Question Authority

re saminasha #31:

You`ve highlighted the point I was trying to make. Counterculture as you call it has entirely different dynamics in Pakistan. It exists but at the very fringes and its proponents are co-opted by the mainstream very quickly.

What starts out as mainly a ruse to get more attention from the female speceis generally ends when things turn nasty and the daughter of a General or a federal secretary gets pregnant. The majority of so-called undergorund bands in Pakistan end up in oblivion because the extra-curricular activities of their members end up over-shadowing any artistic merit they have. Maslow`s pyramid in Pakistan is definitely in its infancy as far as counter-culture movements are concerned.

Junoon is probably the only band that tried with some success to begin some discourse away from the general Pakistani music theme that revolves around either a)the beloved not returning ones amorous advances or b)paeans to the angelic qualities of ones beloved. I am not sure if Pakistani society is ready to deal with with heavier stuff. Main reason being those who can afford to already have access to English music and their way of living has nothing in common with the masses anyway. The average teenager from LGS or KGS is more at home discussing the angst Eminem has than why Essa Khelvi is singing praises of the `flowery black shalwar` or why Abida Parveen keeps harping about some `yaar di gharoli`. Whats so rad about that?

later
-sac

UmerM,

Uh, yeah, so what else is new? Some of us prefer to reclaim our music, religions and cultures from the sexists, racists, classists and religionists who chose to make things narrower and not inclusionary...as long as we are here, and goddess knows we are prettier, smarter, cooler, more diverse, wittier, sexier and more soulful than those fascists with their single ideologies, good rock music, the music of the rebel, will continue to triumph over the one hit wonders...

Rock was/is also the music of the racist man and even today various fascist nazi groups hold little rock gigs telling the foreigner to go home.

Umer M

Sac,

Just to look at underground scenes and contexts; punk came out of working class and art school movements in England, NYC and San Fran. and has traditionally had a political edge to it; witness the Rock Against Racism movements in England during the late 70`s to early 80s. While seventies punk bands over here were less overtly political, it has traditionally aligned itself with progressive politics, Patti Smith, NY Dolls, Velvet Underground. These movements were considered voices of counterculture, however, I`d contend that class was a bit more fluid and accepting in these circumstances.
And, also, can we argue that rap/hiphop has began discourses among younger peoples and transcends race, class, ethnicity and gender?

hEy i can relate to ur thought sabA.....tAkes mE bak to dat coNcert....but a rEally amAzin thought u got der...kEep thinkin dat wAy we nEed mOre ppl like u around!!:)

Anarchisim has been the motivating movement behind all revolutions and big social/economical changes. The author`s addiction to this Entity rick band is however questionable.

The appeal of anarchist people and their thinking have always been more with young generation (due to excess harmones, and harmones imbalance). We got another `intellectual` musical group `Junoon` which tries to cash in that anarchist harmone, albeit by hugging Musharraf and military junta, and sometimes neo-fundo Imran Khan. There might be more `anarchist` people who would find their way of `questioning the authority`. Some would use euphemism to mean a number of things, and yet be meaningless.

So what can be done by 17 years old young boya and gals, in this environment of lack of intellectual honesty? Get stoned and get laid, I would say. Give some rest to excessive and imbalanced harmones.

Re: #26 by SaraJ

Well, even urs writing on this web site, using English and TCP/IP communication, using DNS server to get the chowk.com IP, and a web server which is most probabbly written by Americans, is a ``coy attempt at imitating the USA``.

some double standards, huh?

Anarchism or questioning authority, however is not American invention, if i may say so.

Actually the underground music scene in Lahore has been around for a while. Even in the late 80s bleary eyed funny smelling faigue attired youths used to jam away about the miseries of life. Most of them are in Canada now :)

In America, music(and clothing) becomes hip by starting out in the ghettos. In Pakistan its the opposite. Stoned out kids with lots of time to kill decide to get girl`s phone numbers by playing at LGS, Kinnaird and Gymkhana. The ones with some talent(and lots of luck) end up getting gigs on TV and in front of expatriate communities. In due course of time the general pubic embraces them and they becomes *stars*. Their groupies intermarry and raise an identical set of head-bangers on the lookout for the next *real* thing. Nothing changes. The cycle continues................

later
-sac

Saba-
Seriously?? Question Authority?? Head-bang the night away? If this was a coy attempt at imitating the USA, unfortunately, you`re more than a decade behind. This piece seemed nothing more than pretentious fluff to me. Find another outlet to dispose your frustrations with.

Sara

Question Authority?

I think the method suggested by author to question authroity is a desperate attempt to avoid questioning authority-it is called rebellion in a conformist`s sort of way. But so far, I think she is on the right track. By the time she will turn 17 and half she might find the direction and the sides i.e. is she gonna be part of authroity or else. We should have faith in young people.

``Wake up people and see the head bangers revolt against the money oriented society and all that it stands for.``

What authority? As a feudal kid you are the ``authority``. You can afford the concert ticket and can afford to buy the `justice` unavailable to 99% of your countrymen from a hopelessly corrupt legal system. If you want to bang your head, try helping some poor schluk who been served a false F.I.R. because yet another feudal uses it to take his land. Happens every day. As a common man or woman, walk a rape case through your court system without paying off the ``men in the little green coats``. Here`s where you can really bang your head.

It`s hard for me to suffer these hollow pieces from the feudals` kids knowing how many common people suffer from their ``authority`` and ill-gotten gains. Enjoy your concerts and expensive education. It`s on the backs a huge majority who`ve never heard of Entity Paradigm or Junoon. Until these feudal garage bands become smart enough start singing about social justice for the millions of donkey cart drivers and ayahs, they`ll remain `underground`.. like, six feet under.

Good article and its great to read the discourses taking place here...

Pakistani headbangers, punks, and rockers can find their sistren and brethren in India, Korea, Brazil, China and Russia...in fact, if I remember, there was a grassroots rock movement in Serbo-Croatia that actively organised against Milosevic and used the subcultural scene to form an ad hoc political party of youths who confronted local authority in a daily basis-peacefully, that is.

The US govt. poured lots of money behind them when they figured out that this scene could help destabilize the mainstream passivity of the general population which is why your average mullahwannabe likes alterna girls and boys even less than Sufis...for some reason, they think questioning authority is a ``western`` concept...

Just because I happen to study in an elite business college doesn`t necessarily mean i`m a part of the elite itself.
I have questioned myself enough, you can as well, but thats not the point i`m trying to highlight here
Try being a victim of the authoritarian forces that rule your life, try living with the idea that you have to be a slave to capitalist theories all your life to earn a decent living(not that i advocate communist theories either) and then ask me why I question authority. If i wanted to follow western ideals i would have mentioned Western Music.
And another thing, why does religion have to be dragged into this debate?

Rock On Saba!

Pakistanis know their music of defiance.

Following these new rock revolutionaries beats committing fundocide
any day.

Ras

#17:hamidm

[......are you talking about john walker lind and the six kids from new york who wanted to join a rock band called the taliban ..........]

Even these are a million times better than these wannabe-punkees of a supposed to be land Pakeeza`d of these nijis porkees.

#18:DRUMZ

You really are an Authority on Stupidity. I am not. So, may be you are right. Now please exhale............... or defy my Authority.
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For the information of these earthworms nothing new is happenning in Baighairistaan.
From the fad of Elvis` blue suede shoes to the Beatles copycats ( one group even called itself Lovebugs to honour the beetles, without understanding the import of the word). All such guys in their 40s & fifties. are the ones who are making hamidms life a living hellhole. Hell, I am fully aware of some of these `bandleaders` in the Karachi Disco scenes. Tj`s jam sessions and the chursee kids of corrupt army & civil bureaucrats ( the real real curse upon Pakistan) used to walk around metropole glassy-eyed in a dazed stupor. Some of those kind are now the dubious parents of these midday midwifed-ones.

Who is not aware of the excellent parodies rendered by Rafi, Kishore and ahmed rushdie.....who remembers those one-night stands.

Qatl al moozee, qabl al eeza.

i agree wid drumz...the point of this article is not if we Pakistanis are surviving on US aid or not..the point is that the youth of today are questioning authority and trying to express themselves...saba mentionz music as a source of expression...