Songs for sweat and blood
4 May 2012 10:49 AM IST
Celebrating Labour Day in the capital — Laal — the band from Pakistan, painted the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus red. Laal is Taimur Rahman’s brain child. The progressive and rebellious band defies the conservative attitude associated with Pakistan.
‘Laal thinks of itself as part of the great tradition of the progressive writers movement of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Habib Jalib and Ahmed Faraz,’ says lead vocalist Taimur. ‘We consider it a great honour to have the opportunity to popularise the work of these great socialist writers by setting their revolutionary poetry to music,’ he asserts.
Apart from Taimur, the band comprises Mahvash Waqar, who was a journalist with a news channel till last year when the channel was pulled off air. She is also Rehman’s wife. Laal also has Haider Rahman, Taimur’s cousin and a banker who takes the place of third vocalist and plays the flute.
‘The strength of the band is the constant strategy which we devise on and off to create music. Laal has been successful because we have managed to get our voice into mainstream media. Even if we do not agree with social matters entirely, we can find a common ground,’ Taimur points out.
It all started with the video of Maine Unse Yeh Kahaa, which was shot outside Rahman’s room and uploaded on Youtube. It was an instant success and Laal was formally born in 2008.
The band recently toured India to launch their second album Utho Meri Duniya. ‘We would shout and sing slogans, and that was in a way our training. Our songs were slogans, and our slogans were songs,’ he says.
A professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Taimur is also the general secretary of Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (Pakistan) and associated with various trade unions and peasant organisations. Taimur’s main purpose is to enlighten the world through music.
‘I grew up listening to Bob Marley and songs of protest, so my path was to voice the concerns and issues of workers around the world,’ says the 36-year-old.
‘Our mission is not to mint money, we do free performances and somehow we manage to do at least one concert a month to earn some money,’ says Waqar.
‘We are very happy to do the free performances among peasants,’ says Taimur.
During their tour through Europe, Laal earned nothing. Whatever profit they made was reinvested into making videos. The video Doob Gaya was used to raise funds after the devastating floods of 2010.
Taimur reiterates that the band’s real foothold is at the grassroots level, where issues like growing religious extremism needs to be tackled.
‘We should remember that without grassroots action, there is no alternative. The one who doesn’t work with the grassroots will have his work only floating in the air,’ concludes Taimur, with a Laal Salaam.
‘Laal thinks of itself as part of the great tradition of the progressive writers movement of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Habib Jalib and Ahmed Faraz,’ says lead vocalist Taimur. ‘We consider it a great honour to have the opportunity to popularise the work of these great socialist writers by setting their revolutionary poetry to music,’ he asserts.
Apart from Taimur, the band comprises Mahvash Waqar, who was a journalist with a news channel till last year when the channel was pulled off air. She is also Rehman’s wife. Laal also has Haider Rahman, Taimur’s cousin and a banker who takes the place of third vocalist and plays the flute.
‘The strength of the band is the constant strategy which we devise on and off to create music. Laal has been successful because we have managed to get our voice into mainstream media. Even if we do not agree with social matters entirely, we can find a common ground,’ Taimur points out.
It all started with the video of Maine Unse Yeh Kahaa, which was shot outside Rahman’s room and uploaded on Youtube. It was an instant success and Laal was formally born in 2008.
The band recently toured India to launch their second album Utho Meri Duniya. ‘We would shout and sing slogans, and that was in a way our training. Our songs were slogans, and our slogans were songs,’ he says.
A professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Taimur is also the general secretary of Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (Pakistan) and associated with various trade unions and peasant organisations. Taimur’s main purpose is to enlighten the world through music.
‘I grew up listening to Bob Marley and songs of protest, so my path was to voice the concerns and issues of workers around the world,’ says the 36-year-old.
‘Our mission is not to mint money, we do free performances and somehow we manage to do at least one concert a month to earn some money,’ says Waqar.
‘We are very happy to do the free performances among peasants,’ says Taimur.
During their tour through Europe, Laal earned nothing. Whatever profit they made was reinvested into making videos. The video Doob Gaya was used to raise funds after the devastating floods of 2010.
Taimur reiterates that the band’s real foothold is at the grassroots level, where issues like growing religious extremism needs to be tackled.
‘We should remember that without grassroots action, there is no alternative. The one who doesn’t work with the grassroots will have his work only floating in the air,’ concludes Taimur, with a Laal Salaam.
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