This weekend the desi population of Australia had a treat!
The famous Indo-Pakistan music band JoSH performed in Melbourne as well as Sydney and left fans wanting more Punjabi hits!
The band, consisting of best friends Qurram Hussain and Rupinder Magon, performed live with a team of musicians called The Fifth – a hard rock band from Fayetteville, North Carolina. Toronto-based YouTube tabla sensation, Shobhit Banwait was also present with JoSH on their tour to the far off continent.
Sydney’s crowd, mostly Pakistani and Indian fans, were singing along with the band and were lucky to hear some Bollywood classics from the 80’s and 90’s.
Qurram had previously shared how the Australia tour was special in many aspects: They were performing with a team of very talented musicians and bringing a new twist to their existing tracks to bring something special for Australia.
Shobhit shared how he had always been big JoSH fan, so it was an honour for him to perform alongside the band.
When asked whether JoSH started as Indo-Pakistan music band, Qurram said, “Though we’d love to take full credit, quite honestly, it was not created as something about Indo-Pakistan unity at all.”
“Rup and I met in a college bus in Montreal and there weren’t many desis in the city at that time. When you meet someone of your own skin tone, you immediately tend to smile and converse. Better yet, we found musicians in each other so here we are,” Qurram said.
For Rup, it never mattered that he was Indian and Qurram was Pakistani. He said, “Understandably, in the eyes of the world, it is a sign of unity. And one thing we can say for sure after travelling between the two countries is that there is definitely love and unity among the people. Sure there are fanatics and misinformed individuals that are perhaps not entirely in love with the other side but we believe that love and music can ultimately change that.”
