Musicians from Pakistan's minority Pashtun community are jamming pop with traditional notes, redefining and reclaiming their roots
Late at night at an overbooked venue in the heart of Islamabad, Pakistan, a young audience dances wildly to the beat of a Peshawar-based instrumental band. Some seem to have fallen into a trance while others clap and whistle enthusiastically. On stage, guitarist Aamer Shafiq spins his head as the song keeps picking up its pace. If it wasn’t for the Western attire of the audience, the concert could almost resemble an ecstatic Sufi ceremony.
Pashtuns, who live on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, are an ethnic and linguistic minority in Pakistan. For over a decade, they have suffered the effects of the war on terror being fought in their backyards, becoming victims of terrorism, army operations and deep-rooted prejudices in Pakistani society.Sparlay Rawail, the lead guitarist of Khumariyaan, was instrumental in bringing about this change.
A band called Ismail & Junaid emerged from jam sessions but one of its performers Ismail Khan has now gone solo. “Even I didn’t listen to Pashto music before,” Khan says. “Everyone was like that. They wouldn’t find Pashto music cool. It was something to be ashamed of back then.”“[The bands’] music touches on all these classical, instrumental traditions but then they also take it out of that,” Asfandyar Khan, a music critic and commentator says. “That’s obviously appealing because it feels like, okay, this is something that I love but it’s still tied into my culture.
“People would wake up to bomb blasts. At 5am the first one, 7am the second one and 9am the third one. And before, sunset, there would be like five blasts,” Rawail remembers and shakes his head. “It’s not easy to play music when there’s been a blast two days ago.” The security situation has vastly improved in Peshawar and elsewhere in the country since army operations started in 2014. But especially in conservative Pashtun culture, many people still believe that musicians are not decent people, even though their music is appreciated. Some Islamic scholars also believe music to be“We have doctors, engineers and lawyers who used to hide their? Where can we get it fixed?’” Rawail says.
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