Sunny Ali & the Kid, live and uncensored

The duo believes in narrating the realities of life through music.

LAHORE:

The Kominas, a punk-rock band based in the US, has been labelled, misunderstood and called many things including “leaders of a punk Islamic movement” whereas all they ever wanted to do was create music. Sunny Ali & the Kid, have been working on the sideline with another twist to the band’s original sound for some time now. The duo speaks to The Express Tribune about what their country-punk music stands for.

“The initial concept the band was based on has evolved quite a bit based on the music we listen to and the things we’re interested in; there’s no single concept behind our existence besides good, quick and dirty music,” says the band’s drummer, Abdullah Saeed aka the Kid. The cowboy punk band which is based in the outskirts of southern Philadelphia also comprises of guitarist-vocalist Hassan Ali of the Kominas, better known as Sunny Ali.

The duo has released several extended play albums which are rough expressions of stories and are available on their official website.

Real and surreal

Sunny Ali & the Kid’s songs are primarily based on issues Muslims and Pakistanis face. “Call it whatever you want, political or not, but these are real things that are happening to real people,” says Ali. “So why shouldn’t we talk about these issues? We want and try to keep things real and surreal at the same time.” Their single Muslim Rage speaks about drones while You Know What Jawad, is more about social critiques of the Pakistani-American Diaspora and then Hijabi Girl, as the name suggests, talks about girls wearing scarves.

Speaking about why certain songs are kept shorter than others, the Kid says, “It’s not that some songs are kept short for any specific reason. It’s just that each composition goes on for as long as it needs to.” He feels some tracks are simple and some are more complex and should be treated accordingly. “But if they work out right, and are made the way they need to be made, you would want to listen to them over and over,” he adds.

The musicians believe music never remains constant and always evolves into something new based on different life experiences and music-related influences. “I don’t think we’ll ever stick to just one thing [genre] because we would probably just get bored,” says Ali, adding it’s interesting how people always expect musicians to always keep it consistent and real. “When we started playing country, people would ask us whether we were from Texas or living on some farm or what our political agenda was — sometimes we just make art that we like,” he adds.

Ali explains it’s difficult to pin a musician down to a specific genre and admits that even the duo’s work with The Kominas has started to develop a South African rock-reggae influence.

The band is proud that they have been a source of inspiration for several children; Muslim kids in Indonesia heard their music and decided to start their own band. “It’s not really through music that you understand yourself but it’s more about just being yourself and accepting who you are,” says the Kid. “We are not your typical Pakistani-American boys and we want the younger generation to know that there’s nothing wrong with being atypical or different from others. In fact, it can be awesome!”

While Sunny Ali & the Kid didn’t disclose what their future projects will be, they did reveal that The Kominas will be recording a new single in February and are also trying their luck at hip hop. Apart from this, the band will be touring for the Milano Clown Festival in February and then in the Ai Weiwei’s art opening in Indianapolis in May.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2013.

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