KARACHI: For all Pakistani rock music fans, this news is exceptionally notable. Junoon’s break-up was heart-breaking for all and now, after the former lead guitarist of the band, Salman Ahmad caused a flurry when he hinted in a tweet that the band may be heading for a reunion, the news went viral and there has been a sudden wave of excitement amongst all.
But when The Express Tribune e-mailed band members, Ahmad who was the first one to respond, wrote: “Infinite patience yields immediate results :) stay tuned.”
Junoonis, due to your mad love & passion for Junoon, i just spoke with Ali after 10 years to come together with Brian for Peace & Unity.IA!
— salman ahmad (@sufisal) March 10, 2014
His reply made us squeal with excitement, Junoon is arguably one of the best bands Pakistan has seen and what could be better than hearing the lead guitarist confirm their reunion? The reply, however, was still a little vague and therefore, we sent another e-mail asking for a little more clarity and detail, to which he replied back quoting his favourite lines of Allama Iqbal: “Zamaney kay andaaz badley gaye naya raag hai saaz badley gaye, jigar sey wohi teer phir paar kar, tammana ko seenon mein bedaar kar, jawanon ko soz e jigar nuksh dey, mera ishq, meri nazar buksh dey.” “Ali has invited me to come & see him in Pakistan over the summers, when I’ll be there with my family. I’ll be taking gifts from NY for his two lovely daughters (perhaps guitars :). Hope is a game changer. Stay tuned and stay patient :),” Ahmad wrote.
We failed to get in touch with the bassist Brian O’Connell but we reached out to the lead vocalist, Ali Azmat, asking him the legitimacy of Ahmad’s revelation and much to our disappointment, he denied all his claims and replied: “No, this is wrong news, nothing like that is happening.” We further inquired if he has invited Ahmad and his family to Pakistan over the summers and that too he denied, saying: “That is also false, there is no reality in that statement.”
Perhaps, that makes it clear that we will not be seeing a Junoon reunion in the near future. However, their music has lived on and is still loved by people all across Pakistan and we shall continue thriving on all that they have given us in their time spent together. While holdouts still abound, it has been seen over the years that even bands that promised they’d never reunite are touring and recording again. Bands that claimed they were done for good have returned as a team, months, years, or even sometimes decades later.
Additional input by Saman Javed.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2014.
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