Times music is the best thing that happened in the recent times to classical music , classical bhajans and spiritual music .
A good number of gems from these genre of music have been rediscovered by Times and has been presented in style to this generation..Most people in India and abroad were introduced to Abida parveen by Times music.
Abida is considered as the heir to the legacy of the great sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. But I think this is an under estimation of her genius!She is a great singer in her own right.Only once in many centuries one comes across such a melodious voice which is straight from the heavens.
If God wants to sing her music will be like this!
(who told you god is male?)
Her voice and expression takes you beyond youself.Listening to her is an experience of deep meditation.
Raqs-e- bismil means "dance of the wounded".
wounded?
yes, those wounded in love!
love that connects one to the supreme being!
This album is composed by the noted film maker Muzaffar ali.He has been associated with sufi music for the last few dacades.According to him sufi music is any music that connects with the heart.It is the music of submission and surrender that bonds humans to the supreme being and it trancends all religious boundaries.For the sufi, music is a path, a medium for the human soul to approach the divine.Music as a means for salvation is accepted in Hinduism also.In carnatic music we had great composers like the saint Thyagarajan who professed the idea of attaining moksha through music.
Sufi music has been popularised by some pakistani bands, amongst the young generation through fusion music.Our own Rabbi has done a great job by introducing the great poet Baba Bulleh Shah through a single song.Now many of us know something about sufi music.
But it is essential to understand the metaphors employed in sufi music which are entirely different from Ghazals.Beloved for the sufi is not your beloved.He refers to the supreme being.Love here is not mortal love but the love that connects you to the creator.sharab is not liquor, paimana is not a glass and drinking doesnot mean consuming wine!This is illustrated in the first song on side B of R-e-B...
JI chahe to sheesha ban ja Ji chahe paimana ban ja
sheesha paimana kya banna mai ban ja maikhana ban ja...
If you literally translate this as Muzaffar ali has done,
if you wish , become glass, or a chalice....
better than glass or chalice become the tavern itself.
This may sound stupid unless one understand the metaphors.
Ruqs-e-bismil is a collection of ghazals inspired by the couplets of RUMI. Substantial part of the album is dominated by Hasrat shah Niaz.(.When I mention that name I would strongly recommend you to visit geeta vadhera’s page on sufi music: geetavadhera.tripod.com/id8.html .Just have a look at this wonderful confluence of art and music and leave your comments here.)
The first ghazal by niaz is a vision of the supreme being.
Yaar ko hamne ja baje dekha
kahin zahir kahin chupa dekha
i saw my beloved in all I saw
At times revealed ...at times hidden....
(also see geeta’s painting were she has given colours to these lines)
In the very next number Asghar Gondvi says
’Har hal mein bas pesh e nazar hai whi surat"
In all states ...that face remains before my eyes....
Apart from sarod and sarangi , two instruments from the arab world, rabab and daff have been used in this album.Rabab is a spiked violin kind of instrument which is very popular in Afghanistan and other arab countries.I think the extensive use of these instruments is what set apart this from the other Ghazal collections. The percussion on daff loudly proclaims that this is sufi music , the music of the soul.
This album can be enjoyed even by those whithout any knowledge of urdu beacause a good translation has been rendered by Ali. Except for a few lines which defy translation, he has done a good job in conveying the depth of the https://lyrics. Niaz sings about the state of mind after you completely surrender in love to the supreme being.
na maqam-e- guftugu hai na mahhal-e-justaju hai
na wahan havaas pahunche. na khirad ko hai rasai
No place for exchange of words...
no occasion for further quest
where neither consciousness reaches
nor thoughts trancend its realm..
In Abida’s own words ’Raqs-e-ismil" has the glow of almighty in it.One can become a wali by listening to it."
Undoubtedly a not to be missed collection for any ghazal lover!