By Nutan Sehgal

Remember Junoon, the Pakistani Sufi pop group that had the subcontinent rocking in the mid-nineties with its monster hit Sayonee? If you remember Junoon then you will recall its charismatic lyricist and lead guitarist Salman Ahmed who has now gone on to become a legend not just as a singer-musician but as a tireless AIDS prevention campaigner as well.

Having trained as a doctor before he came into music, Ahmed traded his stethoscope for a guitar in the mid-eighties.

That's when the medical world lost a bright young prospect and the music world gained a new star.

But the medicine man in him stirred all over again with the rising incidence of AIDS in the subcontinent.

"The world that we live in is like the human body, if one region is affected by HIV & AIDS it poses a danger to all of humanity, regardless of gender, religion, national or ethnic identity," says the singer-crusader.

Salman has been the UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS in Pakistan and works relentlessly to spread the message about the disease.

He attends seminars and symposiums on AIDS across the globe and has an intimate knowledge of western and Islamic cultures.

Sometime back he was invited to former U.S.

President Bill Clinton's AIDS Global Initiative meeting where he met the renowned Prof.

Mark Rosenblum of New York University's Queens College.

The Professor invited him to come and teach at the prestigious university.

His project is to bridge the cultural gap between Islam and the West through music.

Promoting Awareness But there is one gap that he would like to bridge on a top priority basis with his music-that of spreading the message of AIDS.

Al-Vida the first video of his solo debut album Infiniti seeks to promote awareness.

The inspiration for the song was Ahmed's real life meeting with a woman whose husband died of AIDS and had made her HIV positive through unsafe sex.

The singer tries and capture the pain and suffering behind the dreaded disease.

"I know that a small infection in any part of the human body if not treated with care and urgency can easily threaten the whole body.

In an inter-connected world we no longer have the luxury to ignore HIV and AIDS." Ahmed set up Junoon in 1990 when he met fellow singer Ali Azmat.

A bass guitarist from America Brian O'Connell was invited to join the band.

The result was superhit albums like Junoon, Talaash, Inquilaab, Kashmakash, Azaadi and Parvaaz.

Through much of the nineties decade the band took world music by storm and sold over 25 million copies.

In 2001 it became the first rock band invited to perform at the U.N.

General Assembly.

Some years ago Junoon disbanded and all its members went into their solo careers but Salman still dreams of stringing together another band.

"When I conceived Junoon there were no member.

But soon enough we had a full-blown band.

I think the time has come to do it again." Showing his intent Ahmed has planning to come out with another album alongwith Indian tabla player Samir Chatterjee.

This album too would be devoted to the cause of AIDS.

"I've decided to contribute whatever I can in the fight against this fatal disease," says Ahmed who was in Delhi recently.

But he says, talking about sex is still a taboo both in Pakistan and in India.

"Why just safe sex - people don't want to talk about sex at all.

Parents are too embarrassed to discuss healthy sex with kids and this makes the task all the more tedious." Ahmed says that over 25,000 people test HIV positive everyday in India alone.

In Pakistan the authorities don't even know the figures.

"No one can lead our lives for us.

We are responsible for our actions ourselves.

So the younger generation needs to be very careful especially where safe sex is concerned." He says it is only through music that the message can be brought home as melody transcends all geographical boundaries.

His musical mission now is to prevent the scourge of AIDS from spreading both in India and Pakistan.

"We have to remind ourselves to see with the heart and to think beyond borders because it is only compassion and knowledge which can fight the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV & AIDS."