EVENT LEADERSHIP

John Forte Image
photo credit: Brandon Ralph

John Forté is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer from Brooklyn, New York best known for his work with the multi-platinum group, The Fugees. In addition to producing and co-writing tracks for The Fugees' The Score, Forté released two solo albums, PolySci (Columbia; 1998) and I, John (Transparent; 2002), which featured guest appearances ranging from Herbie Hancock to Carly Simon.

Forté is currently working on his new album, Water Light Sound (due out in Spring 2010), is the subject of a documentary about his extraordinary career and his commutation from former President Bush, going on tour with K'Naan and Wale, as well as scoring, producing, and writing his memoir with Simon & Schuster.

Most recently, Forté’s work was featured throughout the Sundance Film Festival where in addition to performances at the ASCAP Music Café, he scored all the opening festival trailers, had the end credit song in the film Night Catches Us (featuring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, and original music by The Roots), and participated in a unique audio and visual collaborative effort with Joe Gordon-Levitt's hitrecord.org. Through song and performance, Forté hopes to shed light on the issues facing at-risk youth and the need for prison reform. 

Salman Ahmad
photo credit: Chris Ramirez

Salman Ahmad, one of South Asia’s most influential cultural figures, is a musician, physician and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. With his wife, Samina, he launched an NGO called the Salman & Samina Global Wellness Initiative, SSGWI, focused on interfaith and cross-cultural dialogue, global health and wellness, and music education. Ahmad popularized a blend of Western rock music and Eastern/Islamic music that has been called “Sufi rock” and that has been hailed as a cultural bridge within South Asia and between the East and West.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Ahmad spent his teenage years in New York before returning to Lahore to train as a medical doctor. Turning then to his true passion of music, Ahmad founded South Asia's biggest rock band, Junoon, in 1990. Junoon has sold over 25 million albums worldwide and has shared the stage with artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Sting, and Wyclef Jean.

In 2001 Ahmad led Junoon in the first rock performance at the U.N. General Assembly Hall. Junoon performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in 2007. The group defied death threats from militants to perform in 2008 in the valley of Kashmir -- the first rock concert to be held in Srinagar.

Ahmad has written a memoir for Simon and Schuster titled Rock and Roll Jihad (released December 2009) and has written commentaries for the Washington Post’s "On Faith" website. He is a member of the Brookings institute's US-Islamic arts & culture panel for public diplomacy. Ahmad is also a professor at Queens College (CUNY) where he teaches music and poetry from Muslim culture.