Book Review: Rock and Roll Jihad

Salman Ahmad is the founder and lead guitarist of Junoon, the Pakistani band that took India by storm at the end of the 90s. This book chronicles his journey from wide-eyed young Pakistani to the voice of the country’s liberals.

Though it has all the drama that you’d expect from a rocker, this is not your typical rock ’n’ roll saga. The Beatles had to contend with groupies wanting to have sex with them, Ahmad and his band-mates dealt with radical Islamists calling for their heads.

Ahmad takes you through three decades, talking about his life in the United States and the Middle East. But mostly, this is a book about longing for the good old days in Pakistan, before the dictators, the bombs, the radical clerics and the fatwas. Born into a well-connected family, Ahmad suffers from a Pakistani version of ‘white man’s guilt’. He tries very hard to blend in with the rest of his country and his guitar is the bridge that connects the masses with him. Ahmad tries very hard to prove his credentials as a true liberal and explain the true meaning of Islam. He succeeds to an extent. The anecdotes in the book are very interesting. Especially the ones about Mick Jagger and the dancing girls of Lahore and the one about the 1930s English cricket team being drugged before the game.

Rock and Roll Jihad; by Salman Ahmad with Robert Schroeder; Jaico;
229 pages; Rs. 395