The way he sees it


Amean J. Mohammad is not an unknown name in the local fashion photography scene. He may not have been around for very long but coupled with a charismatic personality, an extremely professional attitude and a unique eye for photographs he has managed to make a permanent place for himself in the industry. One of the few photographers with a degree in art he has a prominent presence on the internet with ameanj.com; a favourite online haunt for film makers, art directors, advertisers, designers, writers, artistes and who-not. Although not a novel concept abroad, Amean recently held an online exhibition titled +420 Praha.

When asked why he chose to exhibit online and what was the concept behind the photographs, Amean replied, “With the help of electronic technology, the world is getting smaller and smaller which is why I thought that there was no reason why my work should only be restricted to a few who could physically come and see it. Exhibiting online I can reach a much larger and diverse audience.” Talking about the exhibition he said, “This is part of my ‘real world/travelogue’ series. Travelling and documenting places never seen before instigates in me a curiosity to explore and to look at the ordinary in an extraordinary fashion. Travelling through places and photographing strangers that I may never see again not only gives me a high, but also leaves behind memories of ordinary things in life which provides inspiration for the other things that I do.”

What does the +420 in +420 Praha stand for? “+420 is the country code for Czech Republic, like +92 for Pakistan and Praha is the Czech name for Prague, the capital city. I enjoy numbers and decided to categorise and name my travelogues after these country codes.” Talking about the response his e-exhibition has generated, he said, “The cyber space and the upcoming cyber culture fascinate me. The identities of people are neutral and the space is flooded with diverse people. It is a fantastic way to reach the unreachable. The exhibition has only been up for a few hours and already there have been hits from across the globe.”

Symbolised by the photograph taken in the Chodov Station, +420 Praha takes the viewer on a ride through Prague the way Amean sees it.

First Published:
Gallery
January 27, 2007

Endorsing values — views of a youth

(part of the cover story ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’)

Like everyone my age then, I resented the control my parents exerted over my life during my early teens. No parties, no staying out late, no expensive cellphones (in fact no cellphone till I reach the legal age limit of 18), no flimsy outfits (no flimsy outfits still) and no driving on my own. To top it all off, what I found extremely embarrassing was the fact that my mother insisted on having a get-to-know-who’s-house-I’m-sending-my-daughter chat with my friends’ parents. What frustrated me was that I knew my friends and I knew that they weren’t from a horrible family, so why did my mother have to get so ‘overprotective’ when I was ‘old enough’ to make my own decisions? I knew what was right and wrong.

Fast forward a few years, I can now understand the wisdom behind my mother exerting her control over my life. I don’t have the same restrictions, I can go to parties, stay out not-too-late, drive wherever I want and so on. The only difference bet

ween then and now is I’ve learnt to weigh the pros and cons of every decision I make before I make it. I can go to parties, but sometimes I choose not to. And I probably wouldn’t have been able to make half the sensible decisions I make now in my life if I had been allowed to run wild when I was younger. The decisions my mother made for me while I was growing up helped shape the value system I have now.

What’s ironic is that my younger sister is going through the same frustrations I went through when I was her age. But what makes it worse for her is that whereas the parents of my friends had place similar restrictions on their activities most of my sister’s friends have been allowed ‘privileges’ not bestowed on her.

They sport the latest high-tech cellphones, the kind that costs one regular office clerk more than his entire month’s salary. They have a car and driver to their disposal 24/7 with no questions asked about their whereabouts. My sister’s friend once came over to spend the night and my mother was very surprised when she did not receive any phone call from the girl’s parents. Attempts to explain logical reasons behind restrictions placed on my younger sister don’t work as well as they did on me because let’s face it: her friend’s are doing it, so why cant she? I also know that with time she will understand.

What upsets me is the lack of concern shown by the parents of her friends. Love isn’t shown by giving your child everything that money can buy, it only serves to harm them in the end. If they are given privileges without having to ‘earn’ them, how will they expect to learn how to value them? If they aren’t taught how to choose what is best for them and how to set their priorities in an age in which they desperately seek guidance, how doyou expect them to when they enter into the adult-world?

First Published:
The Review
January 18, 2007

Introducing Rebel Rock


They have yet to make a visible mark in the Pakistani pop rock industry and already, their debut video has been refused airplay by a popular music channel, the reason being its blatantly political content. Falak, a desi rock band from Canada performed to a full house at a local lounge recently.

They carry the motto “I think therefore I resist”, and coupled with the wonders of the web and loyal friends, they have already managed to amass a small but loyal fan following in Pakistan. After having seen them perform live, one can safely say that they deserve every bit of it. Overall, they have performed over 200 gigs in Canada and North America; however, this was their first gig in Pakistan.

The lineup consisted of Farid Khan on vocals and rhythm guitar and Sid (Siddiq Muhammad) on lead guitar, both the boys being Falak band members. The featured bassist of the evening was Danish Mirza and the drummer, Kaiser, who is also the drummer for Pakistani band Strings. With a backdrop that had the cover of their extended play (EP), Standard Issue and sporting Daku t-shirts, they kicked off their performance with a Falak original, Yaadein. A fun number, it was soon evident that things couldn’t have gotten louder. It was delightful to see that after a very long time, this was a performance dedicated solely to rock.

The second song, Pukaar was dominated by soft guitars, courtesy Sid. Farid sang with heartfelt emotion while belting out the line So Gaye Jo (those who slept), complemented perfectly by Sid who might as well have been playing the keyboards as every single note he played was clearly audible. Farid maintained eye contact with his audience throughout the gig as if performing to each and every person there individually.

The song that followed after was in English and written by Sid, who also provided the backing vocals for this number. It is about Karachi and has been picked up by Ammar Zaidi, the ‘chief daku’ of the Daku line, for a t-shirt he has designed based on Karachi and which has lyrics from this song printed at the back.

Besides originals, Falak also performed a rocked-up version of Nazia Hasan’s Boom Boom, trying hard to cajole the audience into joining in. What was amusing to note was that one could hear some enthusiastic attendees singing along, their voices standing out from the rest. Kaiser did a little drum solo in the middle, seemingly concentrating on the intricacies involved in soft-rock drumming, which was a pleasant change from the boom bang crash that one is normally confronted with at such events.

The band then went a little reggae with their performance, clearly having fun and launched into a cover of the popular Bob Marley song, Smoked Two Joints, which pretty soon had everyone joining in. For the ending, they fused back into Boom Boom a novel concept pulled off surprisingly well.

Farid took centre stage next and after exchanging a bit of information about the band and conversing with members of the audience while handing out free Daku t-shirts, the band launched into another Falak original, Lately, a soft, mellow number. By then, the lounge was covered with a visible layer of cigarette smoke and the lack of ventilating windows was being direly felt. The energy was pumped back into the performance with a commendable performance of String’s Sar Kiye Yeh Pahaar.

Falak’s original, Blood for Oil, based on the Iraq occupation by the US, surprisingly had a light, upbeat and catchy tune to it. And apart from the lyrics and vocal rendition, the bass line predominant in the performance clearly stood out as Danish Mirza out did himself. This particular song was simply wonderful.

They rearranged after performing this number, switching to Danish Mirza on vocals, Farid on drums and Sid on bass guitar, and performed a cover of Slide by the Goo Goo Dolls. Even though all those present sang along and appeared to be having fun, Danish’s vocals paled in comparison after Farid’s high-powered performance. However, with Sid’s support, they managed to do a decent job, helping wind down the audience considerably as this was intended to be the last song of the evening.But on popular demand, Farid and Sid performed another original, Burn. A mesmerising number, the lights at the venue were dimmed down to create adequate ambiance.

One gets the sinking feeling that like most bands who attempt to rise above the regular love/party themes, there is a chance that Falak might not get the commercial attention it deserves. On the other hand however, coupled with catchy music and good lyrical content, the band just might be able to break from the mould of mass obscurity and make it big in the local pop scene. After the performance, when asked why they chose to carry socio-politically conscious themes in their music, Farid replied, “We feel music is a medium of expression and by simply creating discussion, it might lead to a positive change - however minute it may be”.


First Published:
Images
January 14, 2007

Afterthought ’06, forward to ’07

Jafri set some tongues rolling when he parted ways with Noori sometime in 2004, although amicably, at what would be considered the peak of their popularity. However, what really sent shockwaves much bigger than the ones sparked off by Jafri was the announcement earlier last year that Gumby was not going to be a part of the band anymore. For most, that signalled the end of Noori — what was a band without its backbone, the drummer? There is no doubt that no other drummer can complement the raw energy dominant in a Noori song the way Gumby can.

What’s left is Ali Noor holding onto everything that Noori was, with precious little left to further it. Although Noor is immensely talented when it comes to making music that can stand on its own and yet cater to the masses, in this case, however, he just threw it all away.

Topping it all off was the announcement that his wife, Mandana Zaidi, would replace Gumby as a DJ artiste. Let alone having the weird notion of having a ‘DJ artiste’ replace the drummer in a pop-rock band, Mrs Ali Noor is not known to have the skills required of being a DJ. To put is simply, without Jafri and Gumby, Noori is the band that once was.

Not having quite recovered fully from the Noori-breakup, it was announced that Bryan Adams would be performing in Karachi, courtesy Shahzad Roy’s Zindagi Trust. Following the announcement, people went ballistic over Shahzad Roy’s cover of Sali. Does this show how much the person bringing an international celebrity to town can benefit from the latter’s popularity?

One must thank Shahzad and the ARY Digital group for bringing Bryan to town; however with proceeds of everything related to the concert going to Zindagi Trust, it is no wonder that ARY doesn’t air the show as much as would have been expected.

Around the same time, our television screens had been dominated by a hip-shaking singer called Annie, the self-titled ‘Princess’. One thing that needs to be made clear is that Annie Princess (or should it be the other way round) cannot sing. However, she more than makes up for it in terms of the entertainment factor. Posing on the cover of her album with a tiara on her head, she removed any misconceptions present about who the real princess was. With a dearth of good female musicians that this country suffers from, she was welcomed with open arms by the masses. Despite her inability to sing properly, when compared against the likes of Rabi Peerzada and Abeer — two women for whom singing is tantamount to being criminal — she seems like godsend.

Award-fever hit every other television network in 2006. Needless to say that most of them were terrible — it seemed that every network out there wanted to establish themselves as the authority on giving out kudos without really investing time and money on exactly how they planned to do that.

In the midst of all this mayhem, an award function that did manage to stand out was The Musik Awards, or TMA. They were everything that an award function in Pakistan should be — well-organised, well-invested and with a jury that consisted of well-reputed music critics, producers, musicians and professionals — thereby setting a new standard for award ceremonies in Pakistan. Most importantly, they understood the importance of what an audience takes with them when they go home and keeping that in mind, they rolled out the mother of all surprises, a performance by the father of Pakistani pop, Alamgir.

The comeback of Alamgir was significant in the sense that it was his first performance in Pakistan after a gap of about 15 years. He was one of the pioneers of establishing a pop-music industry in Pakistan and with the deterioration in free-media in the early ’90s, had decided to quietly leave and never come back.

Along with the comeback of Alamgir was the coming-back of EMI, the international record label that had closed its doors to the Pakistani industry in 1998 because of rampant piracy. What further set tongues rolling was that their first client was the popular English-language band from Peshawar, Sajid and Zeeshan.

The Sajid and Zeeshan album had been eagerly awaited for two reasons, the first being that they were one of the very few desis who had managed to sing in English and make it sound right; and secondly, they had a very unique style of making music which fused the acoustic and lead guitar, keyboard, synthesisers and turntables all in one. With a reputed, international record label taking care of their much-wanted debut album, everything seemed to go in the right direction for these boys — till it was discovered that even a month after its official launch, the album was not available anywhere in Pakistan, save for a few chosen music stores in Karachi.

To put it simply, EMI seemed not to have the infrastructure needed for an effective distribution of an album in Pakistan. Besides a couple of interviews on radio and one television interview, nothing much was done to promote the album either. The Sajid and Zeeshan album reached their hometown, Peshawar, several months after its launch, giving ample time for frustrated fans and pirates to make illegal copies of the album — so much for fighting piracy.

Just when one thought all of this excitement was too much to handle, the Indus television network launched MTV Pakistan in place of the popular music channel, Indus Music. Sceptics didn’t make much of it, labelling it as a revamped IM. One has to admit that where the VJs and the management is the same — save for one incredibly fresh and welcome face, VJ Mahirah — the channel did manage to look internationally acceptable. However; one is still waiting for that big bang, that extra ‘oomph’ that makes it more then just another branch of MTV.

Another little shocker this year was the signing up of Raeth by Universal India, making them Univeral’s youngest clients. Whereas one is all for local talent expanding its horizons across the border, and they do look adorable holding those big guitars, what is baffling is the level of popularity they gained in India. Although their first single, Bhula Do has a somewhat catchy tune to it, the second single is nothing short of plain horrible. This goes to show that if a band can’t attain an Atif Aslam-esque success in Pakistan, they just might in India.

The year 2006 also saw some promising new arrivals in the shape of Sahil which seems like a well-developed, well-practised Paki-pop band. Sahil consists of Hasil (musician/producer who is currently under the patronage of Mekaal Hasan) and Salaar. The band hit it big with Umar Anwar’s directed video of their single, Dil chahey. The video, which was shot in Karachi, completely transforms the way the city looks and has a surprise appearance by Gumby driving a truck at the end of the video. It looked at musicians from a fresh angle and for once, did not have the drummer behind a drum set.

Other notable newcomers that need to mentioned is the band Seige —with their funky single Najaney kyon, they provide a whole new angle to pop music in Pakistan in the form of energetic singing and a funky beat— and Ali Khan, who might just succeed Ali Zafar as the the industry’s blue-eyed boy. However, his songs have a much richer, heartfelt melody to them.

The band co-VEN also decided to debut on the tube last year as well. A band consisting of incredibly talented musicians in the form of Hamza Jafri, Sameer Ahmed and Sikandar Mufti, co-VEN has been around for almost 15 years. The songs that have managed to make it on air are all in English and have a somewhat grungy albeit mesmerising air to them. They are expected to release their album sometime early this year.

One of the things to look out for in ’07 would be an album by Zeb and Haniya, two talented singers who have already managed to amass a large fan following on the web and attract large audiences to their coffee-house perfromances in Lahore. With their track Chup already a hit on radio, it’s about time these ladies introduce their voices to the masses. They just might be the next big thing in female musicians after Hadiqa Kiyani.

The year 2006 closed with the launch of The Musik Records, the record label owned and operated by ARY Digital. And like all their events, they managed to create a bang in the music industry via the album launch of their first client, Aaroh. The title track of the album Raag Neela sees the band take a good laugh at them and it’s good to see that there are some people out there who don’t take themselves very seriously. Already having sold out its initial batch of CDs, the launch of Raag Neela was the perfect end to an eventful year.

Photos:
— Ali Noor (courtesy of nooriworld.net)
— Gumby (photo by Bilal Khan)
— Alamgir (photo by Fayyaz Ahmed)
— Sajid & Zeeshan (photo by Fayyaz Ahmed)
— Sahil (screenshot from Dil Chahey)
— Zeb & Haniyah (photo by Maryam)

First Published:
Images
January 7, 2007