“Great to be with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and watch ‘If I Could Change’ on the giant video screens in the UN general assembly hall,” Ahmad tweeted an update for his fans.

Paying tribute to the humanitarian efforts being conducted across the globe, the video features images of disaster-struck areas including the flood-affected areas of Pakistan. The song hopes for a bright future, addressing a positive change through humanitarian campaigns: “If I could change the world today. I’d turn the sky to blue from grey. Take away the hurt I see. Make sure that we all live happy.”

Other than the UN general assembly hall, the video was also scheduled to be screened at Times Square in New York. “‘If I Could Change’ featuring Ziggy Marley and Salman Ahmad will premiere in NYC Time Square digital billboard and 70 other countries,” said the official page of Sweet Rush on Twitter.

“I’m very moved by that and I’m always moved by the images of the children who are playing and smiling,” commented the Unicef Executive Director Anthony Lake right after the screening.

“I hope that the song will inspire a new generation of humanitarian workers and indeed inspire people everywhere to get involved. It’s all about the fact that we can all change our world for the better,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said at a news conference conducted after the launch.

August 19 was declared as World Humanitarian Day by the UN General Assembly in 2008 to honour Sergio Vieira de Mello, a humanitarian worker.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2011.

As the latest reminder of the band’s contribution to the country’s music scene, Ahmad is set to celebrate Junoon’s 20^th anniversary.  “We are reaching Junoon’s 20^th anniversary, so I’m excited about more projects coming up regarding that,” Ahmad told The Express Tribune.The musician will be performing with the band’s former bassist Brian O Connell.

“Brian O’ Connell is performing on Junoon’s 20^th anniversary celebration concert at the Asia Society on September 24 in New York,” Ahmad broke the news on his Twitter page after announcing September 30 as the day when “Rumi taught Junoon how to play” two decades ago.

Ahmad is also planning to launch an album to mark two decades of Junoon. The album will be featuring Strings, Bilal Khan, Outlandish, Usman Riaz and Laal’s Taimur Rahman, “who are recording their favourite Junoon tunes”.

The musician has also invited his Twitter followers to suggest songs for the album. To make them join the celebration, the artist has promised to promote their Junoon-inspired videos uploaded on YouTube: “Share your personal Junoon stories, sing, play guitar, lip-sync to Junoon’s songs… you are the star on YouTube.  Shoot a three-minute video.”

Ahmad currently has multiple projects at hand, starting from flood relief activities for Pakistan to international music ventures. Additionally, Indian film-maker Mira Nair, has offered Ahmad to join her upcoming project based on Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

“I met Mira in June in New York, where I was performing. She told me that she was about to start shooting in August and would be considering new music for The Reluctant Fundamentalist and asked if I was interested. I’m a huge admirer of her movies like Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay. So, saying yes was a no brainer,” says Ahmad.

There is no news about Ali Azmat performing with the other band members, possibly because he and Ahmad have not been very ‘friendly’ ever since they kick-started their solo careers. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2011.

Post-it notes have already inspired creative geniuses to feature them in various forms of art like murals, collages, mosaics, moulds, surface cover, miniature painting, sketching and drawing.

For Pakistani artist Danish Ali Meerza, what was supplied as a necessity at his workplace has turned into an “outlet to release stress”. An auditor by profession, Meerza spends his idle moments drawing on post-it notes. “I used to draw on the borders of my school books. As time passed and I entered my professional life, I realised that sticky notes were the most convenient option to use as a canvas because they are handy, practical and easily disposable,” says Meerza.

Canada-based artist Immony Men, a recent Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Arts, was juggling multiple part-time jobs during his college years when he started making murals out of 10,000 post-it notes. “I just wondered what would happen if I took the time and energy I had placed in those part-time jobs and redirected them to developing my own work,” recalls Men, who has installed eight murals at various artist-run centres across Canada.

Talking about his inspirations, Meerza says: “The ideas come from my day-to-day experiences and observations, depending on what’s going on in my mind. These may reflect things I see or conversations I have with my friends.”

Whenever he needs to take a break, Meerza will keep adding on details to a note until there is no space left to draw, but for Men the passion for sticky-note art demands painstakingly long hours.

It takes Men 18 to 22 days to complete a 10,000 sticky-note mural, with 500 to 750 notes mounted every day. The inkjet-printed notes are pasted to create images of office space, communicating the entrapment of 9 am to 5 pm life in his project titled Taking Care of Business.

However, this is not Men’s first venture into sticky-note art. Before murals, the artist used to cover apartment units with post-it notes: “I have always been fascinated with large surfaces covered with thousands of stickies.”

For Men, the art has also served as a means of personal growth and evolution: “After multiple showings, I was fascinated with this intensive time-based process. The physical and mental exhaustion that followed the workflow brought about different human qualities that made it easy for me to relate to my audience.”

Despite allowing a tremendous scope of creativity, post-it notes still are a rare medium of art, partly because the medium is relatively new and partly because of little acknowledgment given to it as a serious form of art.

“My work has very little commercial value. Most artists have another source of income, in order to support their practice,” Men tells The Express Tribune. And for Meerza, “it’s just a hobby”.

However, unlike Meerza, drawing and painting on the sticky notes is more about communicating ideas than the craft for Marc Johns. “I like the format; it forces the drawing to be simple, and the concept to be focused. It’s not so much about the craft of drawing, but more about the idea, boiled down to just the essentials,” explains Johns, a US-based artist who paints and draws humorous images on post-it notes.

More than passion, Johns has been pursuing his talent at a more extensive level. He has been uploading his artwork on his blog for the last two years and has already published a book titled Serious Drawings, featuring a part of his art collection.

Sticky notes support artistry on multiple levels, but with little recognition, one wonders if the post-it note art will be around for long enough to become an established form of creative expression.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2011.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly mentioned Danish Ali Meerza as a ‘Pakistan-based’ artist. The correction has been made.

With @bbhuttozardari as his Twitter handle, the chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has already crossed a fan-following of 1,450, within the first 24 hours of posting his first tweet: “How do I fix my profile picture?” Which was later followed by, “Ahhh… cup of coffee and @etribune. Perfect way to start the day.”

Bilawal is not the first member of the Bhutto clan to join the site as Fatima Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, Ghinwa Bhutto and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari are already on Twitter.

The young chairman received a warm welcome from family and friends.

“So excited that my big brother is on Twitter. Ladies and Gentlemen, the real Bilawal Bhutto Zardari @BBhuttoZardari,” wrote Aseefa.

“Absolutely loves all the welcoming of Bilawal on Twitter. I had been asking him to join for almost a year, so touched by all the messages,” tweeted Bakhtawar.

“Good to see you here,” posted late governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer’s daughter Shaherbano Taseer.

And as expected, political status is not all that is attracting Bilawal’s fans on Twitter. “Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, you are a real gujee gujee goo,” tweeted the person behind television celebrity Mathira’s Twitter account, and while the account may be fake, the user sounds like a fan.

Now that all three siblings are on Twitter, the trio can have some family time online. “Aseefa, it’s my middle-child syndrome. I require attention from my siblings 24/7, Bilawal,” wrote Bakhtawar.

Other than his sisters, Bilawal is currently following 29 accounts, including the late governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, his wife Aamna Taseer and daughter Shehrbano Taseer, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan Ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani, Minister for Privatisation and Energy Pakistan Naveed Qamar and MNA Farah Naz.

Here are some interesting statements posted by politicians on the site.

Shahbaz Sharif

Waiting for the plane to land in Dubai and [listening to] ‘Ghazab Kia Teray Waday Pay Aiatbar Kia’.

Rehman Malik

I have just seen the demand to bring back Shahid Afridi. My friends, I am the interior minister, not the minister for sports.

Marvi Memon

The only VIP perk that I would use as MNA, which I have no access to now, is changing flights last minute without cancellation charges.

Farah Naz

With all respect to those who are tweeting that we must not be working hard since we are on Twitter — it’s multitasking at its best.

Kashmala Tariq

Always keep praying because possible and impossible is only your thought — there is nothing impossible for Allah.

Atiqa Odho

Where is the code of conduct in media? Who sets the rules of the game?

Ijazul Haq

The entire country is in the grip of severe electricity crisis. No money. No electricity. Total mismanagement.

Pervez Musharraf

Unfortunately where politics divides us, sports unite us.

Mushahid Hussain

Within 90 days, two million citizens of Swat valley fled war, the largest number of internally displaced persons. But they are back now.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2011.

The female character has been introduced in the film adaptation and was not a part of the original plot. “The film and the book will be different,” Hamid told Hindustan Times. But that doesn’t perturb the Moth Smoke writer, who is confident about Nair’s cinematic vision. “I trust Mira’s integrity and aesthetics. I am excited to see what her film becomes,” he said.

What interested Nair in Hamid’s novel was the fact that it was written from a South Asian’s perspective post 9/11. The book revolves around a radical Pakistani man, Changez, who narrates his story to an American stranger during their conversation at a cafe in Lahore. Written in retrospective narrative, the plot is about Changez’s love-affair with an American woman during his stay in the US and how he eventually leaves the country.

Known for her films like Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake, Nair earlier was more focused on Indian and Bangladeshi actors, writers and locations. However, the director is set to make her latest project as ‘Pakistani’ as possible. Though most of the film will be shot in Delhi, due to the security threats in Pakistan, some of the scenes will be shot in Lahore, where shooting will continue for 10 days, India FM quoted Nair as saying. The director is also inclined to have a Pakistani actor as the film’s male lead.

After taking a two-hour audition from Ranbir Kapoor, Nair told NDTV about “three extremely strong contenders in Pakistan” giving tough competition to Kapoor. Despite a strong inclination to cast Kapoor, the deal could not be worked out because of his prior commitments and the director later confirmed that “it’s going to be a Pakistani actor”. But it wasn’t just Ranbir Kapoor who auditioned for the film, Bollywood heartthrob Imran Khan also tried his luck but failed to impress the US-based Indian film-maker.

Nair, who visited Lahore last year, has shortlisted three out of 300 Pakistani candidates auditioning for the project. “One is a Pakistani rock star; the other is a very famous film and television actor.” Among the candidates was also Ali Zafar. But much to our surprise, the singer-cum-actor could not make it as Nair confirmed: “The Pakistani rock star is not Ali Zafar. I’m also looking at a British-trained Pakistani actor.”

However, it is not just Pakistani writers and actors who have sparked Nair’s interest. Junoon’s Salman Ahmad recently met the filmmaker in New York to discuss music for the project. The Times of India also quoted Lahore’s Mian Yousuf Salahuddin saying that Nair has also asked Farida Khannum to sing for the film.

Daughter of veteran TV actor Saba Hameed, Shafi has already marked her presence in the world of fashion and music, and a Hollywood project like The Reluctant Fundamentalist will give a strong boost to her acting career. That said, we must not forget that Nair has a history of unpredictable cast changes. For her last film The Namesake, Bollywood actor Tabu replaced Rani Mukherjee after much ado in the news about the latter. We have our fingers crossed and are waiting for Meesha to confirm the finalisation of her deal for the Hollywood venture.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2011.

KARACHI: 

Hollywood’s veteran actor Elizabeth Taylor’s death on March 23 left her friends and fans mourning. Taylor, who was being treated in a hospital in Los Angeles, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 79. She is survived by 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, all of whom were with her when she passed away.

“No one is going to play Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor herself,” was one of the last few tweets the veteran actor posted on her Twitter page.

“I never planned to acquire a lot of jewels or a lot of husbands. For me, life happened, just as it does for anyone else,” Taylor told Harper’s Bazaar in her last interview.

While many celebrities took to micro-blogging site Twitter after her death was confirmed, TV personality Joy Behar of “The View” paid tribute to Liz Taylor in “The Joy Behar Show”. The host invited Debbie Reynolds, whose husband Eddie Fisher left her and two-year-old daughter Carrie Fisher to marry Taylor. Behar shared excerpts of the interview on her Twitter page.

“Just did an interview with Debbie Reynolds to air tonight. Debbie said Elizabeth Taylor was ‘the most glamorous, sexual star of our generation’, women liked her and the men adored her. I know because my husband left me for her,” wrote Behar.

Taylor’s one-time step-daughter Carrie told People magazine: “She was a remarkable woman who led her life to the fullest rather than complacently following others.” Carrie, 54, was all praise for Taylor calling her a “devoted mother”. “She will be missed but never forgotten,” Carrie added.

Here’s what some of the celebrities wrote on Taylor’s death:

Carrie Fisher

If my father had to divorce my mother for anyone, I’m so grateful that it was Elizabeth.

Steve Martin

I met Elizabeth Taylor several times. She was witty and self-deprecating, which I found surprising and delightful. She loved to laugh.

George Michael

Such a sad day, Elizabeth Taylor was the last of the Hollywood greats, and a fantastically charming woman.

Victoria Beckham

The world has lost a truly iconic beauty, inside and out. Elizabeth Taylor will be deeply missed.

Amitabh Bachchan

And another sad moment! Elizabeth Taylor passes away! God’s creation in abundance … now reduced to dust! The way for all someday.

Abhishek Bachchan

Landed back in Mumbai to the sad news that Elizabeth Taylor passed on. Rest in peace. One of the most beautiful women ever!

Cindy Crawford

Rest in peace, Elizabeth Taylor. She was such an incredible woman inside and out and an inspiration to me!

Larry King

Elizabeth Taylor was a great friend, a great star and one gutsy woman. She was so special. You won’t see the likes of her again.

Paris Hilton

So sad to hear about Elizabeth Taylor. She was so beautiful, such an inspiration and an icon.

Kylie Minogue

Rest in peace Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Like a pure white diamond you’ll shine on and on and on.

Mariah Carey

Elizabeth Taylor — an incomparable legend who will live forever.

Mallika Sherawat

She was one of a kind and one of my greatest inspirations … May she rest in peace.

Anupam Kher

Some people never die. They are larger than life. Elizabeth Taylor will live forever … in our memories.

Neil Nitin Mukesh

Rest in peace, Elizabeth Taylor! True beauty! Great lady with super courage. A fighter!

Neha Dhupia

Rest in peace, Elizabeth Taylor … the original sex symbol passes away.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th_, 2011.

KARACHI: Gone are the days when you spent your evenings hooked to ICQ and Mirc, overwhelmed with the power of asl (age, sex and location) that marked the start of your chat conversation with random strangers; learning innovative terms on chat forums and then flaunting the next morning among your peers, who would avenge you later with their set of the then ‘it’ thing.

As time passed, many of you got over the obsession. With masses joining the cyber world and adopting the jargon, they realised they lost their soi-distant exclusiveness, and suddenly all the grammar courses from high school came back, striking like lightning. Then began a phase of perpetual judgement on the linguistic skills of “others”.

Ironically it is now English that is local, and cyber-English is global. While linguists consider the online deviation from standard English as a way of free expression and a matter of ease, your cyber friends might be judging your language skills through what comes “natural” to your style. Changing ‘You’ into ‘U’ might be your cup of tea, but are you sure your chat partner is not doubting your level of maturity? Shortening the words might be saving you pressing a few more keys but is your chat partner seeing it as a face-saving expression to hide your bad spellings?

“As the internet comes increasingly to be viewed from a social perspective, the role of language becomes central (…) What is immediately obvious when engaging in any of the internet’s functions is its linguistic character, “ says British linguist David Crystal.

If you’re one of those netizens around innovating with the standard language, you may need to reconsider, particularly if you’re one of dating online.

Zoe Hazelwood, psychologist at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), found non-verbal communication was also just as important in online dating as it was in traditional dating, according to a QUT statement.

“Although online traditional non-verbal cues are not present, in our research we found people do judge potential partners on things aside from what they are saying,” she said.

“People form impressions online based on things like spelling errors, use of acronyms, amount of exclamation marks and the use of grammar.

“They may not pursue a relationship with someone if they do not like their writing style, or feel they have poor spelling.”

Hazelwood’s research found that traditional daters and online daters had roughly the same relationship success rate — despite many people believing that online dating was not as likely to be successful as traditional dating.

Through a random survey conducted by The Express Tribune, Pakistanis use innovative language for a variety of reasons. Convenience of avoiding complete words and sentences, covering up lower language proficiency,  creating an exclusive style statement, joining the trend and freedom of expression are some of the reasons the participants mentioned behind their use of deviations.

Common traits of Netspeak

Here’s list of few techniques a typical Netizen (person using non-standard English language online) would use.

Innovative Spelling: Lyfe, Awl, Prayerz

Word Extensions: Thingy, Sicko, Addy

Word Contraction: Bro, Lil, Jst

Language Hybridisation: Nikko-fied

Pronunciation Tracking: Gud, Luv, Dunno

Numerals: F9, Gr8, B4

Abbreviations: LOL, OMG, ROFL

(Data taken from messages posted on chatting websites)

WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM IANS

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2011.

KARACHI: Much celebrated for calligraphic designs, Islamic art now takes a modern turn with the streak of rap music. Native Deen, a Washington, DC based group focuses on combining the hip-hop and R&B elements with Islam-themed lyrics.

The group’s aim is to highlight issues confronting Muslims living in the US, according to their website.

The trio of Joshua Salaam, Abdul-Malik Ahmad and Naeem Muhammad teamed up in 2000 and has been addressing the issues of Muslims in the US ever since.

The band has marked their presence with a limited set of musical instruments permissible in Islam, only to create percussions as the members rap. The lyrics featured in Native Deen’s songs range from Islamic concepts from Eid to Hijab.

“Prayers to Allah be on Nabi. The messenger may peace be on thee. And all the prophets sent to mankind. We pray for each and everyone.”

Members of the band claim that Native Deen’s distinctive music has attracted Muslims and non Muslims alike. “We’ve never experienced any type of offence from anyone. I don’t think our music is offensive to any group,” said Salaam.

Native Deen is currently touring Jordan for a series of concerts and workshops scheduled throughout the week, reports Jordan Times. Having performed in about 60 cities around the world, the band’s first ever tour to Jordan has been hosted by the American Embassy.

After their debut album The Deen You Know, Native Deen has so far released two albums, the second one being, Not Afraid to Stand Alone.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2011.

KARACHI: All set to mark their debut with album Shehrezade, Qayaas band has just spilled the beans about another album which the artists plan to record in English.

The band has kick started their second project while still waiting for the right time to release their first venture Shehrezade, sent to post production earlier last month. “It has been a long time coming and the album is finally ready with all production work completed,” lead guitarist Khurram Waqar announced in November.

The group plans to launch three of its English tracks before leaving the country for an  international tour in Austin, Texas around March next year.

Talking to The Express Tribune, front man Umair Jaswal shared the details of the band’s second project, “It’s targeted for the international market. Two of its songs have been completed. We have a whole lot of ideas. Right now we have 17 to 18 songs that we want to work on.”

The album, planned to hit international stores around the mid of 2011, will be mostly dealing with hard rock, told Jaswal. Lyrics for the tracks are written   by guitarist Sarmad Ghafoor and Jaswal himself.

While the work continues on their second album, Shehrezade is slated for release this January. Songs from the said album, comprising of 13 tracks, have recently earned Qayaas the title of Best Pakistani Rock Band at the JD Rock Awards held in India, the band announced on their MySpace page.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2010.

The Bollywood actor is likely to run into more trouble with Shiv Seva as Prime TV confirms his recent plans to perform for the Pakistani channel.

While Shah Rukh Khan’s office has denied all reports about the actor set to host a gala dinner for a Pakistani channel based in London, Prime TV has released a press statement confirming Khan’s scheduled performance, now being postponed till May 2011.

Last Friday, Indian political party Shiv Sena attacked Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for agreeing to perform at a function for Prime TV on the second anniversary of the 26/11 terror strike, according to an IANS report. However, the actor’s office said there was no truth in the allegation and that he was in Berlin shooting for the second installment of Don. “Shah Rukh is very much in Berlin. He’s shooting for Farhan Akhtar’s Don 2. He’s not going anywhere. There is no truth in the Saamna story,” said Khan’s office insider.

According to Prime TV’s press release, Khan’s office informed the channel that the actor had not been able to reach London due to Berlin’s weather and “other reasons”. The channel’s statement conflicts with the IANS report which suggested that Khan did not have a contract with the channel, “Khan was dually contracted to appear in this performance and in this connection we would particularly like to deny reports appearing in the press in India which appeared to suggest that he had not undertaken to appear at such a performance in London.”

Ticketholders of the gala dinner, arranged to raise flood relief for Pakistan, are now being refunded as per the instructions of Khan’s office.  “As a first priority the organisers of this programme have started to fully refund all ticketholders even though Shah Rukh Khan’s office is yet to provide funds to cover these costs.”  Other than reimbursements, ticket holders are also given an option to retain their tickets till May 2011, which is when Khan’s office has tentatively rescheduled the performance for.

Prime TV’s confirmation about Shah Rukh Khan’s consent to perform in the programme, is expected to earn the actor more of Shiv Sena’s wrath. The actor was earlier castigated by the same political party when it boycotted his film My Name is Khan as a reaction to Khan’s support for the inclusion of Pakistani players in Indian Premier League.

Earlier last month, Shiv Sena opposed the participation of Pakistani actors in “Bigg Boss 4”. The party held protests at Lonavala, a hill station near Mumbai, where shooting for the reality show was on, demanding the removal of Ali Saleem aka Begum Nawazish Ali and Veena Malik from the show, which is being broadcast by Colors TV.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2010.