Laal, Pakistan’s First Communist Rockers

NPR did a nice segment on Pakistan's Laal, whose name means "red" and whose music matches "revolutionary poetry" with traditional South Asian beats. Check out the group's video for the title track of their debut album, Umeed-E-Sehr, or "hope of a new dawn," below. Laal's red star rose last year, when then-president Pervez Musharraf removed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from power. Students and others joined Pakistan's lawyers in sometimes violent street protests. Laal played concerts in sympathy with the demonstrators. A track on their album sets a poem by one of the pro-Chaudhry leaders to music. Due to security concerns, the band has so far only played impromptu free concerts.