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lUNOON, continued from page 62 Why would someone from a small town in Ohio listen to Junoon? SALMAN: Maybe to expand his horizons. Maybe 9/11 made him wonder: "Maybe there's something else out there that I'm not aware of ... " Brian, as an American living in Pakistan, what draws you to this country? BRIAN: It's a completely different world-geographically, culturally. Its very family oriented. The people are very in touch with their religion. And, the Muslim religion has inspired me so much as a Christian. Just something as simple as the azan, the call to prayer, which happens five times a day. Wouldn't the world be a great place if we all stopped everything we did and got down on our knees and put it in perspective? The heat I found very difficult to deal with, at first. Coming from Buffalo, right into Karachi, in the month of May, I almost died. I lost about 30 pounds very quickly because I drank the water. I fig- ured if I'm going to stay here I'm not going live like a tourist, I'm going live like a Pakistani. So I dove head- first into the culture. How long did it take you to learn Urdu? BRIAN: I'll let you know when it happens! I have enough command over the language to get by as an independent person in the markets and everything else. However, I do claim a little bit of ignorance on my own part in the fact that we speak English at the house. You are married to a Pakistani woman. How did you meet your wife? BRIAN: She lived across the street. When I first got to Pakistan, I spent a month with Salman, we shared a bed, and finally I said enough is enough. And I took an apart- ment with Ali. One day a woman came over to return a floppy disk. And I opened the door and there was Ayesha. I instantly fell in love. Is she Muslim? BRIAN: No, she's Christian, but she has a Muslim name (Ayesha). Her father was Muslim but was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a practicing Muslim. Her mother was Swiss and a practicing Christian, so Ayesha had been exposed to more Christianity in her house than Islam. How you feel about being in Pakistan during the cur- rent crisis. BRIAN: I feel, now more than ever, that I was brought there for a reason. At first, I couldn't quite figure it out. My family was accepting of my move, but most of my friends and peers said, "What the hell you doing over there?" I would always be defending it because so little is know about Pakistan back here in West. Until now, now we're in the spotlight-but still, the truth is not known about Pakistan. As an American I feel very alone over there because all of my American friends have picked up and run away and left behind them a puff of smoke. Did you feel an urge to run away also? BRIAN: I love Pakistan. In the time I've been there- about nine years-I've been accepted as somewhat of a Pakistani ambassador. Here's an American who comes over, wears the local garb, and sends out a social mes- sage saying, "Hey, its cool to be Pakistani. This American says so." And they're living such a subservient life to the West, as far as a seal of approval goes, that this was eaten up! So I carry two flags. I really do. I mean I repre- sent the Pakistani people through our art, and I repre- sent America from my birthright. So I'm carrying two flags these days. And it puts me in a rather precarious position because I'm kind of being fired at by both ends ... in certain circles. Do you feel more loyal to either place, America or Pakistan? BRIAN: No, I don't. My loyalty is more spiritual and geog- raphy falls beneath that. But I have to say that I'm very proud of the Yankees for getting into the World Series and I miss the hell out of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (the world-renowned Pakistani qawwali singer). So, I guess its equal. Do you feel any less secure in Pakistan now, after the 15 Christians were killed? BRIAN: I feel very concerned and I reacted immediately by calling my family and telling them not to go to church on Sunday. Have service at our house and I can't give you the address! To have blind faith is stupid. You have to use your brain. And I do understand the risks that are posed to me, but I try to keep my family out of it as much as possible. So yeah of course, after that terrible incident we're always cautious. And I've had death threats before and everything else. So I'm used to it. My faith is strong. I'm not fearful for myself, I'm fearful for my kids. So how are you going to alter their lives so that they're safe? BRIAN: I ensure their safety by not involving them in my work. I'm very visible to a great deal of the population of this world and my family is not. And its not just for their protection, but its also, its not right. I want them to grow up in a normal lifestyle. The rock-n-roillifestyle is not normal. I wouldn't be dragging them around from hotel to hotel etc. Salman, are you a practicing Muslim? SALMAN: Absolutely. Do you pray 5x a day? SALMAN: I try to. The call to pray, which is called the azan, is there so that you as a person can go through life balancing your spiritual and material life. It's about bal- ancing the 24 hours so that we as economic or material animals don't live in that life constantly. Its basically meditation. You know, the Buddhists do it, the Yogis do it, right? So the fact it all it is a call to balance. And when you are balanced you live a much more fulfilling life- phYSically, socially, spiritually. How has the current crisis changed your daily life in Pakistan? SALMAN: It's torn me apart. My friends, they work in the city. And when I saw those building crumble 10,000 miles away, I cried. Like I cry when I see bombs fall on Afghanistan. Do you feel safe living in Pakistan? SALMAN: When you have a faith in a higher power- when you fill your heart with love-there is no fear left. In Islam, there are three main fears: fear of death of injury, fear of humiliation, and fear of being poor. Now, in my belief, all of these three things are in the hands of God. The moment you die, whether you will be humiliat- ed or whether you will be exalted, or whether you will be poor or rich, is all in the hands of god. You're not sup- posed to worry about it. You carryon with your life. When you get on a plane you don't worry, "Is this the one that's going to be highjacked?" Because if it is, you can't do anything about it. You're liberated in the true sense of the word liberated to be completely in the moment. What are the most powerful examples of how you have used your music for peace? SALMAN: Three times stand out to me. In 1998 we played in India, a country with whom Pakistan has have fought three wars, for 100,000 young Indians at a time when both countries were flexing their nuclear muscle. Kids were holding up banners which said, "We want cul- tural fusion, not nuclear fusion." In 1999 we played in Bangladesh, a country which was a former part of Pakistan that broke away during a bloody civil war in 1999, and 40,0000 Bangladeshis fans were Singing Dosti (a Junoon song, meaning friendship) with us. The third most powerful peace concert was playing in New York City on October. 24th, post 9/11. It was the first time a rock band was ever invited to play at the UN General Assembly for UN Day. We sang Imagine. To see all the UN delegates dancing together, to the same tune. That never happens. That was amazing. What are some concrete suggestions you would give to your fans, Pakistanis, Americans, for ways they can help bring about peace? SALMAN: Don't pick sides. The best way to build bridges between people, heal the wounds, is to transcend and try to understand the other side. That means shunning ignorance and seeking knowledge. Where does the world go from here, post 9/11? SALMAN: In the Qu'ran, there is a verse that says, "After every hardship there is ease ... " (Surah 94:6) I hope in some way that this tragedy of 9/11 will help bring people closer to each other because the alterna- tive is self destruction. Humanity must wake up from its slumber of ignorance. What do you mean by slumber of ignorance? SALMAN: People everywhere don't want to know beyond their immediate confines. Somebody might say, "I've got a good job, got a nine-to-five, got a cell phone, I've got two cars, I go to the ball game on the weekends and I see a rock concert once a month-I'm happy." I'm sorry. Life demands much more out of you than just wanting that. • Subscribe to blue today 00 ....... ~ I ....... I r- c:: to m I l> ~ 3: 73

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