over to the carpet I go the woman that
you see over here in the picture which
is a bit dark I’m afraid but is my wife
was also sitting here in the audience
[Applause]
I’m well I do I wear a couple of hats
the first one is that I’m a professor of
political science at the Lahore
University of Management Sciences I
altered this authored this book called
the class structure of Pakistan which
also won the after Hamid Khan award for
best book of social sciences of 2012 in
which I looked at the class structure of
Pakistan I also have a television series
called the history of philosophy in Urdu
which covers everything from the Greeks
all the way to the 14th century and
hopefully in this coming year I’ll make
the second part of that series which
will cover everything from the
Renaissance to the modern age and but
aside from my academic careers I am also
a musician and I was inspired by
musicians who use their art for social
change and when I look back into history
we see that there’s a rich tradition of
that in fact Plato the great philosopher
a thought that any musical innovation is
full of danger for the state and ought
to be prohibited when modes of music
music change the fundamental laws of the
state always change with them so that’s
how subversive he thought music could
arguably be by the way he wasn’t trying
to subvert the state when he said this
he was trying to in fact keep this
consolidate the state but also a
beautiful phrase by Leo Tolstoy who says
universal art illustrates that people
are already united in the oneness of
life’s joys and sorrows and to me that
really comes true with music that it
unites us it brings us together and
that’s what I wanted to do with my music
now music has a long and incredible
history with the in its relation to
social change when you think of music
today you think of the of what’s on your
TV screen which is music
utilized only for one particular purpose
and that the purpose there is of course
either to advertise a film or to sell a
product or to just say you let’s have a
good time it’s used purely for
entertainment but that’s not always been
the purpose of music although of course
music always entertains it never fails
to do that but from the Renaissance to
Bob Marley it has inspired social change
it has you know slogans become songs
songs become slogans this has been the
history of the music of resistance and
we see that also in our own culture in
our own history you can look at the Sufi
poetry and how it’s such a vital part of
our culture and heritage you can look at
the traditions of all do poetry in
particular progressive literature and
poetry which was mentioned as the theme
of today’s TED Talks Fair’s Emmett fairs
but also Habib jolly and also a Matt
Farah’s and so on and then you can also
examine folk in classical music you see
my understanding is that culture
reflects the emotional the collective
emotional intelligence of a civilization
we talk about the intelligence quotient
we talk about you know technical
intelligence you are all here engineers
and various other forms of scientists
but culture and the art is as important
to society as building roads and bridges
and developing information technology
because it is the repository of our
emotional intelligence of a collective
emotional intelligence how do you know
how to approach someone how to talk to
someone how to speak to someone that is
all part of our culture and that we get
through our music through our poetry and
through our literature through art and
so on in South Asia you can see them how
the poetry and music of resistance has
been we can see it in the context of the
bhakti movement the Sufi movement
progressive music in Pakistan Iqbal Bono
singing fares and ne’er inaud singing
fares and so on and most importantly
music connects to the young to some to –
to people who really want to change the
world let me put a little bit of context
on what I was trying to do how I grew up
listening to music and what I wanted to
do with with music in the
future how did popular music develop in
Pakistan now you saw an example a
brilliant example of classical music
just before me but what I was
principally interested in was not
classical music as I was growing up but
popular music there’s a joke that’s
often made and I think it’s it’s
somewhat true a rock musician plays
three chords to three thousand people a
classical musician plays three thousand
chords to three people the level of
skill of a musician is not necessarily
comparable to their popularity no okay
so how did this all begin this love that
I had for music and I wanted to use well
it began with this little device called
a cassette in the 1980s suddenly
Pakistan you know in Pakistan we could
get cassettes
we listened to Madonna we listened to
Michael Jackson yes we did I accept it I
admit it you know although I wouldn’t
probably listen to certainly not Madonna
anymore but and Michael Jackson was
actually quite a phenomenal musician no
doubt about that and you know many of
many many popular musicians in Pakistan
began to copy their tunes and it was
only decades later when YouTube came
around that we discovered how many of
the tunes that we grew up listening to
were actually just copies of tunes in
the West now here’s the interesting
thing
the cassette revolution is said to have
sparked the Iranian Revolution because
you know Ayatollah Khomeini used to
first and foremost thanks to the you
have no food album that year on Saints
fans really introduced to me I don’t
think I would have but I would have
fallen in love with best for it not
possible for this particular happen and
then there’s a tiny pill of a soul but
this brilliant idea he said you know
whatever you do I am going to repackage
Pakistani popular usage remember this
was a period this is a conservative
period back such a strange superior
military dictatorship you have down
wearable program of Islamization but
when shipments all decided just as now
nausea had made puppet had made disco
music very popular he was soon take pop
music and he was would do we package it
in a way in which he could sell it as
being patriotic and he could talk about
music contributing to national and so
into science with this day Pakistan
which became of massive it and very soon
now we may talk about the
commercialization that related books to
do but actually you know it was it
starts right from there and Pepsi was in
on it in a huge weight coca-cola was
something in a corner today’s the other
way around so people see that really you
know sort started pushing this new kind
of music that mentor party sounds your
imagination and populations were proton
old I remember it was focus when an
album used to come out musicians would
say okay I will make it album maybe ten
songs of the album nine of which will be
with Gabriel and Michael broke in 1988
that was when super music and Cavalli
especially for me and the other Patriot
Brooks was someone I don’t always agree
with everything he says but when he
wrote this you know when he picked up
his guitar and you notice instrumental
piece called he’d I heard okay great
when he grows that particular track that
was the first time that we heard a
guitar playing semi classical Eastern
June we could never imagine that a
guitar could actually play something
that would sound so East and sound it’s
so beautiful so wonderful and so I grew
up with these influences and then hello
inclusion that I don’t know what he got
Hispanic wrong but nonetheless that’s
how things are today me getting spelling
on Spotify you know when they combine
classical photos with with rock music
popular music I think they really
started what we can say you know what
it was in the air you know because it’s
a good so have we reached the end of
this creative journey that now said
began that important progressive music
with the new Salman amber fusion
etcetera etcetera and we reach the end I
self-promotion here
Layton it doesn’t matter in 2006 began
the lawyers movement and I wrote the
track which in fact I originally
proposed when I was about your age which
will score for me they saw I we came up
with an album then we created this album
to the restoration of democracy party
Sam you work with the lawyers Cooper the
respiration of the judiciary and we try
to introduce the idea that one could
make good music popular music that would
also carry the socialist and the news
channel said to me and the promoter said
to me this will work in a niche market
maybe you do a light nice TEDx talk
singing about now
and if nobody’s you need please really
true we turn up two albums and another
11 singles HP we have actually 1.25
million likes on Facebook and then a
number of campaigns the lawyers movement
already campaigning for us big relief in
2005 the wrong body
then we went you to the lowest movement
2006 we want to raise money quickly to
space people in 2009 we want justice for
Shazi was shot by Xiao GUI who actually
just come out of a prison but now of
course biggest campaign is a campaign
against religious extremism in Pakistan
or another that’s for it
fire it extremism a box on which and
it’s continuing today you know when you
buy change over and get in trouble so my
page will spend what time and Express
carried the headline love express
yourself exactly what that happens
you’ve touched covered in etc from that
point onwards we went from people
we are going to change the way we live
our lives
I could never have people in a way of
connected to my own people in a way I
would not have been able to wear it not
for this campaign and this opportunity
and let me tell you they are they have
hearts that are absolutely massive
embrace you wherever they go
there are lovers of the endeavors of
music and there are lovers of peace and
prosperity
[Applause]
a small event for the media to cover but
if somebody were to travel with me they
would be they would understand that the
people of Pakistan are not extremists in
their views or
narrow-minded people they have stopped
thinking so I end with this final talk
and the third is people ask me they move
that music change society then music
bring about political source of change
let us do that and I answer with this
thing on which it’s not a question of
whether I do it or music can do it it’s
a question of whether you can do it are
you ready
give the time [Applause]
you see over here in the picture which
is a bit dark I’m afraid but is my wife
was also sitting here in the audience
[Applause]
I’m well I do I wear a couple of hats
the first one is that I’m a professor of
political science at the Lahore
University of Management Sciences I
altered this authored this book called
the class structure of Pakistan which
also won the after Hamid Khan award for
best book of social sciences of 2012 in
which I looked at the class structure of
Pakistan I also have a television series
called the history of philosophy in Urdu
which covers everything from the Greeks
all the way to the 14th century and
hopefully in this coming year I’ll make
the second part of that series which
will cover everything from the
Renaissance to the modern age and but
aside from my academic careers I am also
a musician and I was inspired by
musicians who use their art for social
change and when I look back into history
we see that there’s a rich tradition of
that in fact Plato the great philosopher
a thought that any musical innovation is
full of danger for the state and ought
to be prohibited when modes of music
music change the fundamental laws of the
state always change with them so that’s
how subversive he thought music could
arguably be by the way he wasn’t trying
to subvert the state when he said this
he was trying to in fact keep this
consolidate the state but also a
beautiful phrase by Leo Tolstoy who says
universal art illustrates that people
are already united in the oneness of
life’s joys and sorrows and to me that
really comes true with music that it
unites us it brings us together and
that’s what I wanted to do with my music
now music has a long and incredible
history with the in its relation to
social change when you think of music
today you think of the of what’s on your
TV screen which is music
utilized only for one particular purpose
and that the purpose there is of course
either to advertise a film or to sell a
product or to just say you let’s have a
good time it’s used purely for
entertainment but that’s not always been
the purpose of music although of course
music always entertains it never fails
to do that but from the Renaissance to
Bob Marley it has inspired social change
it has you know slogans become songs
songs become slogans this has been the
history of the music of resistance and
we see that also in our own culture in
our own history you can look at the Sufi
poetry and how it’s such a vital part of
our culture and heritage you can look at
the traditions of all do poetry in
particular progressive literature and
poetry which was mentioned as the theme
of today’s TED Talks Fair’s Emmett fairs
but also Habib jolly and also a Matt
Farah’s and so on and then you can also
examine folk in classical music you see
my understanding is that culture
reflects the emotional the collective
emotional intelligence of a civilization
we talk about the intelligence quotient
we talk about you know technical
intelligence you are all here engineers
and various other forms of scientists
but culture and the art is as important
to society as building roads and bridges
and developing information technology
because it is the repository of our
emotional intelligence of a collective
emotional intelligence how do you know
how to approach someone how to talk to
someone how to speak to someone that is
all part of our culture and that we get
through our music through our poetry and
through our literature through art and
so on in South Asia you can see them how
the poetry and music of resistance has
been we can see it in the context of the
bhakti movement the Sufi movement
progressive music in Pakistan Iqbal Bono
singing fares and ne’er inaud singing
fares and so on and most importantly
music connects to the young to some to –
to people who really want to change the
world let me put a little bit of context
on what I was trying to do how I grew up
listening to music and what I wanted to
do with with music in the
future how did popular music develop in
Pakistan now you saw an example a
brilliant example of classical music
just before me but what I was
principally interested in was not
classical music as I was growing up but
popular music there’s a joke that’s
often made and I think it’s it’s
somewhat true a rock musician plays
three chords to three thousand people a
classical musician plays three thousand
chords to three people the level of
skill of a musician is not necessarily
comparable to their popularity no okay
so how did this all begin this love that
I had for music and I wanted to use well
it began with this little device called
a cassette in the 1980s suddenly
Pakistan you know in Pakistan we could
get cassettes
we listened to Madonna we listened to
Michael Jackson yes we did I accept it I
admit it you know although I wouldn’t
probably listen to certainly not Madonna
anymore but and Michael Jackson was
actually quite a phenomenal musician no
doubt about that and you know many of
many many popular musicians in Pakistan
began to copy their tunes and it was
only decades later when YouTube came
around that we discovered how many of
the tunes that we grew up listening to
were actually just copies of tunes in
the West now here’s the interesting
thing
the cassette revolution is said to have
sparked the Iranian Revolution because
you know Ayatollah Khomeini used to
first and foremost thanks to the you
have no food album that year on Saints
fans really introduced to me I don’t
think I would have but I would have
fallen in love with best for it not
possible for this particular happen and
then there’s a tiny pill of a soul but
this brilliant idea he said you know
whatever you do I am going to repackage
Pakistani popular usage remember this
was a period this is a conservative
period back such a strange superior
military dictatorship you have down
wearable program of Islamization but
when shipments all decided just as now
nausea had made puppet had made disco
music very popular he was soon take pop
music and he was would do we package it
in a way in which he could sell it as
being patriotic and he could talk about
music contributing to national and so
into science with this day Pakistan
which became of massive it and very soon
now we may talk about the
commercialization that related books to
do but actually you know it was it
starts right from there and Pepsi was in
on it in a huge weight coca-cola was
something in a corner today’s the other
way around so people see that really you
know sort started pushing this new kind
of music that mentor party sounds your
imagination and populations were proton
old I remember it was focus when an
album used to come out musicians would
say okay I will make it album maybe ten
songs of the album nine of which will be
with Gabriel and Michael broke in 1988
that was when super music and Cavalli
especially for me and the other Patriot
Brooks was someone I don’t always agree
with everything he says but when he
wrote this you know when he picked up
his guitar and you notice instrumental
piece called he’d I heard okay great
when he grows that particular track that
was the first time that we heard a
guitar playing semi classical Eastern
June we could never imagine that a
guitar could actually play something
that would sound so East and sound it’s
so beautiful so wonderful and so I grew
up with these influences and then hello
inclusion that I don’t know what he got
Hispanic wrong but nonetheless that’s
how things are today me getting spelling
on Spotify you know when they combine
classical photos with with rock music
popular music I think they really
started what we can say you know what
it was in the air you know because it’s
a good so have we reached the end of
this creative journey that now said
began that important progressive music
with the new Salman amber fusion
etcetera etcetera and we reach the end I
self-promotion here
Layton it doesn’t matter in 2006 began
the lawyers movement and I wrote the
track which in fact I originally
proposed when I was about your age which
will score for me they saw I we came up
with an album then we created this album
to the restoration of democracy party
Sam you work with the lawyers Cooper the
respiration of the judiciary and we try
to introduce the idea that one could
make good music popular music that would
also carry the socialist and the news
channel said to me and the promoter said
to me this will work in a niche market
maybe you do a light nice TEDx talk
singing about now
and if nobody’s you need please really
true we turn up two albums and another
11 singles HP we have actually 1.25
million likes on Facebook and then a
number of campaigns the lawyers movement
already campaigning for us big relief in
2005 the wrong body
then we went you to the lowest movement
2006 we want to raise money quickly to
space people in 2009 we want justice for
Shazi was shot by Xiao GUI who actually
just come out of a prison but now of
course biggest campaign is a campaign
against religious extremism in Pakistan
or another that’s for it
fire it extremism a box on which and
it’s continuing today you know when you
buy change over and get in trouble so my
page will spend what time and Express
carried the headline love express
yourself exactly what that happens
you’ve touched covered in etc from that
point onwards we went from people
we are going to change the way we live
our lives
I could never have people in a way of
connected to my own people in a way I
would not have been able to wear it not
for this campaign and this opportunity
and let me tell you they are they have
hearts that are absolutely massive
embrace you wherever they go
there are lovers of the endeavors of
music and there are lovers of peace and
prosperity
[Applause]
a small event for the media to cover but
if somebody were to travel with me they
would be they would understand that the
people of Pakistan are not extremists in
their views or
narrow-minded people they have stopped
thinking so I end with this final talk
and the third is people ask me they move
that music change society then music
bring about political source of change
let us do that and I answer with this
thing on which it’s not a question of
whether I do it or music can do it it’s
a question of whether you can do it are
you ready
give the time [Applause]
Please follow and like us: