Jauhar Saleem, who earlier served as an ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Croatia, is known for his literary taste and promotion of arts and fashion.
Since taking up his new assignment in Manama Bahrain, Ambassador Jauhar has already had almost eight cultural, musical and social get-togethers in the past six months and he has many in the pipeline, showing his conviction to the arts, culture and music.
Ambassador Jauhar also has great interest in music and has recently been working to produce some amazing love songs.
In a recent interview with 24X7 News he said Pakistan and India have had a great shared tradition of world class music and believes one should try to revive the broken links to keep the rich and old tradition alive.
“Top musicians and vocalists are equally popular on both sides of the border and are a manifestation of the fact that art transcends national boundaries”.
Regarding a beautiful love melody produced by him in collaboration with an avid musician who is also a senior banker, Ambassador Saleem said we have tried to put poetry back into music. Since the 1950’s South Asian music has been known for its beautiful lyrics and melodies. Somehow, in recent times we see a lot of music without powerful lyrics or melodies just resting on powerful beats and sexy videos. We do need catchy tunes such a Why Kolaveri di” or “Sheila ki Jawani” for dance numbers but that should not happen at the cost of original melody. He emphasized that “in our recent production “Aaj Nazar Aye ho” (which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmwA2q_6gQc ) is an entirely new experiment where the focus is on poetry and only piano has been used in the backdrop”.
As for the poetic inspiration behind such a powerful love song, Ambassador Saleem said that we all have some special memories of our youth that we always cherish despite their bitter sweet nature and the pain of longing that they bring.
When asked how as a top diplomat he could devote time for such pursuits, Ambassador Saleem said that “if one really likes doing something one can always find time. In the field of diplomacy there has been a great tradition of diplomats pursuing parallel interests in philosophy, arts and literature. I admire the fact that in Indian Foreign Service one diplomat produced a novel that ended up as a multiple Oscar winning Hollywood movie. There is definitely room for more of such renaissance men”.
Talking about his passion for music, poetry and prose, the Ambassador said that he always had a passion for arts, music, literature and sports.
“This has been reflected partly in my work as well where I have particularly pursued cultural diplomacy, which I believe is so very important in an era when countries have amongst other things become brands too. As you know only within the last few months that I have been here, we have organized various poetic recitations or “Mushairas”, arts and paintings exhibitions, music concerts and sports tournaments.”
“I believe one can pursue various interests while focusing on a particular vocation. The concept of “renaissance man” or people like Benjamin Franklin or Leonardo da Vince is being replicated in the modern era by people such as Richard Branson. In the history of diplomacy we can find many examples of eminent diplomats who were also great artists or philosophers or literary figures. Very recently an Indian diplomat authored the work “Slum dog millionaire” which ended up as a multiple Oscars winning movie.”
“While I do not have any pretensions to be on a similar track, but in my leisure time I do follow my creative pursuits including writing prose and poetry as well as music. I believe Pakistan and India share a great tradition of music which has transcended national boundaries.”
“This tradition was supported by great poet/lyricist such as Sahir Ludhianvi and Kaifi Azmi. Even currently many Pakistani musicians are incredibly popular in India and vice versa. But one trend that we see more and more in recent times is a little discouraging and that is the absence of the beautiful poetry or lyrics that were the highlight of South Asian music from 1940’s through 1990’s and still enthral the music lovers around the world. Nowadays we do find immensely popular songs which are literally devoid of any meaningful lyrics. I feel that is not the right path for a great music tradition such as ours.”
“Along with an old friend who happens to be a senior banker, but also an avid music lover, I have just experimented to render poetry in music. As you would notice only piano has been used so the emphasis is on the lyrics and not on the music, unlike the current fashion. Also an attempt has been made to depict the true feelings of the poetry though a mix of rendition and singing.
“As for the inspiration for the poetry involved I can say that most of us probably carry old memories which always evoke beautiful feelings even though they might be a mix of longing and cherishing. I guess I can leave it at that.”