Former Junoon guitarist Salman Ahmad recalled his days with Junaid Jamshed and Vital Signs, one of the most popular pop bands to have graced the country's music scene.
Recalling the early days of Vital Signs, Salman said he and Junaid went from Lahore to Rawalpindi and then onto Lalazaar to Rohail Hayat's house.
"We reached on April 9, 1988. We practiced at night for the new Vital Signs album and were composing songs."
He recalls that Junaid woke him up early the next morning saying, "wake up! We have been attacked". On April 10, 1988, the arms depot at Ojhri camp went up in flames and shook the twin cities with the force of the explosion which followed.
"At that time there weren't many channels. It was only PTV, and they said nothing had happened, but we later realised how close we were to death."
"Vital Signs launched at a time when there was a lot of instability and the country was ruled by a dictator. At that time, Dil Dil Pakistan gave people a picture of the country which was in our hearts. Those were difficult days."
He recalled that his journey with Vital Signs began in his college days, and he fully contributed to the first album and composed songs during an era when dictatorship ended in the country and democracy established.
"Democracy was established in the country after Benazir Bhutto took hold of the country, it was also the time when our first album was released."
"We were invited to her house where we performed and she told us that she wants a new Pakistan where democracy and the youth will be at its forefront. She also told us that she wanted us to represent them," said Salman.
He added that they thought they were in a fantasy as wherever they went people recognised them.
"There was no corner of Pakistan where we hadn't performed. And we were getting invitations from the world over," added the former Junoon guitarist.
"We felt as if the entire world was in our hands. We also felt that fame, money and power were very artificial things and could lead to a person's fall if the individual didn't keep their balance," said Salman while recalling the fame the band received after Dil Dil Pakistan became Pakistan's second anthem.
"When you achieve fame and money quickly, conflict can arise. The same happened with Vital Signs, we started fighting over small things, sometimes on music othertimes on who was getting more fame," further added Salman.
Junaid and I remained friends but I quit Vital Signs, I was a licensed medical doctor and I didn't want to quit my field to become a popular star, said the guitarist,
He also stated that Junaid understood his reasons for leaving the band.
"After that, Vital Signs started splintering and Junaid would say he was unsure if he should continue with music or take part in social work."
"A huge part of our discussion was on religion and spirituality. And I wasn't surprised at all, when Junaid, who I considered an Islamic history search engine, started mingling with Tableegi Jamat," said the guitarist while shedding light on Junaid's journey down the religious path.
"I think he had a lot of pressure on him to transition from one image to another – from a clean-cut youth to beard, shalwar kameez, topi donning scholar. The transition was very difficult for him," said Salman of Junaid's transformation.
He also praised Junaid for the highs and downs he faced during his transition and praised him for continuing the journey he started.
