When Melissa Etheridge and Junoon performed last December at the Nobel Peace prize ceremony in Oslo, we were doing soundchecks before the show at the Oslo Spectrum in Norway.
Listening to her sing just from a few feet away, I was blown away by the power of Melissa’s voice and the Unity of vibrations contained in it. She gave me goosebumps. Later that evening Al Gore and the Nobel peace prize gathering of Hollywood stars and moguls, rock stars, King, Queen, Prince, Princess of Norway, politicians, business leaders and environmentalists all agreed with my observation.
Melissa and I became friends and musical admirers and in January, this year, she invited me to her home to spend a couple of days in Los Angeles where we talked about many things. Among them, Love and Unity and how they are universal themes running from Rumi to the Beatles.In both East and West it’s poetry and music which unites humanity rather than politics which aims to divide and demonize ‘the other’. Melissa and I also talked about the children of Abraham: Jesus, Moses and Muhammad and their common spirit of brotherhood and sacrifice.
We sat with acoustic guitars and out of that intense talking and jamming came RING THE BELLS.
Ring The Bells is a cry for Peace and change in a world of war and chaos. Our only guiding principle was to be passionate, truthful and sincere and to allow the Universe to inspire us…and boy did the Universe ever conspire to inspire!
In April when Melissa was recording her album (A NEW THOUGHT FOR CHRISTMAS) I flew down to Burbank studios in California to record my guitars and vocals, we sang face to face, her emotional rendition inspired me to sing some traditional Qawwali (Islamic sufi devotional singing),and tarana bols like ‘Ta-na-derey-na-’ which are a metaphor for mystical unity and Oneness.
Both of us are well aware of the deep divisions and fear that exists today between races, regions and religions and we hope that Ring The Bells will confront fear with an alternative vision of Hope. When you see with the heart all the masks fall down. RING THE BELLS ALL OVER THE WORLD!
Listen to RING THE BELLS on Intent
About salman.ahmad
Salman Ahmed is doctor by training and a rock musician by profession. Salman went to school in his birth place of Lahore, Pakistan and then moved with his family to New York where he went to Tappan Zee high school in Tappan, NY.
After graduating from high school in the US, he got his medical degree from Pakistan's King Edward Medical college in Lahore. While in med school he was also a member of Pakistan's first pop band, Vital signs, whose debut album sold a million copies. The album included the mega-hit anthem "Dil, Dil Pakistan". The success of Dil, Dil Pakistan made the vital sign into overnight Pop stars. This is when Salman decided that he was going to give up his stethoscope and pick up this guitar. He left the Vital Sings in 1990 and founded South Asia's biggest rock band, Junoon.
Junoon has sold over 25 million albums world wide and has the distinction of being the first ever rock band to be invited to perform at the U.N. general assembly by U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan back in 2001.
Salman has also been appointed as U.N. goodwill ambassador for HIV/Aids. He has personalized the "I care, do you" U.N poster campaign in Pakistan by paraphrasing a popular quranic verse "saving one life (from aids) is like saving the whole of humanity". He's been interviewed and quoted in major newspaper and magazine publications like the New York Times, Boston Globe, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek and Time and has also appeared as a commentator on major television networks like CNN, BBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, MTV and VH-1 and other global media networks. Recently, he has appeared in two documentary films: IT'S MY COUNTRY TOO on muslim-americans and ROCKSTAR AND THE MULLAHS which has won a SAJA award. Both films have been broadcast worldwide on PBS and BBC.
Junoon has won channel V's "best international group award" in India has also been the subject of a VH-1 documentary, ISLAMABAD: ROCK CITY presented by Hollywood movie star Susan Sarandon.
Salman has been a passionate activist in promoting peace in the subcontinent. His efforts in bridgebuilding between India and Pakistan has resulted in a song/video he produced called Ghoom Tana. Ghoom Tana appears on his latest solo album INFINITY and is currently being broadcast on MTV desi in the United States.
Very Nice! I like the echoing sort of sound in the background for whatever reason it actually reminds me of dolphins!
Which is a very pleasant feeling or vibration for me!
I really like Qawwalis too to me they for sure are the door that opens a heart…and hearts need to be open to have peace and understanding….
WOW!! That stirred up emotions within me that are indescribable!! Your piece was beautiful and like Babita said it felt great vibrationally. I felt resonance.
Thank you for sharing.
Namaste,
Krissy
"Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, 'I'm with you kid. Let's go.'"- Maya Angelou
may we all sing… our voices echoing as bells, chimes of the universe