There are songs, and then there are singers. Some croon, some cry, some touch the deepest strings of your heart, and some just occupy your mind. I have even cried to ’’With or without you’’ on one of those nostalgic moments, with Bono absolutely going on another level; there have been times when the building up of the Edge’s guitar on ’’Where the streets have no name’’ have raised the hair on my spine to a painfully awareness stage. Bob Dylan’s crazy waspy voice in ’’Mr. Tambourine Man’’ has been a comfort during so many times, but this, here is not to talk about my musical moments!
I have always wondered about the ability of religion to whip up the frenzy of people. I’m not talking about anger, and pride and others. I am talking about phenomenon such as walking on burning coal, absolutely being lost in a thought, a philosophy, as to lose all touch with cognition. I had heard love could do it, I had even heard rumors of music being able to do it, but I always had my doubts.
And then I heard Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It is kind of ironic that I got to know the great Khan by his most crappy pop work, and explored his most soulful work after he’s long gone. I wish I could have attended one of his live performances. For now, the amazing album PUKAR, in which Ustad Sultan Khan has lent his classical renditions to be mixed with the master’s qawwalis just wrap you up and leave you on a plane that you don’t even comprehend. I wouldn’t even attempt to try to explain. Shall just leave a couple of links, and a reverance for the master. May his soul rest in peace.
Fateh Ali Khan saab drives me crazy. I’ m listening to (can one really listen to a rendition by Khan Saab? Can one stay passive and listen? I get transported to a level of ecstasy where every vocal beat is a pain to hear, but you can’t bear to stay away from that pain.)
I was listening to Sanson ki maala pe
pritam ka kuch dosh nahin hai wo to hai nirdos
apne aap se baatein kar ke ho gayi main badnaam
Fateh Ali Khan Saab uses silences and chaos as a whole new musical instrument, one which creeps up on you before you even realize that you were THAT deep in the feeling. And then his voice would burst open some crevice in you, to a shuddering shivering fear.
I lay entranced!
Sufism, a mystical form of Islam, is devoted to the love of God and the attainment of enlightenment through personal devotion. Music serves to bring both the performer and the listener closer to God, as it touches the heart.
A little something about Qawwalis (https://osa.co.uk/qawwali_history.html)
Meanwhile, here’s the guy who presumably started it all!
The Autobiography of a forgotten Indian/
https://chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00000679&channel=leafyglade%20inn&order=1