Izzat Majeed: poet, intellectual, music lover

For Izzat Majeed music was part of his soul. His exposure to music left an indelible mark on him and now owner of the Lahore-based Sachal Studios, he is slowly becoming known for his musical tilt, rather than his heavy investments in various businesses.
Music ran through the family: Majeed says that from an early age, he was exposed to music thanks to his family who were all music lovers. Besides, he recalls his house was right next to an auditorium where certain US jazz maestros came back in the 1950s as ambassadors for a few days and performed in that auditorium. But since he was only eight or nine, he did not have the honour of meeting them. Today his team, called the Sachal Orchestra is producing jazz music, using an array of instruments including tabla as percussion and flute in place of a saxophone. The wondrous melody inspired by the likes of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and several others are expected to leave jazz lovers all over the world in awe for its original arrangement and inspiration.
The launch of the album has been covered by the BBC on both television and its website,
praising the musical composition and looking forward to its contribution to the revival of classical music in Pakistan. Veteran American jazz musician Dave Brubeck has also described their interpretation of one of his tracks as “The most interesting recording of it he has ever heard”. Majeed is not an typical businessman. He may have worked in Saudi Arabia as advisor to oil minister, a post many would die to get. He may have bought and sold the well-known Union Bank in Pakistan and he may be one of the richest men here, but nothing equals his patronage for music and culture of Pakistan. Not just limiting himself to the poets of Punjab, he named his studio and his son Sachal after the Sindhi Sufi poet Saeein Sachal Sarmast, whose poetry he loves. In fact, he is a poet himself and has written a book full of his own poems ironically called ‘Random Prose’.
The fate of musicians under Zia: “When Ziaul Haq came and brutally massacred the music and art industry of Pakistan and cinema too died a sad and untimely death, these musicians, belonging from both folk and classical schools and who worked to create cinema songs, were left hungry and jobless,” says Majeed. “Some of them strove to keep the money coming in by opening up tea stalls or something else that was not their expertise. I had been disgusted enough with the Zia regime to leave the country but five years from now, I opened these studios and we have sold over 30 albums and have about 50 to 60 musicians working with us. Most of our work is film-based songs and folk music. We have released albums of artists like Mehnaz, and Ustaad Mazhar Hussain, and we have even released classical albums called Rang Ralian, Bandish, and Tarang,” he adds.
Reviving music through the Sachal Studios: Sachal Studios is now one of Pakistan’s premiere musical institutions, bringing to life classical music of a bygone era in a contemporary context, which has powerfully resonated with Pakistanis. In 2009, Sachal Studios released Tarang, a compilation of music by Pakistan’s greatest musicians to rapturous acclaim.
“Lahore especially has been a great cultural centre of the sub-continent along with some other cities such as Kolkata, which became so after the colonial rule was over,” says Majeed. “But Lahore has been naturally cultural, replete with heritage, fine arts and music since over 2,000 years. I am very inspired by the culture that today has been forgotten but still lies dormant under Lahore’s very skin. Even today young musicians are doing a good enough job of producing their work. So when our albums hit the market, people don’t look for Sachal Studios; they look for the artists. Our produced albums are sold only because of their great talent,” he says.
Businessman by luck: Funnily enough, Majeed maintains that his business achievements have only been because of ‘pure luck’. “Daal roti tou khaani hotee hai,” he jokes in his typical dead pan manner (A man has to make his bread and butter from someplace), pointing out that he never enjoyed doing business. “My interests have always been and will always be about art and music.”
In fact Majeed has even lectured about music in several colleges abroad, apart from his lectures on History of Islam for which he is renowned among intellectuals. His take on Islam and Muslims and the Islamophobia is very different than the usual lecturers. Since moving to England in 1992, he has observed the differences having been brought on thanks to terrorism in the East increasing Islamic militancy. In fact he is bold, outspoken and as Khalid Hassan commented in his article once, “never scared of crossing swords” with anyone.
“Islamophobia is very strong and there is no reason why it should not be,” he says. “Why don’t Muslims understand that when they live in another country they must do as that country asks them to do. Otherwise they should leave.” He is almost angry at this attitude of Muslims. “When you go to someone’s house you don’t bring along your cultural values with yourself. In fact you follow theirs and respect their space. Here we are using all the freedom given by the West and then throw tantrums with them. As a result, reactions from them have also become dangerous fascist and right wing like the French law of not wearing a headscarf. But what can you do? It’s their country after all. You take it or leave it.”
Likewise Majeed is somewhat pessimistic about the future of Pakistan, where Islamic militants are being home grown, and where he says the education budget is ‘less than the football budget’. “Until we do not improve our education system and produce at least two to three generations of educated people, we will suffer miserably,” he says. At present, Majeed is running his successful Sachal Studios and lecturing at various think tanks abroad.