"Ehtesaab" (Urdu: احتساب, literal English translation: "accountability") is the second track on the 1995 compilation album '' Kashmakash'' by the

sufi rock Sufi rock or Sufi folk rock is a subgenre of rock music that combines rock with classical Islamic Sufi music traditions. It emerged in the early 1990s and became widely popular in the late 1990s in Pakistan and Turkey. The term "Sufi rock" was co ...

band Junoon, and is the second single from the album. After the release of the band's first real big hit single "

Jazba-e-Junoon "Jazba-e-Junoon" (Urdu: جذبہ جنوں, literal English translation: "the spirit of passion") is a song by the Pakistani sufi rock band Junoon. It is the thirteenth and final track from the band's album third album, '' Inquilaab'' (1996), r ...

", which was the song of the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World ...

. "Ehtesaab" was their second hit and was released in December 1996. The video of the single was directed by Pakistani director,

Shoaib Mansoor Shoaib Mansoor (Full name, Shoaib Mansoor), ( ur, ; born 4 February 1951 Karachi) is a Pakistani television and film director, writer, producer, lyricist and musician of Muhajir origin. Active in the television industry since 1980, he first ...

. The controversial video release of the song mocked Pakistani politics and led to the video of the song being banned from PTV, Pakistan's State television. The video of the single also featured in BBC film ''The Princess and the Playboy'', an exposé on Benazir's and her husband's reign. In ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'',

Carla Power Carla Power is an American author. Early life and education As a child Power lived in St. Louis, Missouri and also in Iran, India, Afghanistan, Egypt and Italy as her family moved around. She studied at Yale University, then gained an M.Phil. in ...

dedicated a full-page story to Junoon with the headline "For God and Country."

Music video

The blunt, hard-hitting "Ehtesaab" video shows Pakistani children working backbreaking menial jobs, juxtaposed with fictional politicians gorging themselves at five-star hotels. It also includes a scene in which a horse is dining at a luxury hotel (a deliberated reference to polo ponies kept by Asif Zardari). Those mares ate better than many of Pakistan's poor. In air conditioned stables, no less.

Controversies

Junoon were courted for the controversial video release of the single which included footage of a polo pony eating in a posh restaurant by the Pakistani government. Many thought that the image was an indictment of the corrupt

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i political elite, and especially of former Prime Minister

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 ...

. The government quickly responded to it and banned the song and video from the state television. In 1997, Junoon went on their first Indian tour. The band's first concert was held in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. After travelling throughout the country, Junoon saw crowds of as many as of 50,000 fans at different venues. The band was courted for a controversy during their tour to India by the Pakistani government. The Indian government was testing nuclear devices at that time, and

Salman Ahmad Salman Ahmad ( ur, , born 12 December 1963) is a Pakistani born-American musician, rock guitarist, physician, activist, occasional actor and professor at the City University of New York. He earned nationwide popularity in 1998 for his uniqu ...

suggested that the Indian and Pakistani leaders should spend more on education and health and less on weapons. This led to a prolonged ban on Junoon's music by the Pakistani government. PTV, the Pakistan state television, refused to show the audience even clips from Junoon releases. The Ministry of Culture charged Junoon with making comments in India amounting to sedition and treason. The band members denied these charges reminding people of the fact that they had been victimised since the release of "Ehtesaab" because they chose to speak out against political corruption.

Track listing

Ehtesaab

Personnel

;Junoon *

Ali Azmat Ali Azmat Butt (born 20 April 1970) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the lead singer for the influential Sufi Rock band Junoon and for his subsequent solo career. In 2001, he became part of the firs ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

* Brian O'Connell -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

;Additional musicians *Backing vocals by Najam Sheraz

Published sources

(2010), '' Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution for Peace'', Free Press. .

References

External links

Junoon Official Website

{{authority control 1996 singles Junoon (band) songs Songs written by Salman Ahmad 1995 songs EMI Records singles