When American musicians Greg Beshers and Dan Carr hit a house party in Islamabad on the first night of their exchange, they discovered that guitarists, drummers and songwriters half way across the world were just like them. “We all sing about broken hearts,” joked Beshers. As someone translated a song - boy meets girl, falls in love, she breaks his heart - Greg finished the sentence by quipping, ‘Yeah, and she takes all his money…’
He and Carr are in Pakistan as part of the American Festival of the Arts cultural exchange with the Mary McBride band. On Saturday night, the band was invited to play at the 10th Daniel Pearl Music Day at the US consul general’s residence in Karachi, making them the first Americans to take part here. They were joined by Komal Rizvi and qawwals Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad.
The lawn at the US consul general’s colonial residence glittered under a sky of fairy lights as the diplomatic staff, Amanda Cauldwell and Kevin Murakami, greeted guests. Consul General William Martin stood in front of a three-panel display of the images and names of journalists, including Daniel Pearl, who were killed in Pakistan. “Today we celebrate the life of Daniel Pearl and all journalists who have sacrificed their lives for truth and freedom of expression,” Martin told the media. “We will stand up to take notice of the people noting down the truth.” Martin described Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi in 2002, as a “good friend” of the city and Pakistan.
In fact, Pearl had played with musician friends while in Karachi. The Wall Street Journal reporter was also a classically trained musician. According to his father Judea, whose video message was played to the audience, Daniel travelled widely, armed with three instruments, a laptop, a violin and an infinite love for fellow human beings.
After returning from his funeral in August 2002, the family wondered about how to mark his upcoming birthday on October 10. In the video message, his mother Ruth Pearl explained how Daniel’s younger sister Michelle had then suggested they celebrate it as he would have, by having jam sessions with his musician friends. More than 100 concerts in 18 countries commemorated what would have been his 38th birthday that year. Hence the Daniel Pearl Music Day was born. “Every October since then music has circled the earth in harmony for humanity,” said his father. “And thousands of concerts just like this one are expressing our shared belief that despite our differences we can work together towards a better world.”
Thus Mary McBride, in black velvet pants and a voice to match, took the stage with Paul Carbonara on guitar, Greg, Dan Carr on bass and Grammy award winning Bobby Lloyd Hicks on drums.
She went on to sing some Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and even the Rolling Stones, which received a bit of a lukewarm reaction from the audience. “We don’t expect the audience to be familiar with our work,” remarked Carr candidly afterwards, indicating that they were more interested in the sheer experience of a cultural exchange with a place like Pakistan.
In fact, it was because of this motivation that McBride took just one second to say yes when she received the email invitation to come here three months ago. And an exchange it has been. The band even put to use a tip they got in Islamabad to play ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’, a hot patriotic favourite. And while they didn’t have enough time to learn the entire song, they did a fantastic job of the chorus line which McBride belted out with a dirty rock ‘n roll edge in a perfect accent with Beshers punctuating it with a meaty guitar solo.
The demurely seated audience warmed up after that and went on to welcome Komal Rizvi. She picked up where McBride left off and even managed to pull out a group of young men to dance in front of the stage when she started ‘Dam Mast Qalandar’, an evergreen classic. And the evening was rounded off by qawwal Fareed Ayaz who came in a while shalwar kameez and Ajrak with a topi. It seemed like the cultural exchange element was hard at work because even he was curious to learn more about Daniel Pearl’s story, as he confessed to The Express Tribune before going on stage. Perhaps in another time, if history had not turned out the way it did, Daniel would have met Ayaz and even jammed with him.
For those who had come to last year’s Daniel Pearl Music day, this year was a marked improvement. Geo TV’s Nini, a music journalist who was there to cover the event, remarked that this year’s line-up and the arrangements were much better. That seemed to be the general consensus as Carr and Beshers hung around backstage, looking chuffed: “People back home are jealous as hell now that they’ve seen the Facebook pictures of us having so much fun here.”
Killed in the line of duty
Daniel Pearl
(February 1, 2002)
Wall Street Journal
Misri Khan
(September 6, 2010)Ausaf and Mashriq
Abdul Wahab (December 6, 2010)Express News
Pervez Khan
(December 6, 2010)Waqt TV
Nasrullah Khan Afridi (May 10, 2011)
Khyber News Agency
Saleem Shahzad
(May 19, 2011)
Asia Times Online
Asfandyar Khan
(June 11, 2011)Akhbar-e-Khyber
Wali Khan Babar
(June 13, 2011)
Geo TV
Shafiullah Khan
(June 17, 2011)
The News
Faisal Qureshi
(October 7, 2011)London Post
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2011.
COMMENTS (10)
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Why is there no music concert for the journalists murdered by Daniel Pearl's home nation israel?
I personally believe Daniel Pearl was a spy.
Do anybody has the video of this??
:) It happens only in Pakistan....First they brutally butchered him...and now they organize music conference on his memory....huh
So you all suggest," America should bring Matmi Jaloos every year "??????? c'mon let people mourn their dead, atleast those who can. What is happening in tribal areas is unfortunate but it wouldn't happen if there were no terror heavens. But......
@anwar: How do you know he was a spy? Please tell us too about what he was spying on and what proof do you have against him? Its very easy to blame some one and just execute them ... beat any one brutally and they will admit to whatever you want to hear at the end. There was no proof he was a spy. Do you think an Intelligence agency needs a well known journalist as spy in another country?
Daniel Pearl was a spy or a musician??
How will anyone know what happens in the Tribal Areas if there are no committed journalists to report what happens there?
Adnan: They're no Amercans man!
The writer has missed the best part of the evening. It was when May McBride joined Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad for a rock-qawwali fusion in the end. Anyway, it was good to be there.
Who will sing the song for thousands of innocents killed in Tribal Area? Who will sing the song for women and childrens waiting for their lost father.