Adil Najam
Like so much of Michael Jackson’s life, Michael Jackson’s death has come as a shock to so many. Including many Pakistanis who grew up to the shadows of his soundtracks.
Do you have ‘Pakistani’ memories of Michael Jackson? Do share.
I must say I have been surprised by how many ATP readers have written to me saying that we should do a post on Michael Jackson’s death. I was not, at first, sure what the ‘Pakistan connection’ was. But one was made to reconsider as one heard of the MJ memorial set up in Karachi (photos below)and it was apparent how so many were so influenced by the personage of the ‘King of Pop.’
Indeed, there was a time when - irrespective of your economic and social class - the was to be ‘tich’ was to be like Michael Jackson. From Saab ji’s son to Saab Ji’s driver’s son, if you were ‘in’ you had to be MJ: the hair, the walk, the white socks, the tight pants, the persona at large. And no stage show from Peshawar to Karachi would ever be complete without the ‘performance’ of a Michael Jackson clone.
To me, the immediate memory of the Michael Jackson influence on Pakistan is embodied in the famous Fifty-Fifty skit above. Elsewhere on this blog, I have argued that this may be the funniest comedy skit ever in the best Pakistani comedy program ever. But the point I wish to make today is different. It is a point about Michael Jackson and the deep and varied impacts he has left all over the world in so many different ways!
I must confess, I was never a Michael Jackson fan, never owned a single track of his. But there is no one who has lived in the times I have lived in who could be unaware of or uninterested in the phenomenon that was Michael Jackson. I think he led a sad life, but a life that is worth celebrating becuase it gave the joy of music to so many.
May he rest in in peace.
Zia–that’s interesting; I had heard the same thing. Supposedly it happened while he was living in Bahrain. I don’t think anybody knows for sure, though, whether or not he was Muslim when he died.
I am glad Sindh Assembly had a one minute moment of silence for Michael Jackson.
Dear Aliarqam
The Opposite of “Mulla” is “Liberal fascist” .
None is comparing person like Mian Tufail Mohammad (Marhoom o maghfoor) with a singer & dance MJ. Yes, I agree with u that any comparison with two personalities is “Sin”
Have we offered Namaz Jinaza for MJ?
He is believed to have converted to Islam.
Comaprison of Mian Tufail with MJ and complaining Adil Najam for committing the sin of nt moaning for Mian Tufail….
Comaprison of Mian Tufail with MJ and complaining Adil Najam for committing this sin….
My comments in the word of Qurratulain Haider,
(Extract From Raza Rumi recent article in Friday Times on the depictions of post-partition society in Pakistan from a character of Quratulain Haider’s Novel “Aag Ka Darya”)
“The modern Kamal, an Indian who becomes a Pakistani, is where Hyder collates the reactions of her entire generation. Kamal, a migrant in Karachi notes six decades ago:
“Islam! Islam has had a rough ride here. If the Pakistani team begins to lose at cricket, Islam is endangered. Every problem in the world is ultimately reduced to this word Islam. Other Muslim countries resent the fact that the sole contractors of Islam are these people from Pakistan. Everything is being upholstered with narrow-mindedness. Music, art, civilisation, learning and literature, are all being viewed from the perspective of the Mullah.”
This is what I wrote to the Ny Times:
“Thank you NY Times for this opportunity. My introduction to rock n roll /pop was in 1982 through watching ‘Thriller’ as a young teen in Karachi, Pakistan. Ever since that I realized that even though I didn’t understand Michael’s music then (English language barrier mostly) nor do I still understand Hindu ‘Bhajans’ or Gregorian Chants just as others don’t understand Sufi Qawwalis of Islam. But music transcends language and man-made boundaries. As Nietzsche said: ‘Passions Dance with Music’ and so my passions danced with Michael’s music–they still do. If America ever needed one person who was acceptable to the rest of the brown, yellow, black, white worlds it was Michael Jackson. RIP Michael.”
This brings to mind the days when I could buy a cassette from a sidewalk vendor in Islamabad for all of 11 rupees. Okay, it was a pirated one, but I still have it (it’s “Bad”). There’s not much you can get for 11 rupees nowadays. Times change! I think that’s what “MJ” means to everyone who was a teenager during the height of his fame…some fleeting but sweet memories of when they were younger.