Songs of hope and peace

interview

Pakistani actor and singer Junaid Khan speaks to Instep about his upcoming collaboration with Indian rock band Spunk to create an anthem of unity

Musicians around the globe have often tried to bring people together by inspiring them to choose love over hate and give peace a chance. Joining the list of artists who want to unite listeners in harmony is Pakistani singer Junaid Khan, who has collaborated with Indian rock band Spunk to create an anthem of unity.

The song

Titled ‘Talash’, the cross-border collaboration aims to send a positive message to the people of the subcontinent. “The song is about living for the moment, forgetting about the past, and moving on,” the singer tells Instep. “It’s a very happy rock track, full of energy and life. There are also elements where we emphasise the fact that we should focus on unity and togetherness.” The “search” referenced in the title, Junaid explains, works on both a personal level – the search for yourself, your own identity, your place in this world – and the national level – the search for a common ground, a unifying purpose.

The impact of the song doesn’t just rely on its lyrics though; Junaid says its meaning is amplified by the collaborative aspect of the tune. “It’s about artists from different countries working together for one particular cause, and that’s music and entertainment, showing the world that we are one.”

So how did the idea of collaborating come about? “Actually, the collaboration was offered to me by Spunk,” says the singer. “They contacted me through social media and put forward the idea that we should collaborate. They showed their love for my music and sent me a couple of their songs. When I heard them, I was really impressed by their organic rock sound. I felt that our music interests are the same, so I decided that we should go ahead with this project.”

Creating the song was a truly collaborative effort. Spunk sent Junaid a demo of a song they were working on, a musical arrangement without vocals. He then wrote the first verse and the chorus. “When they heard the lyrics and vocal melody fit on the sample they sent, they loved it. They wrote the rest of the lyrics, and that’s how we made the song together.”

Junaid hopes that ‘Talash’ will send a message of love to the people of both India and Pakistan, despite the deep-rooted and complex issues between the two countries. “As artists, we keep trying to somehow remove barriers. The artist community of both the countries are very much – and have always been – in harmony. We love each other. Pakistanis love their work. Indians love our work. When we go there we get so much love and respect, and when they come here we give them so much love. The people from both the countries, we love each other. It’s just the political and geo-political issues that create the conflict which political bodies from both countries cash in on. That’s the only issue,” he elaborates. “We artists are beyond that political conflict. We are totally in support of love between both countries and that is why we try to stay in harmony and keep collaborating so that we send a very positive message to the world.”

“Politics and entertainment shouldn’t mix at all,” Junaid continues. “It is very unfortunate that all other things and trades continue between the countries, but the first thing that is affected is entertainment. This is a business that is very visible, so to hurt someone, you cut the ties of entertainment. It’s very unfair when political bodies do this. The means to resolve political issues are different. Cutting ties does not really make sense. We should always be open to collaboration to bring peace between various countries.”

And how does he feel about musicians being political? “If you ask me, I am absolutely not in favour of giving out political views,” he opines. “As artists, we should always have a neutral stance towards everything that is happening. I think an artist should be independent of any association with any political party. Their vision should be towards the art, the craft, and unity and peace. This is entirely my view though. If there are artists who have a political affiliation and politically express themselves then that’s entirely their point of view. I personally don’t agree with it. I think the artist should be free of such biases. Entertainment works towards unity and has no sides.”

The video

A music video has also been shot for ‘Talash’. Spunk introduced Junaid to Bangladeshi production house Glitch and suggested recruiting Glitch for the clip. “Their work was good, they appreciated my work, we shared the same sentiment, and they were enthusiastic about this whole project, so we decided we should work with them” says Junaid.

The video was shot in Nepal for multiple reasons. “There are political hurdles of Pakistanis travelling to India and vice versa. Recently the political clash has increased. The visas have been an issue, especially for artists, so we didn’t want to take that risk. We also chose Nepal because we wanted to capture the scenic beauty of the country.”

The group wanted the band’s performance to be shot within that beauty, but unfortunately nature had other plans: incessant downpour. “When I went there for the shoot, it started raining. We delayed the shoot for two days, hoping that it would stops raining and then we could go on. But it kept raining, so we had to shift the shoot indoors into a warehouse. Thankfully we did get to shoot a brief conceptual part outdoors in the limited time we had and feature the scenic beauty of Nepal in that part of the video.”

‘Talash’ was originally meant to be unveiled earlier this month but has since been delayed. “Initially we planned on the 6th of November, because Spunk wanted to release it around the festive event Diwali. I agreed to this, but some things – like the song production, audio mixing and mastering – took longer than anticipated. So we have shifted the deadline for a week or two. We’ll be releasing it within this month for sure.”

- Sameen Amer

Instep Today, The News International - 29th November, 2018 *