Sufi Music

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Abida Praveen to perform in city

by VANDANA SHUKLA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2003 03:10:35 AM ]

It’s not easy to get an artist from across the border, especially after the terrorist attack on the Parliament. Both countries have imposed restrictions on the visas to artists in both countries since then. But, Abida Parween is an exception. The Pakistan-based singer of Sufiana kalam whose boundless voice has found admirers on both sides of the border personifies true spirit of Sufi thought.

When city-based Sufi Foundation India decided to have its inaugural programme of Sufi music, Sada-E Sufi, they went up to the PM’s office to get Abida to sing for the programme.

“The PM had been on foreign tours, we needed special favour from him to get clearance for Abida’s visit. We had to make number of trips to PM’s office to get it cleared. She is coming to India just to lend her voice to Sada-E Sufi. I must add that without Muzaffar Ali’s help this wouldn’t have been possible as she had sung for Jahan-E Khusrao, organised by Muzaffar in the past,” informs an office bearer of Sufi Foundation India.

To welcome the guest from across the border, special arrangements are being made. The entire experience of Sada-E Sufi is going to be a treat for the senses. A three-tier stage is being raised at Leisure Valley that is going to be lit at three different layers with candles. Scented candles are to be hung with tree branches forming a natural backdrop to the stage. From an enclosure enveloped in black, this lighted space will emerge offering an aural treat.

“It is going to be like a set, with a lot of detailing. All the artists would be on stage at any given time, while one group performs, other artists would remain there like props. The ambience is going to be enhanced by light and sound effect. Instead of smoke screens we are going to burn loban, naturally associated with sufi ambience,” informs Vikram Sharma, Asst Professor NIFT, Delhi, who has worked with Muzaffar Ali on stage creation for the last two years.

Directed by Muzaffar Ali, Sada-E Sufi will introduce essence of sufi thought in musical idiom on October 22 and 23 at Leisure valley, Sector 10.

Samandar Khan Manganiar and group from Rajasthan and Hans Raj Hans will render sufiana kalam today. Ghulam Nabi Namtahali and group of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh and Abida Parveen will render kalams of great sufi poets on Thursday. Entry to Sada-E Sufi is open to all.

vandana.shukla@timesgroup.com

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Chandigarh Calling

The true sufi

Little did the people gathered in the Leisure Valley to attend the exquisite rendition of Abida Parveen realise that there were many things that went into structuring the divine sufi concert. The tasteful stage was only one part of the programme, which was conceptualised and directed by film maker Muzaffar Ali. The other significant part was incense. As Abida Parveen sang sufi verses on stage, some workers hired by the Sufi Foundation of India seemed to be busy lighting special sticks to create an incense, that would then further the spiritual ambience created by the quality of music being offered, besides serving as a fragrant tribute to God, which was being addressed time and again by Abida Parveen.

In the true sufi tradition, the woman performed as if she was not on stage but in some pedestal of a mazaar, which inspires the soul to sing and dance and rejoice in the love of God. While the singer did her bit, some of the sufi audience also added romance to the evening by feeding on the divine verses from the bare floor and not from the cushioned seats. After all, sufism preaches humility and surrender, not indulgence and comfort.

Thrilling fusion

Ghulam Nabi Namtahali from Kashmir and Samandar Khan Manganiar from Rajasthan, who were part of the Sufi Foundation of India’s Sada-e-Sufi concert, have been serving folk music for the past many generations. Namtahali, the most famous folk group from Kashmir, boasts of a rich sufi tradition in which the practitioners sing praises of sufi saints like Amir Khusrau, Bulle Shah, Shah Hussain and Lalded, the renowned sufi poetess from the Valley, who touched many a heart with her earthy pen.

While the Kahsmiri group reiterated peace through their music and melody, the rustic Manganiars unleashed their desert charms. Sporting vibrant turbans, with the colours smiling at you from their numerous folds, the Manganiars struck an instant rapport with the crowd. They danced through the recital, thrilling the audience with their inimitable style. The real high came when Manganiars and Namtahalis joined hands to create a blended tapestry of sufi verses, that spelt vivaciousness, variety and melody.

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Hans sings Sufiana ‘kalaam’ in style
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 22

Eternal verses of Sufi saints came alive at Leisure Valley in Sector 10, which became the venue for the first set of presentations during Sada-e-Sufi concert, being organised by the Sufi Foundation of India.

The stage, set in Sufi patterns, featured a white base to symbolise purity, a black backdrop to reflect detachment from worldly pleasures and beautiful divas to suggest enlightenment.

In command of divine rhythms were two celebrated folk artistes from different regions of India. The show, designed, conceptualised and directed by eminent film maker Muzaffar Ali, who is one of the chief supporters of the Sufi mission, began with Samandar Khan Manganiar and his group unleashing Sufi qalaam in melodies typical of the desert. From one virile presentation to another, the Manganiars wove a magical spell, enriching the recital further by playing the khamaicha, matching its rhythms with those of the tabla and the matka.

The hallmark of the presentation was the simplicity of recital and its striking earthiness which served the purpose of the evening well. Using their soft, subtle tones and their inimitable style, the Manganiars concluded the evening with the legendary composition “Damadam mast kalandar”.

From Manganiars to Hans Raj Hans, the affair of sufiana melody continued. Commencing in raag darbari, Hans Raj Hans, accompanied on the harmonium by the famous Bhure Khan, first made a musical offering of Baba Shah Hussain’s qalaam. Before he took to presenting the verses of saints, he presented few beautiful couplets to bring the listeners into his mould:

“Zindagi di hai to jeene ka hunar bhi dena, paon bakhshe hain to taufiq-e-safar bhin deba, guftgu tune sikhai hai mai to gungaa tha, ab main bolunga to baaton mein asar bhi dena....”

These soulful lyrics were followed by a soulful recital, which pegged on the qalaam of Shah Hussain, followed by Sultan Bahu. Caught in a magical spell himself, Hans took the audience closer to Sufiana traditions. He was, however, alternating between classical and Sufiana presentations.

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Art & Culture- Reviews

Jahan-e-Khusrau

Delhi's famous tourist landmark, the tomb of Emperor Humayun, father of Akbar the Great, was venue of a very significant event in March.

Jahan-e-Khusrau, celebration of the mystic Sufi spirit, was an event organised by well-known

film-maker and painter Muzaffar Ali. Ali made it an international occasion, with firm support from the Government of Delhi. Participants arrived in India from many countries where Sufi traditions are still alive.

Whirling dervishes from Turkey, a group of musicians from Sudan, another from Iran, from Bangladesh Sultana Choudhuri's Baul singers and from Pakistan Abida Parveen. Representing India were Shubha Mudgal, Nurul Hasan Qawal from the Awadh

(UP) region, Samandar Manganiar from Rajasthan and Ghulam Nabi Namtahali from Kashmir.

Today Sufism is more about fusion music, sacred yet secular. Sufism in India has a long tradition. It is one of the best examples of cross-cultural art form. The Sufis' gift to India is rich, from classical to folk and a large body of Sufi poetry.

Quiet on the Temple Front

After the overboil on the disputed site where once stood a mosque in Ayodhya, there is calm. In contrast to the mood of the past few days comes a proposal from Muslim intellectuals to hand over the land believed to be the birth place of Ram, an incarnation of God Himself, because the belief cannot be erased from the minds of Hindus. Let's see how the fundamentalists on both sides react to the proposal.