Music Pakistan: Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Ustad Nathoo Khan and Hamid Ali Bela (FRESH LINKS)

Sufi musician 

Response to recent posts on Pakistani music has been enthusiastic. I am delighted that many readers are discovering this wonderful musical heritage and especially happy that these artists are finding new fans and audiences. A sad reality of Pakistan is that culture, whether in the form of classical music, film, literature, drama and visual arts has been more often than not been criminally neglected. At times actively destroyed.

Institutions that support or promote Pakistan’s rich culture are few and far between. Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk Heritage) is an exception but even its archives are poorly managed and frustratingly inaccessible and meagre.  Many of the artists profiled on Washerman’s Dog retired prematurely for a lack of an audience, venues and official support. Others, like Mohammad Tufail Niazi, Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan Mando and Ustad Nathoo Khan died in abject poverty, ignored and anonymous to all but a handful of people. Ironically, their legacy and reputation is better known in India and internationally, than in Pakistan itself.

Which makes this collection of recordings so valuable. All lovers of these posts should congratulate Shalimar Recording for their contribution to keeping the flickering embers of Pakistani art and culture glowing.

Amanat Ali Khan

Ustad Amanat Ali Khan died in 1974 at the tragically young age of 42. Earlier that year he recorded the song of his greatest renown, Inshaji utho ab khooj karo. With a gamboling tabla conjuring a lilting bullock cart ride, the song is the final testimony of a world-weary man who is confronting his fate, but not with regret, and realizing he is now ready to ‘move on’ (khooj karo).

Inshaji, as the song is referred to, may be his final cri de cœur but it was but one single instance of brilliance from the (in the Dog’s opinion) the greatest singer in modern Pakistan. The list of ghazals that are forever associated with Amanat sahib is long and distinguished: Dil mein meethe meethe dard-e-phool, Hoton pe kabhi, Yeh arzu thi thujhe.  One can only regret the great man’s early exit from the scene.

The grandson of one of the founders of the Patiala gharana of Hindustani khayal, Ustad Ali Baksh Khan, who was also known as Jarnail (the General). This unusual title was awarded to the great man by the militaristic Sikh maharajas of Patiala as a sort of Punjabi ‘knighthood’. The family’s roots were in the Punjabi city of Kasur, home also to other iconic talents such as Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan  and Nur Jehan.  Amanat began singing at a young age and became known for performing with this younger brother Fateh Ali Khan. After Independence and Partition the brothers remained in what became Pakistan and gained respect and recognition as the torch bearers of the Patiala gharana.  While classically trained, appreciation for this highly refined art fell quickly away and Amanat sahib turned to the ghazal a far more accessible and popular form of singing. He is remembered for his sweet, high toned voice, his cultured manner and an incredible collection of singing offspring who dominated the ghazal scene in Pakistan in the wake of his death.

            Track Listing:

1.    Dil mein meethe meethe

2.    Honton pe kabhi

3.    Aa mere pyar ki khushboo

4.    Kabhi jo nikhat-e-zulf

5.    Yaar ko mein ne

6.    Ik khalish ko hasil

7.    Yeh na thi hamari qismat

8.    Ae dila hum howay

9.    Maza jahen ke

10. Jo guzri mujh pe

11. Yeh arzu thi thujhe gul

12. Aksar shab-e-tanhai mein

13. Yeh gumbad-e-meenai

14. Inshaji utho, ab khooj karo

Listen here.

Ustad Nathoo Khan

Ustad Nathoo Khan is regarded as one of the great sarangi players in the world. A malang by nature, Nathoo Khan was a man of few means, little formal training or education but great talent and soul. I copy a reflection on the great master, his instrument and the scandal of official neglect from a very useful blog, QAUL.

He was one of the artistes brought over to Radio Pakistan, Karachi, from All India Radio, by the Grand Old Man of Broadcasting, Z. A. Bukhari. Nathoo Khan was a malang, and his performances would reflect the must in his spirit. He would twitch and jerk along with every turn of musical phrase, creating a unity of body, soul and instrument—something that is achieved only by musicians like Zakir Hussain and Chaurasia these days.

Nathoo Khan was a permanent fixture at Radio Pakistan Karachi, lounging around the garden of the premises when he wasn't performing as accompanist, soloist or even time-segment filler. PTV in the earlier years (around 1965 or '66) did a documentary on him, showing him in his meager home, where he talked about his music and played his collection of various stringed instruments, all of which he handled with effortless mastery. It was one of the most memorable documentaries done by the stalwarts of PTV Karachi.

In order to get him his well-overdue recognition and improve his means, Omar Kureishi had him appointed to the PIA Arts Academy where he directed and composed a few orchestrals—not very memorable, most of it was the insipid music destined to be churned out over the airplane public address, to enhance the stupor of passengers. However he did compose a score for a dance ensemble that performed on stage in Karachi in quite a grand event. That was before breathing was deemed to be un-Islamic in Pakistan.

Omar wrote a piece on Nathoo Khan, in his reminiscent Dawn columns, 'The Past is Another Country' recalling a trip of the PIA Arts Academy to Geneva. They stayed at the Intercontinental, Geneva. Nathoo Khan's rather unkempt and threadbare appearance led the hotel staff to think that he was a menial, and they offered to feed him in the hotel kitchen. Omar, who was leading the delegation, went ballistic. Nathoo Khan ate at the regular restaurant and went on to enthrall the audiences.

The sarangi is one of the most complex instruments. While it has only three main strings, some thirty five to forty resonant strings provide it a unique timbre, and the older the sarangi, the better. Quite literally, a sarangi is considered coming into full song when it has been seasoned and played over a hundred years or so. The finger work is particularly difficult. Originally, masters of khyaal looked down on the sarangi and the sarangi-nawaz, as it was usual instrumental accompaniment to female singers, most of whom were courtesans. However around the thirties the tonal range of the sarangi was increasingly appreciated and made it the accompanying instrument of choice for the great masters of vocal Indian classical music. Nowadays the harmonium is more popular as it is much easier to play, and not as sensitive to variations in humidity and temperature. I dislike the harmonium. It is flat, noisy and tends to dominate the voice rather than augment it.

In the late eighties I attempted to collect Nathoo Khan's music in homage to his memory. It is a sign of our times and our assault on our cultural heritage that there was not a single recording that seemed to have survived in the Radio Pakistan archives. There must have been hundreds of hours of his music in that place. No one in PTV remembered the documentary that, like the audiotapes, was rerecorded over. (QAUL)

            Track Listing

1.    Raga Shudh Sarang

2.    Raga Pat Deep

3.    Raga Multani

4.    Raga Madh Kauns

Listen here.

Hamid Ali Bela

If you have spent any time at all around a sufi shrine you’ll recognize the sort of music Hamid Ali Bela sang: emotional, devotional and yearning. It is not the fiery fury of qawwali and not dissimilar (in spirit) to the Hindu bhajan.  It is folk music and Bela’s repertoire derives from the kafi (sufi poetry) composed by the great spiritual personalities of Punjab and Sindh, Baba Ghulam Farid and Shah Hussein. This poetry is so deeply ingrained in the popular culture and consciousness of the people of this region of South Asia, you could say it IS the bedrock of the culture. Unlike Mohammad Tufail Niazi with whom Hamid Ali Bela shares a strong folk connection, this collection is entirely focused on spiritual themes.  It is powerful, understated and tremendous music.

Shah Hussain

Shah Hussain (1538-1599) was a Punjabi Sufi poet. He was born in Lahore. His tomb and shrine lies in Baghbanpura, adjacent to the Shalimar Gardens. His urs (annual death anniversary) is celebrated at his shrine every year. It is known as “Mela Chiraghan” (”Festival of Lights”) and is the second largest festival in Lahore after Basant. It used to be the biggest festival of the Punjab. Shah Hussain’s love for a Brahmin boy called “Madho” or “Madho Lal” is famous, and they are often referred to as a single person with the composite name of “Madho Laal Hussain”. Madho’s tomb lies next to Hussain’s in the shrine. Shah Hussain was the pioneer of the kafi form of Punjabi poetry.

Baba Farid (1173–1266) was a 12th-century Sufi preacher and saint of the Chishti Order of South Asia. He is generally recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language and is considered one of the pivotal saints of the Punjab region. Revered by Muslims and Hindus, he is also considered one of the fifteen Sikh Bhagats within Sikhism and his selected works form part of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred scripture.

Baba Farid

Bābā Farīd was born in 1173 or 1188 AD (584 Hijri) at Kothewal village, 10 km from Multan in the Punjab region of the Chauhan Dynasty in India (now Pakistan), to Jamāl-ud-dīn Suleimān and Maryam Bībī (Qarsum Bībī), daughter of Sheikh Wajīh-ud-dīn Khojendī.[6] He was a descendant of the Farrūkhzād, known as Jamāl-ud-Dawlah, a Persian (Tajik) king of eastern Khorasan.

He was the grandson of Shaykh Shu'aib, who was the grandson of Farrukh Shah Kabuli, the king of Kabul and Ghazna settled in the Punjab in 1125.

One of Farīd’s most important contributions to Punjabi literature was his development of the language for literary purposes. Whereas Sanskrit, Arabic, Turkish and Persian had historically been considered the languages of the learned and the elite, and used in monastic centres, Punjabi was generally considered a less refined folk language. Although earlier poets had written in a primitive Punjabi, before Farīd there was little in Punjabi literature apart from traditional and anonymous ballads. By using Punjabi as the language of poetry, Farīd laid the basis for a vernacular Punjabi literature that would be developed later.

Among the famous people who have visited his shrine over the centuries are the famous scholar-explorer Ibn Battuta, who visited in 1334, and the Founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, who met the then head of the shrine, Sheikh Ibrāhīm, twice, and his meeting led to the incorporation of 112 couplets (saloks) and four hymns by Bābā Farid, in the Sikh Holy Book, the Guru Granth Sahib, by the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev in 1604. Guru Nanak was familiar with the verse of Bābā Farīd, and not only includes these verses in the Holy Book, but even comments on some of them. These verses are known to the Sikhs as the Farīd-Bānī; Guru Arjan Dev also added eighteen saloks from the Sikh Gurus, which add commentary to various of Bābā Farīd's work.

The city of Faridkot bears his name. According to legend, Farīd stopped by the city, then named Mokhalpūr, and sat in seclusion for forty days near the fort of King Mokhal. The king was said to be so impressed by his presence that he named the city after Bābā Farīd, which today is known as Tilla Bābā Farīd. The festival Bābā Sheikh Farād Āgman Purb Melā' is celebrated in September each year, commemorating his arrival in the city. Ajodhan was also renamed as Farīd's 'Pāk Pattan', meaning 'Holy Ferry'; today it is generally called Pāk Pattan Sharīf. (Wikipedia)

            Track Listing

1.    Meay ni main kinon aakahan

2.    Nayun la leya be parwah

3.    Ronda moal nal soonda

4.    Jeet wal menda mitr pyara

5.    Sajan de hath baanh assandi

6.    Menoon ambar jo aakhdi

7.    Koi dam maan ley

8.    Ni maaye moar je sakni

9.    Ni tenoon rub na Bhali

10. Wey sanwla

11. Hik hey hik hey

Listen here.

The Washerman’s Dog will be off line for a week. Enjoy the music and see you soon.

Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha - Rag Charukeshi

Janam din mubarak, Ravi ji!

Happy Birthday to Pandit Ravi Shankar, 91 years young!

Cultural Exchange (vol 2)! Avant garde Anglo Indian Jazz by way of Calcutta, London and Jamaica!

Cultural exchange is deep in the DNA of the Washerman’s Dog. Not only does the dog feel at home on either side of the tracks, he is known for deliberately leaving his home turf and finding new bones to chew. Or new places to lay. Places that mark the border between two territories are where he feels especially happy.

John Mayer

In the 1960s, as the rock ’n roll storm was building into the mighty whirlwind that would soon swirl across the world, a violinist in London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra named John Mayer was struggling to make a living doing what he was most passionate about, compose music. Here is his amazing story (thanks to AMG).

John Mayer was one of those multiple-threat music talents that made most other players' lives and career paths seem simple. Born in India to Anglo-Indian parents, he studied classical music and had a successful career as an orchestral violinist, but gave it up to work as a composer and, later, in jazz fusion as a composer-violinist-band-leader. From the mid-'60s onward, he made his mark in the fields of jazz, progressive rock, and world music. Along with Dave Arbus of East of Eden, Mayer was probably the most well-liked violinist among rock musicians in London during the late '60s, although his career is much more rooted in classical music. 

Joe Harriot

Born in 1930 in Calcutta  to an Anglo-Indian father and an Indian mother, his musical interests manifested themselves early, and at seven he was studying violin with Phillipe Sandre at the Calcutta School of Music, who agreed to teach him in his free time, because Mayer's parents lacked the resources to send him there as a paying pupil. He later studied with Melhi Mehta, who encouraged him, while in his late teens, to compete for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. By then, Mayer was determined to become a composer who would be taken seriously both in his own country and abroad. He also wanted to achieve this utilizing both European and Indian techniques, and toward this end he studied with Sanathan Mukherjee, who taught him the theoretical aspects of Indian classical music. At the time, he knew and heard little of jazz, although he did start sitting in as a drummer with jazz bands. Mayer won the scholarship, and arrived in London in 1950 to study at the Royal Academy. He had won through his violin playing, but he started out studying composition with Matyas Sether, who encouraged him to use the techniques of Indian and western music in serial composition. His money ran out after only a year, but he was fortunate enough to earn a spot in the violin section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Thus began a somewhat awkward eight-year period in which he played in the violin section of the orchestra while continuing to study composition -- despite having some of his works played by the orchestra, and conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, he didn't begin to make headway as a composer until Sir Charles Groves commissioned him to write his Dance Suite for sitar, flute, tabla, tambura, and symphony orchestra, which was premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1958. This early success, however, created problems with the management of the London Philharmonic, however, which was a conservative organization and didn't appreciate having a composer within the ranks of its performing musicians. Mayer was forced to leave his job at the LPO, but was hired by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, who asked him to join. Mayer began a happy seven-year relationship with the RPO, in the process learning a huge amount about orchestration (as well as conducting) from some of the finest players in England. By 1965, when he left the RPO's violin section, he was able to finally earn his living from his compositions and to quit full-time orchestral playing. Additionally, by that time, fate had taken a hand in his career --Mayer was known in avant-garde London circles for his work mixing western and Hindustani classical music, and in 1964, EMI producer Dennis Preston asked him if he had available a short jazz-based piece with which to complete an album Preston was working on. Mayer told him he did, even though he had nothing ready – Preston said he wanted to record it the next day, and Mayer stayed up all night writing the piece. He attended the recording the following day, and thought no more about it until six months later when Preston told him that he'd played the piece to Atlantic Records founder and president Ahmet Ertegun in New York, who'd liked what he'd heard and suggested that Mayer write music for an album which would fuse Indian music and jazz. Ertegun's idea was to combine the quintet of Indian musicians with whom Mayer worked, featuring a sitar, tabla, tambura, flute, with Mayer on violin and harpsichord, and a jazz quintet led by Joe Harriott, himself an under-appreciated alto player who had shown an appreciation of various aspects of world music. Mayer wrote the music in a month, and it was recorded by this group, known as the Joe Harriott & John Mayer Double Quintet, in two days. The resulting album, Indo-Jazz Fusions, was released in 1966 and became an immediate favorite in avant-garde circles and an unexpectedly good seller. Additionally, the group ended up not only in demand as a performing unit, but with a new name -- from that day on, they were known as the Indo-Jazz Fusions. Among those in the lineup was future Mahavishnu Orchestra bassist Rick Laird.

They cut a second album that did as well as the first, and played in England and throughout Europe for the next seven years, until Harriott's death in 1973. During this period, Mayer became a familiar figure in progressive rock circles as well -- he was mentioned as a mentor and colleague of Keith Emerson's on the Nice's third album, and credited with suggesting some of their repertory ("Diary of an Empty Day"); he later co-orchestrated and conducted the orchestra on the recording of Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto from Emerson, Lake & Palmer's album (the biggest-selling album and CD on which Mayer has appeared to date). Additionally, he played violin with a group called Cosmic Eye, who cut an album, Dream Sequence (EMI-Regal Zonophone), in 1972. Mayer devoted much of his time in the years after Harriott's death to composition and academic pursuits, and was rewarded with professorships and composer-in-residence positions at the Birmingham Conservatory. He revived Indo-Jazz Fusions in 1995, and resumed performing and recording with them (most recently on the Nimbus label), as well as composing new works with the same Indian-Jazz fusion idiom that he pioneered 40 years earlier. In March of 2004, Mayer was hit by a car and fatally injured. He was 73.

Who would’ve thunk it? The first person to introduce the word ‘fusion’ into rock n roll dictionary was an Anglo-Indian from Calcutta! 

Track Listing:

1.    Overture

2.    Contrasts

3.    Raga Megha

4.    Raga Gaud-Sarang

Listen here.

AMG's review of the album click here.

Merle Haggard - Swinging Doors

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU MERLE HAGGARD.

One of the most prolific, iconic, consistent and diverse song writers and performers in contemporary American music is 73 today.

Cultural Exchange! Russia and India

Soviet postage stamps commemorating Russian Indian friendship

Great Irony of the Cold War number 671: in South Asia, the Leader of the Free World (USA) supported a serial military dictatorship (Pakistan) while the Vanguard of International Communism (USSR) supported the world’s largest and liveliest democracy (India).

India and the Soviet Union have had a very strong friendship for decades. It was certainly but not entirely about global geo-politics, weapons and socialism. Russian advisors and technicians were scattered throughout India working on major industrial projects. Thousands of Indian students were educated at Soviet universities. And in the area of culture, folk, classical and popular music troupes from both countries regularly toured the other.  As a child one of my favorite story books (and one I still own) was Vasilisa the Beautiful, a collection of old Russian folk tales that my folks picked up at the local bookstore in Allahabad.

Today’s post recalls and celebrates that great friendship and is the first in a short series called Culture Exchange! 

In the mid 1980s a series of major cultural events called Festival of India were held in various places around the world. Sponsored by the government of India, their purpose was to promote the best of India to an audience that was in many cases still largely ignorant and skeptical of the country many thought of as a poverty stricken backwater.

On the final night of the Festival held in the Soviet Union (1988) Ravi Shankar accompanied by more than one hundred Indian and Russian classical musicians performed a concert at the Kremlin. Composed specifically for the occasion by Shankar, the seven pieces were in part meant to honor the heart-felt depth of the relationship between the two countries.  The highlight of Shankar’s suite is the monumental and very moving Shanti Mantra which never is amiss on a Sunday morning.

Shankar composed all seven of the pieces here as a melding of the musics of India and Russia. "Prarambh," the opening piece, is an ethereal sort of sound created by the amalgamation of Indian and Russian instruments both playing ragas. "Shanti-Mantra" is based on Raga Devagiri Bilawal, as well as the Shanta Ras, from the Bharatanatyasastra (oldest work of Indian music theory), and is performed by both the Indian vocalists, as well as the Government Choir. Three ragas are based on Raga Hemavati, Raga Kirwani, and Raga Basant Mukhari, and are performed solely by the Moscow Philharmonic musicians. "Tarana" makes use of a Punjab form of singing that utilizes nonsense syllables to great effects of rhythmic wonder. "Sandhya Raga," based on Raga Yaman Kalyan, is "basic" Indian classical music, without any Russian additions, and "Bahu-Rang" is the finale of the concert. It is based on Raga Mishra Pilu and has five movements, the first being instrumental, the second being call and response with the drums, the third being improvised thumri singing, and the fourth element being a folk portion that leads to the climax, a song "Unity of Friendship and Love" by Shankar. While the synthesis of Indian and Russian musics could leave a listener wary before hearing the album, Shankar remained almost solely with Indian music, though the performers may have been Russian. The album is definitely worthwhile, as the backing Russian chorus can add something to the music, though leaving Indian classical solely in the hands of foreigners can be a dangerous matter, as is proven on three ragas. Throughout, though, it's quite a nice album, worthy of the Shankar name being placed upon it. (All Music Guide)

Track Listing:

          1.   Parambh

          2.    Shanti Mantra

          3.    Three Ragas in ‘D’ Minor

          4.    Tarana

          5.    Sandya Raga

          6.    Bahu Rang

          7.    Shanti Mantra (reprise)

Listen here.

From the sublime heights of high classical art at the grandest citadel of Ancient and Holy Russia, we whiz across the ocean to Bombay to take in a show by a group of Russian jazz musicians called Melodia Ensemble. They were a big-band jazz outfit and were headlining at India’s premier international jazz event Jazz Yatra (now Jazz Utsav).  Their performance of funky sprightly and highly accomplished jazz was captured on tape and released in the Soviet Union by the state record label.  For years it has been only known and available to cultists but the Washerman’s Dog is very pleased to present Concert in Bombay recorded at the 1980 Jazz Yatra for your listening pleasure. 

Track Listing:

1.    Holiday

2.    Opus No. 2

3.    The Old Fort

4.    Whirlpool

5.    Remembering a Friend

6.    Birds in a Window

Listen here.