Authors@Google: Salman Ahmad

Salman Ahmad spoke and performed for Googlers in Mountain View on January 14, 2011. He spoke about his book "Rock and Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star's Revolution."

About the book:

Ahmad offers a fascinating glimpse into the complicated existence of a Pakistani whose unconventional life bridges the Muslim world and the West. As a teenager living in a New York City suburb, he fell in love with rock, dreamed of playing guitar in a band, and though his parents looked down upon what they thought was a ridiculous fantasy, determined to wage "a rock and roll jihad." He formed bands in both America and Pakistan, eventually transforming himself into a Pakistani national icon. He played the first-ever rock concert in war-torn Kashmir and, in December 2007, became the first Pakistani musician to perform at a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. He fills his story with colorful, often funny anecdotes of such incidentals as squiring Mick Jagger around Lahore (Jagger was in town attending World Cup play) and witnessing the 50-something rocker gyrate with a local dancing girl. Other anecdotes, especially after 9/11, are more somber. A hopeful, sensitive memoir in which music functions as a healing bond between peoples and cultures. --June Sawyers

Category:

Education

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• authors@google world peace
• Salman Ahmad
• Rock and Roll Jihad