I distinctly remember this moment. I was eagerly waiting for the top song on the MTV India Top 20 show (I think I got the name right, or it is MTV top 20), while Nikhil Chinnappa was busy selecting his favourite person who “challenged the force of gravity on human body”. I knew it would be Junoon’s ‘Sayonee’; I mean, the top song, not the person. I was waiting for that song. I don’t think we had many music channels other than MTV, then (I think there was channel V, but I don’t remember waiting for any show on channel V. Gaurav, Symphony and Metallica came later, in 99 or in the 2000s). I could hear/watch the full song–I’m talking about Junoon’s Sayonee, to get you on track again– only on this show. This was way back in 1998. One song was enough to get me hooked. Audio cassette wasn’t available yet. I watched hours and hours of MTV to watch this one song. Then came “Pyar bina Dil Mera” from Junoon and then another song. Soon it became the top song everywhere, on other channels too. Junoon then played in the Zee Cine Awards show. I stayed up watching gazillion lux and other ads to watch them perform. woow, it was awesome, to put it in a cool youth lingo.
These were called pop songs. The category Sufi-Rock came later. I don’t know who came up with it. Later, with the internet, everything was getting truly democratized and I could easily get songs made on the other side of the border. Fuzon, Strings, Jal came soon. Akash and Roxen came later, I guess. I’ll save separate posts for Junoon, Fuzon, Strings, and Jal (I have an interesting story about Jal). This post is not about the sufi-rock-and-personal-history or Junoon or MTV. This post is about one particular song. The one you didn’t hear, most probably. Or, you heard it once and searched frantically for it. It is MHB’s ‘Andholan’. MHB, or Mekaal Hasan Band created this amazing song. You can get all the details about Mekaal Hasan on wikipedia or on the official website mekaalhasanband.com. Here’s the song. I’m sure you’ll love it.
Remembering an old Sufi Rock favorite
I distinctly remember this moment. I was eagerly waiting for the top song on the MTV India Top 20 show (I think I got the name right, or it is MTV top 20), while Nikhil Chinnappa was busy selecting his favourite person who “challenged the force of gravity on human body”. I knew it would be Junoon’s ‘Sayonee’; I mean, the top song, not the person. I was waiting for that song. I don’t think we had many music channels other than MTV, then (I think there was channel V, but I don’t remember waiting for any show on channel V. Gaurav, Symphony and Metallica came later, in 99 or in the 2000s). I could hear/watch the full song–I’m talking about Junoon’s Sayonee, to get you on track again– only on this show. This was way back in 1998. One song was enough to get me hooked. Audio cassette wasn’t available yet. I watched hours and hours of MTV to watch this one song. Then came “Pyar bina Dil Mera” from Junoon and then another song. Soon it became the top song everywhere, on other channels too. Junoon then played in the Zee Cine Awards show. I stayed up watching gazillion lux and other ads to watch them perform. woow, it was awesome, to put it in a cool youth lingo.
These were called pop songs. The category Sufi-Rock came later. I don’t know who came up with it. Later, with the internet, everything was getting truly democratized and I could easily get songs made on the other side of the border. Fuzon, Strings, Jal came soon. Akash and Roxen came later, I guess. I’ll save separate posts for Junoon, Fuzon, Strings, and Jal (I have an interesting story about Jal). This post is not about the sufi-rock-and-personal-history or Junoon or MTV. This post is about one particular song. The one you didn’t hear, most probably. Or, you heard it once and searched frantically for it. It is MHB’s ‘Andholan’. MHB, or Mekaal Hasan Band created this amazing song. You can get all the details about Mekaal Hasan on wikipedia or on the official website mekaalhasanband.com. Here’s the song. I’m sure you’ll love it.
Mekaal Hasan Band– Andholan