Queen of the Ghazal: Begum Akhtar

To round off this mini-series of women singers who better to take center stage than Akhtari Bai Faizabadi or as she was known by her stage name, Begum Akhtar.

Begum Akhtar was the real thing when it came to thumri, dadra and ghazal. Unlike Lata Mangeshkar and Meena Kumari who sang and acted ‘like’ courtesans (tawaif) in films such as Pakeezah, Begum Akhtar was one of the last links to that north Indian mujra culture that has so captured the imaginations of writers, historians and artists for the past 150 years.

Born in the small mofussil town of Faizabad about 100 kilometers from Lucknow, the great center of late-Mughal north Indian culture and art, Akhtari Bai’s life was not too far off from the conflicted story of Sahibjaan depicted in Pakeezah. The tawaif’s life was lived in a tough triangle of lust, shame and desire (for respectability). Many a man with means, social backing and unrealistic expectations tried their hand at taming the shrew.

In the early 20^th century a young Faizabad lawyer fell in ‘love’ with and married a tawaif but soon tired of her (and one assumes, the  social opprobrium).  Like a villainous lover in the Bollywood melodrama, he abandoned his wife and two young daughters, including one named Bibbi.  Bibbi had an ear for a melody and a relative arranged for her to study with Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan.  Under his tutelage Akhtari Bai gained a grounding in thumri, khayal and dadra as well as ghazal. Her sweet voice and good looks were perfectly suited to a film career and though she did act and sing in several films she quickly chose the path of classical music.

At the age of 31 Akhtari Bai, in her own bid for respectability, married a successful Lucknow lawyer who immediately imposed a ban on her singing in public.  The girl who had been raised in a mileu of song and dance, who had studied and perfected several styles of semi-classical singing and who neither knew nor wanted any other life, was silenced.  Again, one need not think too long before the mind turns to any of a hundred cruel screen husbands from Bombay.

Begum Akhtar’s spirit wilted and she became sick. Physicians at last recommended that her only hope was to return to singing and her husband relented.  On the day after she recorded her first ghazals after 4 years of imposed silence, she wept in the studio.  In the remaining years of her life she went on to perform regularly on All India Radio, TV and stages all across India.  She earned the name Queen of the Ghazal. The great Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi is quoted as saying “The word ghazal has two meanings: Begum Akhtar.”

Tonight’s choice is a collection of 6 ghazals recorded 5 years before her death in 1974.  All are fine examples of her command of melody and rhythm, with so many great performances.  My own favorite being Ilaahi kaash gham-e-ishq.

            Track Listing:

        01 Kuchh Duniyan ki Inayaat ne Dil Tod Diya

02 Ab To Yahi Hain

03 Bazm se Unki

04 Ab Chalakte Hue Saaghar

05 Kis Se Poochain

06 Ilahi Kaash Gham-e-Ishq

Listen here.

The Wonder that Was Afghanistan: Nashenas

This is a very special post. Indeed, it is probably the most significant post since the Washerman’s Dog began.  On offer tonight is a very rare (nay, extremely rare) collection of music from Afghanistan.  These recordings were made in 1990 as a ‘labour of love’ by one of my colleagues in the UN when we both were posted in Pakistan.

The late 1980s were a period of intense activity in Afghanistan. The Soviets had admitted defeat (unlike the Americans today) and were in the process of pulling their forces back to Mother Russia. The bearded fanatics from whom, a few years hence would spring the Taliban, were punch drunk from their victory and cashed up with Saudi and American dollars. For secular, progressive and moderate Afghans, whether in Kabul or the sprawling refugee camps floating like human oceans around Peshawar and Quetta in Pakistan, life took a decided turn for the worse. Many were assassinated and plenty more were threatened with the same fate. Educated Afghan professionals who had managed to survive the Soviet occupation fled to Pakistan in great numbers.  Although a peace accord had been signed in Geneva, on the ground, chaos was the reality.

Dr Md Sadiq Fitrat 'Nashenas'

Among the professionals who fled to Pakistan in the late 80s was Dr Mohammad Sadiq Fitrat, popularly known as Nashenas (The Unknown One). Although I was not, in those days, a fan of Afghan music, I was aware of the whispered ripples of news that made it to our office in Islamabad. Nashenas was here! His name and his unknown whereabouts deepened the mystery and made me want to hear his music.

A few months later I got the opportunity, via a double cassette produced by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Pakistan’s venerable Lok Virsa (Folk Heritage) Institute.  A senior colleague, the Frenchman, Phillipe Labreveux, was the project’s sponsor. He knew of Nashenas’s music and as soon as he arrived in Pakistan made it his mission to record him and honour him as an artist and as a refugee. This tape has sat in a box in my garage for years and I am willing to bet my hind leg that there are very few copies of this amazing concert available anywhere in the world, in any format.

Nashenas enjoys the reputation of being one of the most popular Afghan singers, and is representative of a generation of amateurs from well-educated middle-class background who became professional or at least well known in the public domain. The fact that they turned to music, despite all kinds of social pressures, says a good deal about the progressive state of Kabul in the middle of the 20^th century. Such a commitment to performance by amateurs is inconceivable in the Pashtun society of northern Pakistan, where musicians and singers are exclusively recruited from low ranking hereditary musician castes.

Dr Mohammad Sadiq Fitrat was born in 1935 in that most Pashtun of cities, Kandahar, a member of the Pashtun tribe called Kakar. From 1940-1947 he resided with his family in various cities in present day India and Pakistan, where he father was a representative of the Afghan National Bank. It was here that he learned Urdu; while this long exposure to the culture of what was then still British India undoubtedly had important musical influences.  He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Kabul University in 1959 and was then employed by Radio Afghanistan as Director of Foreign Programs. In 1962 he was sent to Moscow University to continue his studies and was later awardee a doctorate in Pashto literature.

His singing career started in the 1950s.  Dr Fitrat was a self-taught musician who used to practice at home late at night, sitting under a blanket with his harmonium to deaden the sound, so that his father sleeping below should not know what he was up to. When he started singing for Radio Afghanistan he did so under the name of Nashenas (the Unknown One), in order to hide his identity. It was several years before he felt able to reveal to his father that he was by now the famous radio singer. Despite having recorded some 400 songs for Radio Afghanistan and various record and cassette companies, Nashenas is proud of the fact that he never made his living from singing. Music remained for him a true shauq, a hobby pursued with passionate fervour. As a singer he made various visits to India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran to perform Afghan music on behalf of the Ministry of Information and Culture, but his career was mostly spent working for the Ministry, in it History Dept., and for Radio Afghanistan. He remained in Kabul and was demoted to a humble position within the Ministry because of his refusal to join the ruling PDPA party. Nor would he sing songs in support of the Communist pro-Soviet regime. From 1985-89 he was sent to the embassy in Moscow to keep him out of mischief. He returned to Kabul in 1989 and escape with his wife and children to Pakistan a few months later.

Nashenas has greater vocal range and more interest in timbrel and dynamic variety than many Afghan singers. He performs in a number of vocal genres including Pashto folk and Afghan popular songs. He is also noted for his rendition of Hindi geet and has often been compared to the great Indian singer Saighal. He is also knowledgeable about Afghan classical music. What really distinguishes him as a performer is his great knowledge of Persian and Pashto classical poetry. Many prominent ghazal singers in Kabul who are from hereditary musician families are non-literate and treat this poetry was though it were an oral tradition. Fro the point of view of the Afghan literati their son texts were often incorrect, with all sorts of errors and other transformations creeping in. Problems of this kind do not arise with the singing of Nashenas.

These recordings were made under the auspices of UNHCR and Lok Virsa, in Islamabad. It was agreed in advance that Nashenas would record a set of ghazals in the style of Kabul, and several musicians were engaged as accompanists: Amir Jan Herawi (rubab), Seid Gol (sarinda), Arif Mahmud Chisthi (tabla) were all Afghan refugees.  Ustad Bahktiar (rubab), Allah Rakha Khan (sarangi) and Irshad Ali (tampura) were Pakistani musicians.  Nashenas put in a great deal of preparation into the choice of poetry, both the ghazals and the interpolated couplets he would add to them (like picking a bouquet of roses, with a flower from here and flower from there as the Afghan ghazal singers are wont to say) and made copious hand-written notes for his song texts. For some of the ghazals accompaniment is provided only by sarangi, tabla and tampura, while in others rubab and sarinda are included. (Liner Notes)

Track Listing

01 Ey saba, an che shenidi

02 Man-e-sang-dil che asar

03 Dil-egarm-e-man

04 Da saba bada gozar

05 Mey-paraste-ijad-am

06 Haselam zin mazra-e-bi-bar

07 Khat par mukh da sanam

08 Man jan-e-kharabat-am

here

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.