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The
Lennons and Claptons of Jauhar Sameer
Ahmed:
The Lennons and Claptons of Jauhar They live in a neighbourhood that still has no running water, and where fixing a kunda is considered an act of bravado. They travel in Qingqi and Gulistan coach; buy clothes from nearby Itwar Bazaar or at most Zainab Market, and flaunt their dandyism on the streets with wayward hair and unkempt beards - flashing guitars on their backs and swaggering with the cocksure conviction that music runs in their blood. They bask in a vague brand
of ideology that pricks them to change the world – through music. They take the stars of 60s rock bands like Eric Clapton and BB King as their true gods, and scoff at Atif Aslam for being too popular. And obviously they dope like crazy because they know that John Lennon and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour thought it was cool. They are a thriving breed of cocky musicians stalking the Dhabas of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, an area notorious for everything that is wrong with Karachi. In Jauhar, it is said that every other household has a musical talent. A boy who happens to stay out late in the neighbourhood chilling out with friends will end up nagging his parents for a guitar or start saving money for the same. What really pushes the young guns of Jauhar into music? Is there something intrinsic in the air of Gulistan-e-Jauhar that leads teenage boys into music? Mujtaba Ali, a guitarist and session player for various bands, believes it is the youth culture prevalent in the area that makes music ‘the thing to do’. “In Jauhar, if you hang out with a certain crowd you will catch on this fever. And the crowd is everywhere. Music is expression. And once you start, it becomes a passion that you want carry on as long as you can.” But Arham Imtiaz, the vocalist and lead guitarist of an underground band called Ei8th Note, finds the trend superficial. He thinks it is an attention-seeking tool and nothing else. “They do it for girls. Strumming a guitar in front of a crowd always makes you special, so these guys just want that bit of attention.” When asked what dragged him into music, he says it is his passion, and he is taking it professionally. Arham also give guitar lessons and has a wary view about the mindset of the up-coming generation of musicians. “The young guys who come to my classes are only interested to rote-learn chords of a handful of hip songs and then brag about their finesse. They don’t love music; they love the latent popularity among friends that comes along with it. It’s all for the attention.” But Obaid Hashmi, a
guitarist for an upcoming band, believes that attention-seeking factor may
play a role but what In the past few years, Gulistan-e-Jauhar witnessed a wave of commercial development after Millennium Mall, a relatively posh shopping centre that houses high-end brand stores proved to be a massive hit among Jauhariites. Taking a cue from Millennium’s success story, international chains like Subway, Levis, and Pizza Hut and banks like Barclays and Standard Chartered cropped up in the area, giving the place an all-around cosmopolitan feel that was never there. This outburst of commercial expansion ballooned up property prices transforming what used to be a lower middle-class area into a relatively upscale neighbourhood, making Jauhar an interesting hodgepodge where people of all stripes live together. Farhan Bashir Pirzada, a veteran lead guitarist who played for many underground bands in his heydays and helped launch a few, draws a bleak picture of the current music scene. He believes that ‘true music’ bid farewell to Jauhar’s bands after what he calls the tide of ‘Bollywoodisation’ swept away the passion for quality and replaced it with cheap fame. “Nowadays, young guys play Ali Zafar and Hadiqa Kiyani, imagine?” he says dejectedly. “I think after 2006, many bands sprouted across Jauhar getting inspired by the export of musicians to India – the likes of Ali Zafar and Atif Aslam - and this has simply killed the priceless music that we used to produce here.” Despite such claims of encroachment by what can be called mainstream bands that cater to the popular taste of the masses, the true spirit of Jauhar’s core music is still anchored in the Beat generation. Clapton, BB King, Lennon and Cat Stevens still rule the hearts of the majority. “The ones who value technique and elegance can’t look up to Atif Aslam for guidance, that’s blasphemy,” says Abbas Yaser, another musical prodigy. Abbas believes the progressive rock of the 60s is the classic syllabus that every musician who wants to excel in Western music needs to know. “The masters will be masters. You can’t replace that era - it’s immortal, the time when music literally brought people out on the streets. The impact it had on a generation is unimaginable. The 60s generation lent us the hope and instilled in us the belief that music can change the world.” Lofty thoughts, indeed. But amid interminable loadshedding, target killings, mobile snatching, water shortages and what not, these young men of Guslistan-e-Jauhar are hanging on to the power of music with the passion and devotion that conjures up images of the 60s when young Brits once gave their hearts and minds to music and let their passion reign over reason to create history. Can our boys do the same? Well, that may sound too far-fetched, but one can derive some pleasure from the fact that despite the steep odds, they have not, at least, stopped dreaming big. From underground to mainstream Kolachi counts some of the musicians living near Jauhar, who made it to the top - Sameer Ahmed Bassist Known for: Karavan - Shallum Xavier Lead Guitarist Known for: Fusion - Muhammed Muzzammil Rhythm Guitarist Known for: Mizraab - Kaiser Zainal Abedin Drummer Known for: Strings - Ahsan Bari Vocalist Known for: Gravity – AS Sameer, who has been living near Gulsitan-e-Jauhar for the past 20 years now, entered the music scene of Karachi in the late 80s when the dynamics of the music industry were way different. He belongs to that generation of gifted musicians who, in the late 80s, pioneered rock music in Pakistan. Unlike vocalists or lead guitarists of that era, who are household names today in the country, he never courted fame or cared about the limelight. But he was there – like a mathematical constant or a vital cog in the wheel that churned out some of the most memorable rock songs ever produced in the country. In 22 years as a bassist,
Sameer Ahmed, who plays for the critically-acclaimed rock group Karavan, may
have not Sameer, who has been living near Gulsitan-e-Jauhar for the past 20 years now, entered the music scene of Karachi in the late 80s when the dynamics of the music industry were way different. “There were hardly a dozen bands making music in the late 80s, it was still an unchartered territory,” he says. He grew up listening to local icons of the time - the likes of Alamgir, the sibling duo Nazia and Zohaib and of course the Indian music maestro RD Burman. “That’s what was hip back then. If you lived in Pakistan you naturally liked them.” But as Sameer started playing music, his taste widened and included the big names of Western rock music. “Then I got to know about bands like Police, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, and they became my favourites for life.” When somebody picks up music, playing bass guitar is not something one would think of first, because drum, keyboard and lead guitar are comparatively more popular options. Sameer chose bass guitar because of his friends. In 1988, Adnan Afaq, Nadeem Jafri, Jamal Nasir and Rizwan launched a band called Powerhouse. “It was all set, the only vacancy left was for a bass guitarist, and they badly wanted me to join them. And it was also true that I had a knack for playing bass-oriented songs. So I picked up bass and here I am.” Sameer played as a session player for many bands, including Junoon, and earned a name for himself as a bassist which made him a local idol for aspiring musicians. When asked about the current music scene and the underground band culture in Karachi, Sameer came up with an interesting narration. He believes, in every ten years, a tidal wave of struggling bands hits the threshold of the Pakistani music industry. “The best remain and the rest get filtered out. We saw some great bands - great in term of success - emerging in Lahore in the past few years. And now I believe its Karachi’s turn. Given the sudden upsurge in bands, you can feel the temperatures rising, and some of the bands are really doing some great music,” he added. But he laments that local recording companies do not provide young musicians with enough space to experiment or do something different. “The Bollywood craze is so prevalent that the quality of a composition is considered good if it can be picturised in an Indian movie.” Sameer has tremendous hope for Karachi’s new bands and believes it is time that some of the cult-like bands that play on the edges come forward. “There are bands in this city that are extremely talented but they don’t show up in public, they have their own audience. I think, this sort of anti-mainstream approach is irrational. If somebody loves music and wants to make it his or her bread and butter, then they will certainly need to cater to the popular masses to some degree. Or else, they will have to leave music for life. “ – AS
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really matters is true passion. “You cannot keep on practicing chords for
endless hours, if you don’t love doing it. Guys who dive into music for the
sake of attention don’t survive for long.”
earned the poster-fame that many of his friends have, but he has reached the
point in his career where he can be called one of the best bass guitarists
Pakistan has ever produced. 