Jawad Ahmad

A singer and musician, Jawad Ahmad was born to parents who are both professors of Political Science. This has been an important determinant of the course that his life, and most importantly, his perception have taken. The insight that he gained into the lives that people lead all over the world makes him want to strive harder for a better system where inequality and illiteracy can be eradicated while health care systems and the general standard of living can be improved. However he strongly opposes subversive elements in the society and believes in reforming the system from within.

His career in Music is preceded by a degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore and active participation in various societies including the music and the literary society which he claims formed the basis of a serious consideration of adopting music as a career much later in his life after he had graduated and left the band named Jupiters.

It comes as a surprise, that while he has received no formal education in music, most of his songs are written and composed by him. He claims to be an ardent admirer and a student of Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Mehdi Hassan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Tufail Niazi, Pathanay Khan, Hamid Aki Bela, Madam Noor Jehan, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosla, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Kishore Kumar, Eagles, Elvis Presley, Mohammad Rafi, Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd. He laments the absence of a formal institute in which music could be studied as a discipline as it is done so in India and most developed countries as well.

He has trained himself through listening to these prestigious singers and first lesson that he learnt and always upholds is an uncompromising attitude towards producing good music. Once he had set this premise, he got inclined towards greater experimenting evident through his first two albums , the first having a Sufi tinge and second being somewhat commercial oriented. It has also made him a versatile singer in terms of wanting to use both Urdu and Punjabi expression in his songs which has been much appreciated by his listeners.

Jawad Ahmad has established his presence in the music industry through his albums but aside from his albums he is also to be accredited with the Music Direction of the movie Moosa Khan produced and directed by Shaan. In line with this, another hit song, Mehndi was composed and sung by him for the drama serial Mehdi produced by Evernew Entertainment. It gained immense popularity due to its melodious depiction of emotions using folk beat. The popularity of the song was further heightened by its video directed by Ahsan Rahim and Amna Khan, two of the country's most talented video directors. He claims that music direction allowed him a margin of more creativity, as stated concepts were used to develop quality music, a rare phenomenon in the film industry in Pakistan.

The sensitivity and simplicity that he asserts through his music is not limited to the values that his songs reminisce and hope to enliven. His vision materializes through the impressive community service that he is involved in. Presently, he has been appointed by the Ministry of Health and the UNICEF as the ambassador of Pakistan for the eradication of Polio sung a song ‘Khushi Ho Teray Cahar So’. British Council’s Beyond Borders project, awareness regarding the dangers of drug addiction. In this regard, he has used his talent to produce a song called ‘Tum abhi to aa kar’ accompanied by a video to portray the social impact on an individual of drug intake. He sung another social awareness song ‘Taaleem Sub Kay Liey’ for a project of US Aid. He hopes to present the nuanced aspect of life in order to motivate people to realize their stakes.

Another turf is a programme against illiteracy, which he has been exploring for a while. In conjunction with this, he is currently running ten schools in the most backward and underdeveloped areas of Pakistan under the Taleem For all programme (www.taaleemforall.org).

Jawad has always been greatly inspired by the Aligarh Movement initiated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. It marks the first attempt by the Muslims to progressively align them with the need of the hour. Previously, Muslims had just been grieving the idea of Hindus enjoying a higher employment status overlooking the investment the later had made in educating themselves. Thus, his aim is to invoke the same sense of self-uplifting in the people of his country. The causes of distress and deprivation mainly express themselves through worsening economic conditions, a degenerating social structure and abysmal health care provisions. For Jawad the solution is mostly about increasing literacy so that people analyse the causes and consequences of perpetual scarcity and deprivation. Thus, his gift to this nation is schools network that he has started where primary education is dispensed for free. This is not only an attempt at increasing the standard of living of people in future but a parallel aim is to hunt for talent so that the number of potential stars being enabled to shine can rise.

Jawad Ahmad is accredited with both a cure for the soul and also a remedy for the society. It is only once in a million years that people seek to incite a revolution in paradigms and to reform material existence. Jawad stands amongst the pioneers of this potential change through recognizing that any transformation can be achieved only through redeeming the individual from within while also improving the environment that he functions in.