a musician or artist, what would you choose?

Salman: I'd be a cricket player. (laughs) I could do that.



Do you have a closing message for Melissa fans around the world?

Salman: May the junoon be with you always.
_________________
Logic is only the beginning of wisdom, not the end...

[lisaxyz]

What channel on Dish Network plays rock music? I know I am asking this under entertainment and music, but do you know a channel on Dish that plays rock music such as: Chris Brown, Rihanna, Nickelback and so on.
_______________
keyword research ~ keyword tool ~ keyword tracking ~ affiliate elite