Last year seemed early...so now the debut concert

I was hoping that someday I would sing in Delhi and that too when I was comfortable in my skin as a ghazal performer. Last year when I got the opportunity by ICCR to sing in Kathmandu I was not yet ready for it, nor Kathmandu the place to try out serious Urdu poetry. (Imagine the harmonium-wala telling me that i should sing something in Nepali to win over the audiences!!)

Anyhow, now the time is ready and so am I. On the other hand there is the next album happening- the Faiz one unexpectedly and a concert is around the corner. So now I am ready to share my ghazal gayaki with the world. The reason for this delay is that it has taken me time to think whether this is really the thing I want to do for a long time ahead, and indeed with the sort of poetry i have in mind, this is the very work that I intend doing.  Now it remains to be seen what the response of the audiences would be- not that it worries me, for the ones who like serious poetry would surely like it, and the ones who are there for music would also not find it intolerable. But if someone is thinking I am going to do some sharab-shabaab gayaki...well they are in for a disappointment.

Bol ke lubb azaad hain tere

So now that the public art album is actually becoming a different format and one branch of it is evolving into becoming a FULL FAIZ album, it is becoming a seven compositions strong offering- two taranas, two nazms and three ghazals.

One of those nazm is Bol. Lyrics follow-

बोल के लब आजाद हैं तेरे
बोल जुबां अब तक तेरी है
तेरा सुतवां जिस्म है तेरा
बोल के जां अब तक तेरी है

देख के अहंगर की दुकां में
तुंद हैं शोले, सुर्ख है अहाँ
खुलने लगे कुफलों के दहाने
फैला हर एक ज़ंजीर का दामन

बोल यह थोडा वक़्त बहोत है
जिस्मो-ज़बां की मौत से पहले
बोल के सच जिंदा है अब तक
बोल जो कुछ कहना है कह ले

Hum Dekheinge- Faiz Tarana immortalized by Iqbal Bano

Hum देखेंगे
लाज़िम  है के  हम भी देखेंगे
वोह दिन के जिसका वादा है
जो लौहे अज़ल में लिखा है

जब ज़ुल्मों सितम के कोहे-गरां
रुई की तरह उड़ जायेंगे
हम महकूमों के पाँव तले
जब धरती धड़ धड़ धड्केगी
और एहले -हिकम के सर ऊपर
जब बिजली कड़ कड़ कडकेगी

जब अर्ज़े ख़ुदा के क़ाबे से
सब बुत उठवायें जायेंगे
हम एहले-सफा, मरदूद-ए-हरम
मसनद पे बिठाए जायेंगे
सब ताज उछाले जायेंगे
सब तख़्त गिराए जायेंगे

बस नाम रहेगा अल्लाह का
जो गायब भी है हाज़िर भी
जो मंज़र भी है, नाज़िर भी
उठेगा 'अनलहक' का नारा
जो मैं भी हूँ और तुम भी
और राज करेगी खल्के ख़ुदा
जो मैं भी हूँ और तुम भी हो

The first time I heard this tarana in the voice of  Mohtarma Iqbal Bano (of Pakistan)...i got goosepimples. I could never have thought I would one day be singing it myself, what to mention singing it for a new generation. It was completely unimaginable then. But the more I heard the song, the more I loved it and I just hummed it a bit. Then somehow I learnt it up and I found my voice could carry it well. So when I sang it in front of a few friends they also liked it and I gained further courage. I never felt to set it to another tune as this music is the most befitting one for it.

In any case I do believe in artistic respect and courtesy. Just because new artists will come in every generation the old art cannot be completely annihilated. The new must carry the old art and its traditions in respectful manner in their hearts, bring alive those songs for their own contemporaries, yet create newer music and bring newer sensibilities alive. Sadly the most mediocre of art in our country is revived in every generation, not the truly great. Maybe it is commerce, maybe it is playing safe or maybe it is just opportunism. Only the truly great among artists will re-create great art fearlessly again and again, because they would have the humility to acknowledge the greatness of the departed artists and yet their own art would neither be diminished nor threatened by the past. I hope to be an artist like that someday, who can carry the greatness of her own art and that of the other's without becoming insecure about any.

So just today I got the recording- the rough cut, before the final mixing and it is not sounding bad at all. I hope it will accepted by those who have not heard the original and the ONES WHO HAVE HEARD THE ORIGINAL TOO.

My prayers for that.

More Faiz

As I pen these words, the first cut, the rough cut of the new album is already playing on my computer. The song i have got struck to for now is darbar-e-watan. The music done by the arranger captures the spirit of my composition very well and it sounds quite powerful.

I am visualizing how this would look on a video. It could become a powerful performance. So those who have to work on that side of it are already in the know, just have to hear it now.

Meanwhile my heart it so torn due to Afzal's unjust hanging that i am back with my composing assistant- the harmonium. In the last few days, i began with Bulle shah first. Then it became Allama Iqbal and now once again Faiz- the one who is so deeply admired and loved.

The recent compositions are...this completely immersed itself in the notes of Shudh Sarang. Strange raag that keeps popping up in my mind and i think this is the second or third composition of mine in this raga.

नहीं निगाह में मंजिल, तो जुस्तजू ही सही 

नहीं विसाल मयस्सर तो आरजू ही सही 

Then the next one i worked on suddenly (coz i had not planned to even look at this poem) turned out in Bhimpalasi

गो सबको बहम सागरो-बादा तो नहीं था 

ये शहर उदास इतना जियादा तो नहीं था 

Ofcourse for some reason Sufi poetry wafts through my soul...and yet such injustice cannot make me but stand up and lend my voice. I have been reeling in my own suffering for so long that i had no ears left to hear the pain of the world i live in. NO MORE OF THAT. No more of me either.

ये उनके मंदिर ये उनकी मस्जिद

 ये ज़र्- परस्तों की सज्दागाहें 

अगर यह इनके ख़ुदा के घर हैं 

तो इन् में मेरा ख़ुदा नहीं है 

Shukriya Allama Iqbal- for leaving these lines for me to sing

Darbar-e-Wattan

Lyrics of the Faiz tarana


दरबार ऐ वतन में जब एक दिन, सब जाने वाले जायेगें
कुछ अपनी सज़ा को पहुंचेंगे, कुछ अपनी जजा ले जायेंगें

ऐ खाकनाशीनों उठ बैठो, वो वक़्त करीब आ पहुंचा है
जब तख़्त गिराए जायेंगे, जब ताज उछाले जायेंगे

अब टूट गिरेंगी जंजीरें, अब ज़िन्दानों की खैर नहीं
 जो दरिया झूम के उठे हैं, तिनकों से ना ताले जायेंगे

कटते भी चलो बढ़ते भी चलो, बाजू भी बहोत हैं सर भी बहोत
चलते भी चलो के अब डेरे मंजिल पे ही डाले जायेंगे

ऐ ज़ुल्म के मारो लब खोलो, चुप रहने वालों चुप कब तक
कुछ हश्र उनसे उठेगा, कुछ दूर तो नाले जायेंगे

I composed this tarana in the summer of 2012 sometime. Will look up the date for that later. recording in Feb 2013, as part of the Public Art Production project.

Parveen Shakir

Kafas mein hoon mujhe azaadiyaan awaz deti hain
Mere par khol do, purvaaiyaan awaaz deti hain

Kulsum was typing in Urdu for me when we spoke on the phone and she suggested this particular ghazal by the Pakistani poetess Parveen Shakir. I looked at the words and across the phone line this young woman was telling me that whenever she read this poem she felt so inspired.

I could see the yearning in the soul of the lady- and her simple desire to be free and soar like a bird. And as I sit down to make this blog-entry I am reminded of one of those poems which was my greatest inspirations in my long years of illness and soul solitude. It was one of the greatest Russian poets- Alexander Pushkin's words

Captive alone in a dungeon I dwell
Entombed in the murk and stillness of my cell
Outside in the courtyard in wild, frenzied play
My comrade, an eagle has pounced on his prey....(imagine me writing from memory!!!)

And then again I am reminded about my own poem- whose essence is that I am that falcon on the gular tree...So when I see the universal symbols of birds, freedom, heights, soaring, captivity, womanhood...I cannot but be moved enough to set it to some music. The music was set just by me looking at the words- as if it just rang in my ears and I just had to play the notes on the harmonium to bring them within the ambit of a particular raga. Never composed something whose music I heard in my ears before I touched the keys.

It was a great experience. And now I am wondering, whether the poetry was already carrying the music in its own folds, or how the melody came to me just by looking at the lyrics. Amazing experience and of course I shared it with Kulsum within twenty minutes of her suggesting me to sing this particular poem. Thanks my little friend.

There are two other Parveen Shakir ghazals in my repertoire and am sure more would follow, as I start looking for more women poets. Oh yes! the other ladies now are Zakya Ghazal and Dr.Naseem Nikhat (three ghazals this month)

Saba kidhar nikal gayi

Faiz is one of those poets I really deeply love, am inspired by and have played with for a long time. And now I see myself in a very strong position in terms of his poetry and my music. And I have a feeling (though no way to check this) that I would be the one musician who has the single largest collection of his poetry as part of my own musical repertoire.

That of course is no matter of surprise for me as I normally work a lot in one person's poetry, philosophy and worldview and where all I see convergences with my own, I sit down to compose. This summer this has happened with at least four other poets- viz. Ahmad Faraz (my initiative), Majaz Lakhnawi (thanks to Murad Ali) and then Naseem Nikhat (thanks to Mirza Arif) and possibly Parveen Shakir (thanks to Kulsum for reminding me)

So coming back to Faiz, I finally pushed myself to learn Iqbal Bano's version of the tarana- Hum dekheinge...and have already performed this in front of a Red group- to much applause. Then I composed myself another tarana-
darbar-e-watan mein jab ek din, sab jaane wale jaaeinge
kuchh apni saza ko pahuncheinge, kuchh apni jazaa le jaaeinge

Now I am looking at Mehdi Hassan's version of - Gulon mein rang bhare...and I know there is another Faiz ghazal he has sung. let me see which one it is. I really want to work on Noorjahan's- Mujh se pehli si mohabbat...but I am not convinced about her music, so I may want to compose my own in a raga. Let us see- or abandon it completely.

But then my own repertoire is so rich-that these additional gems are beautiful embellishments on a well made crown. Those ghazals ( i have mentioned the tarana already) go as follows-

• Sham-e-firaq ab na poochh, aayi aur aa ke tal gai
• Tum aaye ho na shab-e-intezaar guzri hai
• Tere gham to ja'an ki talash thi
• Kab yaad mein tera saath nahi'n
• Sab qatl ho ke tere muquabil se aaye hain 
• Sahal yoon raah-e-zindagi ki hai (rejected by everyone for poor poetry)

And  of course I have been toying with the nazm -bol ke lab azaad hain tere (though not yet sung with any accompanying artist, because I am yet to be fully convinced about its music) I have a feeling I am missing out on something else here. But till I look up my books, I cannot recall which one it is.

Who knows, since I have Faiz back on my harmonium these days, I may start working on something more...the idea is to be suffused with the poetry. But alas! cannot sing this all in one program unless that program itself is around Faiz. But I know I have done a neat job -taken me nearly 5-7 years of silently working away...to that point now where when artists listen to me, they nod in appreciation. The world may never hear me, but when artists nod, I know I have been true to myself, my music and my riyaaz.

The title of this blog post is from Faiz's ghazal- sham e firaq ab na poochch