Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The song lives on

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Nizamabad Town (Azamgarh District) UTTAR PRADESH / Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

“Majrooh Fahmi” explores different layers of the celebrated poet’s luminous legacy

Majrooh Sultanpuri

Can a poet write more than 3000 songs hummed by millions without squandering his aesthetic subtlety and creative dexterity, partially? Does his ghazals, not many in numbers, expand and reinvent matrix of the traditional ghazal and go beyond the insatiable world desire? Can one juxtapose the well-wrought vocabulary of ghazal with the quintessential aesthetic sensibility and modern-day longing in a new idiom? These are the pertinent literary questions that are affirmatively answered by Majrooh Sultanpuri whose birth anniversary is being celebrated across the country, and this is what aptly articulated by a promising literary enthusiast and writer Asif Azmi in his astutely edited book “Majrooh Fahmi” that appeared recently.

Divided into three equally important sections, the book comprising 600 pages seeks to explore different layers of Majrooh’s luminous legacy with a marked sense of critical acuity. It tries to capture the brilliance of a poet who got wide acclaim both in literary circles and the film world. The book, through its discerning articles, zeroes in on Majrooh Sultanpuri’s oeuvre that remains unseen till date.

Not many Urdu poets can vie with Majrooh as far as literary acclaim and popularity are concerned, but it was hardly measured up to the expectation of the poet who remained disenchanted with the critics. It prompted Asif Azmi to initiate a critical dialogue to locate Majrooh in the larger collective consciousness, and the book also seeks to understand why his immensely popular film songs overshadow his awe-inspiring poetry.

Majrooh’s intent of creating new semantic space by using traditional metaphors and motifs was erroneously credited to Faiz and critics eternalised the critical injustice.

Majrooh has a point, but one must also realise that his poetic journey spanning over six decades produced less than 50 ghazals and such a small work of art cannot subvert the archaic form and cliché-ridden thematic mannerism of ghazal.

Spelling out the contours of his critical gaze, editor Asif Azmi says “One of the greatest exponents of the contemporary ghazal, Majroooh is yet to get his due even at the time of his 100th anniversary. It betrays a deep-rooted prejudice or a wilful ignorance.”

He, again, rightly asserts that Majrooh played a pivotal role in shaping popular Indian literature and popularising Urdu at mass level. Every notable Urdu critic has made a critical appraisal of his work and a plethora of books and special issues have appeared on his art.

Critical evaluation

The voluminous book is certainly more than a commemorative volume as it is not an assortment of flattering articles, but concentrates on a thorough critical appraisal of the poet. The editor turns attention to the best articles that emerge out of the rubble heap of the assessment of the poet, and the discerning evaluation of prominent Urdu critics such as Sardar Jafri, Mohammad Hasan, Waris Kirmani, Zoe Ansari, Waheed Akhtar, Wahab Ashrafi, Syed Hamid and Sidiqur Rehman Qidwai have been selected.

For Waheed Akhtar, Majrooh, for the first time, used the traditional metaphors of ghazal: morning, night, slaughterhouse, prison, autumn and spring as political symbols and it is Majrooh who made them as the distinctive feature of Progressive poetry.

Zoe Ansari opines that his poetry unravels a nuanced sense of civic lyricism which was not explored by any other poet. Several Urdu scholars castigated Majrooh for his bizarre, declamatory diction meant for instigating people to take up arms for the revolution

The book carries two perceptive essays of accomplished Hindi critics such as Jitender Srivastava and Rakesh Pandey. Mapping out semantic similarities between Kabir and Majrooh, Srivastava quotes a couplet of Majrooh and points out that Majrooh engages himself with the tremendous anti-establishment tradition of Kabir. He urges ordinary people to join him after burning their homes, and he does not address the capitalist and the people belonging to the powers-that-be.

Befitting tribute

The first section of the book puts together the reminiscences of Lata Mangeshkar, Mazhar Imam, Jagannath Azad, Kashmiri Lal Zakir, Ziauddin Shakib, Ali Ahmad Fatemi, Naeem Kauser and his seminal contribution as a lyricist has also been well documented by Nadeem Ahmad and Rashid Anwar, and S.S. Bhatnagar Shadab.

Delineating his contribution to films which fetched him the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Majrooh asserts, “I have no hesitation in saying that I, along with O.P. Nayyar, successfully used innumerable Persian and Urdu words and gave nearly 20 new words to the vocabulary of film songs. I invented a unique style with S D Burman which has been described as romantic comedy. It was widely believed at that time that duet songs would not become famous, but I wrote many duets that became immensely popular.”

The book is a befitting tribute a poet who creatively explored various genres including qawwali, bhajan, cabaret, folksongs and ghazal with remarkable ease and Asif deserves accolades to acquaint us with a world of the poet which is not shaped by hatred, suspicion and delirium.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Authors / by Shafey Kidwai / May 16th, 2019

Scroll’s Rokibuz Zaman Wins 2024 Vishwa Nath-Delhi Press Award for Fearless Journalism

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, , ,

ASSAM :

New Delhi:

Scroll journalist Rokibuz Zaman has been honored with the prestigious 2024 Vishwa Nath-Delhi Press Award for Fearless Journalism for his unwavering coverage of the state of minorities in Assam.

The jury praised Zaman for his “consistent and steadfast” reporting, stating that he has shown “exemplary courage in relentlessly pursuing stories to their logical conclusion, despite challenges on the ground.” His investigative journalism has shed light on the systemic discrimination against minorities in Assam, particularly regarding land rights and forced evictions.

Zaman’s reports have exposed the exclusion of minorities from rural landless schemes and the eviction of Muslim families from railway land in Assam’s Morigaon district. The jury commended his “exceptional courage in speaking truth to power” and his commitment to ethical journalism.

The award, instituted by The Media Foundation in memory of Delhi Press founder Vishwa Nath, aims to uphold freedom of speech and journalistic integrity.

The foundation also awarded the 2024 Kamla Mankekar Award for Journalism on Gender to BehanBox’s Priyanka Tupe and the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson to The Caravan’s Jatinder Kaur Tur.

source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Awards> Latest News / by Radiance News Bureau / March 23rd, 2025

For decades, Ameen Sayani brought music into the homes of millions of radio listeners

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, , , , , , , ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Sayani not only hosted Binaca Geetmala for 42 years, he produced more than 50,000 radio programmes, including the popular Bournvita Quiz Contest, and managed to transition from radio to television with seamless ease.

Ameen Sayani, who passed away at the age of 91 due to a heart attack. | Photo Credit: Hardeep Singh Puri-X

He painted with the spoken word and ended up filling our canvas with rich memories of his mellifluous voice and popular songs of Hindi cinema. A word that dropped off his lips got a life, a lilt, even destiny of its own. Listening to Ameen Sayani, who passed away in Mumbai following a heart attack on Tuesday evening, was like serenading joy. The Binaca Geetmala he hosted with much relish and not a little chutzpah gave millions of weary listeners of first, Radio Ceylon, and then Vividh Bharati, a reason to smile at the end of the day. For a brief while every week, from 1952 to 1994, it seemed there was no sorrow in life, and the music of life itself had an unending rhythm of its own. Until it all came to an end when Sayani, who had been battling age-related issues for a few years, breathed his last at HN Reliance Hospital, leaving his fans speechless.

The tributes came in thick and fast with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeting: “Shri Ameen Sayani Ji’s golden voice on the airwaves had a charm and warmth that endeared him to people across generations. Through his work, he played an important role in revolutionising Indian broadcasting and nurtured a very special bond with his listeners.” Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, stated, “He had an equally sweet voice as the songs.” Seasoned actor Raza Murad called him “the badshah of radio just like Lata Mangeshkar was the badshah of music”.

The praise was hard-earned. Sayani not only hosted Binaca Geetmala for 42 years, he produced more than 50,000 radio programmes, including the popular Bournvita Quiz Contest and the well-received S. Kumar ka Filmi Muqadma besides Saridon ke Saathi, and managed to transition from radio to television with seamless ease. He composed around 19,000 radio jingles, too. Such was the charm of Sayani that playback singers, music directors and film stars, all wanted their songs to be featured on his countdown show. Once renowned film director Basu Chatterjee wondered aloud what did he have to do for the songs of his films to make it to Binaca Geetmala! His prayers were answered, and the songs of both Chhoti si Baat and Rajnigandha earned repeat slots in Binaca Geetmala in the 1970s.

There is an interesting story behind Binaca Geetmala, and how some 37 years later, it became Cibaca Geetmala with a jingle announcing, “Wohi gun, wohi kaam, Binaca ka sirf badla hai naam” (same values, same work, only Binaca’s name is changed).

Back in the early years of Indian Independence, there was a pronounced effort to promote classical music. The Information and Broadcasting Minister B.V. Keskar did not have much regard or space for Hindi film songs on All India Radio (AIR). With AIR limiting itself to merely 10% for Hindi cinema, Radio Ceylon, then riding waves of popularity, stepped in with its combination of English, Tamil and Hindi music. Sayani was to make his first splash not in what was then Bombay but Ceylon.

It so happened that an American businessman, Daniel Molina, hired Hamid Sayani, Ameen’s elder brother, to run the operations at Radio Ceylon. The elder brother, in turn, brought in his sibling, Ameen, then barely 20, to host a music show. The programme was sponsored by a Swedish company Ciba, the manufacturers of Binaca toothpaste. The name Binaca was prefixed to the ‘Geetmala’. It played popular songs of the week though it would be another couple of years before the countdown started. And Sayani devised a vocabulary all his own.

Added to his easy, conversational style were terms like ‘paydaan’ or rank. He backed it up with information about the songs and little anecdotes about the films. For instance, he told the listeners how it took 16 years to make Mughal-e-Azam, or how Lata Mangeshkar sang the songs of Satyam Shivam Sundaram at one go. Or why Amitabh Bachchan kept his hand in the pocket during a song from Sharaabi. These were little gems only Sayani, who began his programmes with trademark remark, “Behno aur bhaiyo, main hun apka radio dost Ameen Sayani”, could offer.

He played Hindi film music, the kind which was first available on LPs, then on music cassettes. Yet when he played snatches of it on radio, there was an indefinable charm. Added to the joy was anxiety to see which song would rise to the top in those rather innocent days, and his unique ability to keep the suspense going.

The show shifted to Vividh Bharati in the late 1980s before the curtain fell one last time in 1994. As a tribute, Saregama released a 10 volume compilation called ‘Ameen Sayani Presents Geetmala Ki Chhaon Mein’. It apprised the next generation with the programme’s illustrious history.

Back in the late 1970s, Jnanpith winner Gulzar had penned a timeless song, ‘Naam gum jayega, chehra ye badal jayega, meri awaaz hi pehchan hai’ for the film Kinara. The song, a regular on Geetmala, was widely played at the demise of Lata Mangeshkar. One could play it again for the matchless Ameen Sayani, the Padma Vibhushan winner who gave radio a new identity altogether.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India / by Ziya Us Salam / February 21st, 2024

An ode to a visionary

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, , , , , ,

JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Documentary filmmaker from Kashmir, Bilal A Jan on his latest film on social worker J L Kaul.

Inspiring story – Filmmaker Bilal Jan on the set with J L Kaul. / Special arrangement

There was a little buzz around a film on Jawahar Lal Kaul, a visually challenged man who made light of his own limitation to dive into social work. As he strived to make the lives of those around him in Kashmir better, Kaul himself was awarded the Padma Shri.

Kaul’s incessant struggle inspired Bilal A Jan, a documentary filmmaker from Kashmir, to make a film on the man who lost his eyesight in tragic circumstances. An attack of smallpox at the age of five left him visually impaired.

Jan cannot stop talking about Kaul and his work and what motivated him to direct J.L. Kaul: A Man of Action .

“I was moved by the unending struggle of Kaul not because he is a native of Kashmir but because of his enthusiasm for social work, despite being visually challenged. He is a goal-oriented person. Internal and external conflicts and heartbreaking hardships have not dimmed his enthusiasm or vision of the world,” says Jan in a telephonic chat.”

The film was shot in Srinagar, Amritsar and Delhi, where Kaul had set up Training and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind in 1967. Today, the All India Conference of the Blind, which he founded, helps run a modern school for visually impaired children, an audio library besides Braille equipment, banking and pension for the elderly.

The 30-minute documentary took a year to complete. The reasons for the long gestation period are attributed to dearth of finance and the challenges in working with a visually impaired person.

“The biggest challenge was to find a financier. The second challenge involved interacting and understanding the life and struggle of a visually impaired man, and managing visually impaired individuals during the filming process. For me as a director, it was the first time I was tackling a subject around disability. In the past, I have worked extensively with social issues,” says Jan.

Of course, it did not help that Kaul, the protagonist of the film, was based in Delhi. “Kaul sahab’s work is spread across India. So I had to cover other locations too. I shot the film in phases rather than at one go,” he adds.

The film, produced by National Film Development Corporation, Mumbai, has been selected for the 16th International Documentary Film Festival of Kerala, in the short documentary focus section.

The festival opens on July 21. For Jan, it is a homecoming of sorts. His film, Daughters of Paradise , had also been at the Kerala Film Festival in 2018.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Today’s Paper> Miscellaneous> Others / by Ziya Us Salam / July 19th, 2024

Dayar-e-Madina (1975)

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INDIA :

Nazima in Dayar-e-Madina

Till about 30 years ago we used to have a flourishing devotional movie culture in the country. These films were usually made on a shoe string budget with non-stars. Despite their amateurish direction, hackneyed plots and tacky sets, the films did well at the box office largely because of a couple of hummable devotional songs which every film packed in, and a segment of the oft unlettered audience that accepted every thing in the name of faith. If in the ‘60s, we had a film like “Jahan Sati Wahan Bhagwan”, it was followed a few years later by “Ganga Sagar” and “Har Har Mahadev”. The biggest though was “Jai Santoshi Maa” which surprised everybody with its record run at the box office. Many in the audience crossed the line between reel and real by bowing in front of the film’s hoardings, bringing along pooja thalis to cinema halls and the like. The devout lived the film.

Parallel to this Hindu devotional stream was a sub stream of Muslim devotionals. If Hindu devotionals were usually released in those parts of the cities where immigrant blue collar workers resided, Muslim devotionals, almost entirely predictably, played at show houses near places of Muslim predominance.

This relation between cinema and demography was unique, and lasted till the time a film packed in enough masala or message to transcend boundaries of class or religion. Something which Hindu devotional “Jai Santoshi Maa” did with felicity. “Mere Gharib Nawaz”, “Niaz aur Namaz” and “Dayar-e-Madina” too reaped a rich harvest at the box office.

Incidentally, keeping in mind that a big chunk of the audience – Muslims – stayed away from cinemas in the month of Ramadan, big banners avoided releasing their films during the time of fasting, waiting for the more celebratory mood around Eid. The Muslim devotionals though ran during this time, the assumption being that these films, like the Hindu mythologicals, were not regarded as entertainment but an extension of faith.

The success of “Dayar-e-Madina” was particularly impressive with the Urdu language film even managing a run at a cinema hall like Chanakya, otherwise renowned for playing the best of Hollywood in Delhi’s super elite zone.

Then, in a fine advertisement for the nation’s secular culture, the film often showed at a cinema a week after it had shown “Jai Santoshi Maa”. At Old Delhi’s Jagat cinema too it had a fine run. The cinema was located close to the historic Jama Masjid with a couple of other masjids in the vicinity.

Director A. Shamsheer’s film had a limited run. However, the local clerics sent in an application to the management of Jagat requesting for an extension to the film. They saw the film, not as a ruse of Satan to lead the faithful astray, but as a vehicle for inner satisfaction.

Why not, the film begins with Qari Mohammed Mewati’s complete azan followed by a little lecture on the five principles of Islam. “The life of Huzur (Prophet) is like the Quran. He practised what he preached and preached what he practised. Zakat is the poor due. Pay zakat, it cleans your wealth,” says the school master in customary fashion before being dragged away by other demands of life.

Soon though the film, with commentary by Kamal Amrohi, changes tracks developing into the timeless tale of “twins separated at birth”. Here, two girls go their own ways after having lost their mother at the time of birth. One is adopted by her aunt, the other stays home. One develops into a believer, the other, in a perfect cliché, is all about fashion, tennis, guys and the like. Yet they manage to meet as lovers, as adults, giving a typical twist to the tale. In between Shamsheer remembers that the film is about belief. So, every now and then, he takes recourse to faith; a verse from the Quran here, a reference to a hadith there.

Not to forget the likeable song “Madad Kijiye Taajdar-e-Madina”. Incidentally, the film’s music by Mohammed Shafi stayed on in the memory of cinegoers long after the film’s bow office showing was over. A couple of cassette-sellers in the neighbourhood of cinema chose to play “Madad Kijiye Tajdaar e Madina” in the voice of Mohammed Rafi to attract the faithful. Interestingly, the female version of the song, by Asha Bhonsle, perfectly melodious, met with a lukewarm reception on the streets of Old Delhi.

The film had enough clichés to last half a dozen such ventures: ghararas, burqas, mushairas, sherwanis, paan-chewing men, age-old havelis with lattice work, etc. That it still worked at the box office says as much about the director’s ability to carry a moth-eaten tale as the viewers’ eagerness to watch a Muslim devotional. Not just “Dayar-e-Madina”, many men and women around Jagat waited for the 1973 film “Alam Ara” to grace the hall. No such luck. They learnt their lesson. So in 1977 when “Niaz aur Namaz” was shown at any hall in the vicinity, they trooped along. A devotional could not be missed.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Friday Review> Blast from the Past / by Ziya Us Salam / July 09th, 2015

AMU’s Diversity, Riots: Award Winning Director’s Eye-Opening Take

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education,

Aligarh / Banaras , PRAYAGRAJ (formerly UTTAR PRADESH) :

Film Director, Producer and Writer, Anubhav Sinha, who has won numerous awards, has made some interesting remarks about the diversity he saw at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and how riots are used to paint Indian Muslims in a particular colour.

Aligarh Muslim University, Anubhav Sinha (Inset)

Film Director, Producer and Writer, Anubhav Sinha, who has won numerous awards, has made some interesting remarks about the diversity he saw at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and how riots are used to paint Indian Muslims in a particular colour.

AMU’s Diverse Culture

Speaking to journalist Saurabh Dwivedi for his YouTube show “The Lallantop”, Anubhav Sinha, who hails from Banaras, now Prayagraj, said he was introduced to the rich Indian diversity for the first time at the Aligarh Muslim University.

“I started believing in the Indian diversity only after I went to Aligarh Muslim University. Before that I was not even aware what diversity actually is”, the maker of Shah Rukh Khan starrer “Ra One”, said.

“Not Muslims alone. At AMU, there were friends from different places of the country. Some were from Hyderabad. Some others were Bengalis from Kolkata. Their Hindi accent was different. They had varying food habits and lifestyle.

“All these things were very interesting and helped me in understanding the diversity of our country… Something that I was unfamiliar with while in Banaras where we had encounters only with local people”, Sinha, who graduated from the AMU in 1987, said.

“This is why I am so powerful an advocate of Indian diversity… India is great because of its diversity”, Sinha, known for award winning films Article 15, Thappad, Mulk, Bheed and Tum Bin, said.

Communal Riots

During the conversation with Saurabh Dwivedi, Anubhav Sinha also highlighted how the communal riots were used to demonize the Indian Muslims.

Recalling the atmosphere in his house after he cleared AMU Entrance Test and got admission Anubhav Sinha said everyone was in shock.

“There used to be frequent communal riots in Uttar Pradesh, including in Aligarh. So my family was worried”, Sinha said.

Watch Video

“We have always been made to believe that Hindus would never do any mischief… Muslims would always be the real culprits and perpetrators… This is why everyone was worried of my safety”, he said.

“But at Aligarh Muslim University, I reinvented India and got introduced to its powerful diversity”, he said about the university founded by great reformer Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India / by Web Desk / February 19th, 2025

Expatriate worker from Tiruchi finds fame as social media star in the Gulf

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, NRI's / PIO's, Uncategorized, World Opinion, , , , , , ,

Woraiyur (Tiruchi) TAMIL NADU / Doha, QATAR :

Thanks to social media, former car driver Rasool Kareem has discovered a completely new calling in Qatar

Rasool Kareem (left) with Qatari cast members of Kareem Time channel. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

When 35-year-old Rasool Kareem set out to support his family by taking up a driver’s job in Doha, Qatar in 2007, little did he realise that his career as a social media star in the Gulf country would literally turn his life around in the most unexpected way.

With a YouTube channel called ‘Kareem Time Official’ that has 1.9 million subscribers and 537,894 followers on Facebook, besides 70,6000 more on his Instagram account, the native of Woraiyur, Tiruchi is a recognised public figure in the Arabian Gulf’s social media space.

Kareem’s work stands out because he makes videos on the life of South Asian (majorly Tamil) expatriate workers in the Gulf, with a cast that is made up of both Qatari and Indian amateur actors.

His content is available in Arabic and Tamil, and uses observational comedy to lampoon people’s foibles, while conveying an underlying serious message.

“It is not right to vilify people or countries blindly. There are good and bad persons in every community, and sometimes comedy becomes the best vehicle to spread tolerance, especially in places that rely on expatriate workers,” says Kareem over a WhatsApp interview call. “Most of my Arabic videos are uploaded on YouTube and Instagram, while the Tamil ones, which I produce with the help of a creative team in Tiruchi, are on Facebook. The comedy skits have slapstick and physical humour to appeal also to viewers who may not know either language,” says Kareem.  

A star is born

Like the millions of blue-collar workers who head out to the Arabian Gulf countries in search of work every year, Kareem had a family to support back in Tiruchi. “I haven’t studied much, and spent much of my youth working at odd jobs. Since I was the eldest in my family and needed to support my parents and siblings, my father made me learn driving and got me a visa to work as a chauffeur for a Qatari family. When I had enough in my kitty, I decided to return to Tiruchi for good in 2010,” he recalls.

Kareem’s interest in acting led him to spending a year in Chennai, struggling to get roles in Tamil cinema. “By the end of 2011, I realised that my acting career was a non-starter, so I decided to return to Qatar and become a driver again,” he says.

Migrant workers in Qatar function under the ‘kafala’ (sponsorship) system, where a resident Qatari national is made in charge of the foreign worker’s visa and legal status.

Kareem’s Qatari sponsor (and employer) Naif al-Malki got interested in the driver’s Kollywood audition clips and asked him create something for him. “I sang an Arabic song in my Tamil style, which he uploaded on his Instagram page. We did not expect it to become a viral hit all over the Gulf countries. My first real fans were Arab children, who loved my stuff,” says Kareem.

The song started off his career as a social media star in 2013, as he began to upload videos that were largely mono-acts filmed on his mobile phone, with the active encouragement of al-Malki, who is now his business manager.

Content is king

“I realised that to be taken seriously, one had to pay attention to the content, so I started looking for actors who could join me in my videos,” he says. He found them in Qatar’s amateur theatre circuit and assembled a typical Gulf ‘family’ with his actors. “Today, Khaled al-Rubya, Huda al-Malki, Zahara al- Ansari, Tamim al-Malki and Abu Vinish are all part of Kareem Time videos, along with me. Sometimes we get mistaken for a real family,” he laughs.

Kareem tends to play the driver in most of the skits, but in real life has stopped working as a chauffeur after his social media career took off. “During one vacation, I actually wanted to quit my driver’s job and stay on in India because it was getting difficult to manage content creation with my regular work. But Mr. Naif persuaded me to return to Qatar and develop my social media work, because he felt it had great potential,” says Kareem.

The team shoots three videos per week, and uploads them periodically. “None of us gets paid for the in-house productions. But we allow the actors to state their preferred salary for commercial promotions, which we have started getting from local companies. I use my savings to fund the video production costs,” says Kareem.

For the more sober Tamil content, Kareem tends to highlight the socio-economic dynamics of migrant labourers within their families and society.

The father of two has learned to take the brickbats in his stride. “Thanks to social media, strangers walk up to me and request me for a selfie with their children because they have seen my work online. It’s the best endorsement one could get,” he says.

Kareem and co-star in a scene from his YouTube channel’s skits. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metro Plus / by Nahla Nainar / September 22nd, 2022

How sufi musicians of Nagore are taking their music beyond the dargah

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

Nagore, TAMIL NADU :

Artistes from the coastal town are reinventing their music with a more contemporary interpretation of Islamic and Sufi music

Nagore Dargah | Photo Credit: SRINATH M

M. Haja Maideen lives in Thethi village in Nagapattinam district. This third generation faqir (ascetic) of the Rifai tariqa (order) of Sufism has been singing Islamic devotional songs from the age of nine. He performs in and around his coastal village along with brother-in-law, Abdul Ghani. Together they present compositions set to the beat of the ‘dayra’. Haja’s elder brother Saburmaideen Babha Sabeer was the third member of the troupe until his demise in 2012.

The life and music of singers like Haja have been shaped by the Nagore dargah, dedicated to saint Abdul Qadir, just a few kilometres away from Thethi, and considered to be one of the biggest pilgrim centres in southern India.

During a recent visit to the dargah, the presence of music — instrumental and vocal — was as tangible as the five imposing minarets that frame the shrine. Whether as nagaswaram and thavil concerts at the nagara medai in the upper storey of the shrine, or as concerts by independent artistes and faqirs below, devotional tunes are seamlessly woven into the worship rituals.

Spotlight on talent

Haja, Abdul and Saburmaideen would have remained in the shadows but for EarthSync’s (an audio-visual production house) award-winning 2007 documentary, ‘The Laya Project’, that turned the spotlight on them.

For over two years, journeying through countries affected by the 2004 tsunami and documenting their folk music traditions, the Laya Project explored communities in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Maldives and Myanmar.

The trio became popular as ‘Nagore Boys’ with their simple rendition of ‘Ya Allah’, showcasing their ability to spin a mesmeric sonic web with their voices and tambourine-like instruments.

Later they were invited by the project’s Chennai-based Israeli music producer, Yotam Agam, to record ‘Nagore Sessions’, with a line-up of guest artistes including Zohar Fresco on Middle Eastern percussions, horns by Monks from the Tashi Lhunpo monastery, sarangi by maestro Murad Ali Khan, rhodes and programming by Patrick Sebag, harmonium by Palakkad Sreeram and bass by David Saban.

“The Laya Project made a huge difference to our lives,” says the 52-year-old Haja Maideen. “It brought us recognition from the Tamil Nadu government and social organisations, and we were invited to tour Australia, Middle Eastern countries and Israel with our songs. Up until then, going to even Chennai was a big effort.”

Most faqirs have no written song books. “We have memorised over 100 songs, taught by our forefathers, that we sing according to the occasion,” says Haja.

Nagore Boys | Photo Credit: RAVINDRAN R

Impact on popular culture

With Sufism going back to over 400 years in Tamil Nadu, Islamic devotional music in the State has become a part of popular culture. It has two distinct strains: Islamic songs that focus on the core tenets of the faith, and the Sufi genre that consists mostly of ‘Pugazh maalai’ or paeans, in praise of saints and holy men whose shrines are still revered.

Islamic music worked its way into ‘gaana’ songs, that were originally meant to commemorate the dead and was integrated into Tamil movies especially in the 1950s. Songs such as ‘Mera naam Abdul Rehman’, ‘Ondre Solvaan’ and ‘Ellorum Kondaduvom’ were picturised on leading stars M.G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan playing Muslim characters.

One of the most recognisable voices of this genre is singer Nagore E.M. Hanifa, whose baritone and style continue to influence many even seven years after his demise. “My father started singing at the age of 13 in Tiruvaluntur, Thanjavur district, on a bullock cart, which was both stage and band transport. He learned early on to throw his voice without the aid of a microphone, which shaped his distinctive vocal style,” says his son Naushad Ali, who also moonlights as a singer.

While Hanifa was not too keen to be involved in films (he did sing in a few), he became the ‘voice’ of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) with his rousing political anthems that were played before party meetings.

The Laya Project’s impact can be seen in the evolution of Islamic music in Tamil films in recent times. Composers like A.R. Rahman and Ghibran have brought a more nuanced exposure to this genre.

“Sufi themes involve both self-awareness and acquired knowledge. It could be a word or an epiphany that is expressed in poetic form. When you present a song with soul-stirring lyrics, people respond to it at a deeper level,” says Mashook Rahman, the Chennai-based lyricist who wrote ‘Khwaaja enthan Khwaaja’ for the Tamil version of the 2007 magnum opus Jodhaa-Akbar. Sung by Rahman (who also composed the film’s music), the hymnal tune continues to stand out for its mellow exploration of spirituality.

Nagore Hanifa | Photo Credit: MOORTHY M

Online breakthrough

Sound recording technology, and alongside it, the market for devotional songs has progressed in many pilgrim centres like Nagore to create a thriving music scene online. Some of the more successful singers in Nagore have installed recording studios at home.

“Sufi musicians of yore used to write their own lyrics and compose the tunes, besides playing the instruments. But as they lost out on education, they started using poems written by others. For more than a decade, there seemed to be nobody to follow Nagore Hanifa. We are trying to change this with a more contemporary interpretation of Islamic and Sufi music,” says Umar Farooq, singer and proprietor of the recording studio Sufi Musix in Chennai. For his 2019 video song ‘Ya Meera-Qadar Wali’, Umar collaborated with Iranian percussionists to get a more authentic soundscape for the drums.

Interestingly, most of these productions are self-financed because the music is seen as a religious offering. “It costs around Rs. 1 lakh to produce a high quality song with video, but nobody talks about money; we all just pitch in with whatever we have,” says Umar.

“At present, Sufi music isn’t organised in Tamil Nadu. Faqirs are doing their own thing. Film composers are trying it in movies. And independent producers like us are exploring a new sound in our recording studios,” says Umar.

Rooted to Nagore

Many Sufi singers have stayed rooted to Nagore and its heritage (the saint Abdul Qadir is said to have learned music along with Hindustani prodigy Tansen from the Sufi mystic Muhammad Ghauth). “We sing at the dargah for our own happiness, and don’t expect any payment ,” says Nagore Hafil Sahib Qadiri, who has been singing for 20 years as part of the Qadiriya Qaseeda group in Nagore.

The 40-year-old has worked with companies like Sufi Musix as well, producing lyrical videos in Urdu and Tamil. With 150 songs in his repertoire, Hafil Sahib says he has curtailed singing at social occasions (for a fee) and is now concentrating on Sufi music at the dargah.

It is important to preserve the folk music traditions of the Tamil Sufi minstrels as the younger generation of faqirs prefer a more mainstream life. Haja Maideen’s son, for example, has taken up car driving for a living.

Yotam Agam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Recalling the serendipitous discovery of the Nagore Boys by an Indonesian colleague, who was passing by the dargah during the Laya Project, music producer Yotam (who returned to Israel in 2020 after nearly 15 years in Chennai) says that he remains fascinated by Tamil Sufi music.

“Unlike North Indian and Pakistani Sufi groups that use big ensembles of South Asian musical instruments, Tamil Sufi singers have only the frame drum, common in Arab countries. People can go into a trance by just listening to the chant-like refrains of their songs,” says Yotam.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Music / by Nahla Nainar / October 18th, 2022

Ghulam Nabi Aatash: Sweetening the Language

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Anantnag, JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Somewhere in 1951 Ghulam Nabi Pandit, a student of class 5 at a government school in Anantnag, had a daily chore of buying bread, filling…

pix: facebook.com/ Mumkin hai Yeh

Somewhere in 1951 Ghulam Nabi Pandit, a student of class 5 at a government school in Anantnag, had a daily chore of buying bread, filling water in Hookah, lighting stove for tea, and other such work assigned by the teachers.

For the last five years he had never understood a word from any of the books taught in the school. Branding him as good for nothing, many a time his teachers suggested his father to put the boy in some carpet weaving shop. However that summer something stuck to a pandit teacher at his school. He asked him ‘what are you supposed to do with your life, class 5 examination is round the corner, do you have any preparation?’ The boy answered in negative. The teacher told him to come to him during recess. The boy duly followed.

The teacher started teaching him right from the begening – class Ist books. It was primarily Urdu, little bit of Maths and English. The practice remained for next four to five months till the annual examination time. During this time he was taught all the books from Class 1-5 and surprisingly the boy was actually a genius and picked up fast every word that was taught to him. 

Pandit cleared the class 5th  examination much to the shock and surprise of other teachers, and even villagers.

After that there was no looking back and he cleared all examinations with flying colours. In class 10th  he was one of the toppers in his district and he went on to have a distinguished career as an educationist and writer spanning around five decades and still going.

The transformation of  Ghulam Nabi Pandit to renowned writer Ghulam Nabi Aatash is an inspirational story which shows how a teacher can turn an ordinary student into a legend. 

“Sometimes I wonder how all this happened,” said Ghulam Nabi Aatash who was recently honoured at a function at Jammu Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages. “In class 6, as if it was command of Allah to others, I was made Secretary of Bazme Adab, a literary forum. You can imagine just one year ago I was lighting stove and filling water in hookah in school and now I was writing proceedings of the elite gatherings.”

Though Aatash was lucky at many times, but it was his hard work and dedication that helped to capitalise on that luck. At the Bazme Adab, Aatash leaned towards writing, art and culture. He even became part of dramatic club. Much like other poets and writers, Kashmir and its social history attracted Aatash. Seeing his writing his Pandit teacher gave him pen name Aatash, who told him that it symbolise sour taste which has emerged after a lot of bitterness of life. 

His family situation was not good either but he picked the best out of those difficult times. 

“My mother was bedridden for seven years but she had amazing memory. She knew tonnes of folklores, phrases and traditional songs. I could connect my literary leaning and information from my mother. In addition to it my posting as a teacher in far off places and learning from their culture increased my knowledge,” said Aatash.

Known as the biggest name in Kashmiri Folklore, Aatash’s work in this genre has helped preserve a trove of knowledge for posterity. His books like Koshur Louke Shairi Vakhnay ti vetchnay (Kashmiri Folk poetry, research, analysis and its study in social perspective, Koshur Look Voture, Tahqeeq ti Tajheez (Kashmiri folklore research and analysis in historical and sociological perspective), Koshur Folklore, (Kashmiri folklore Research and analysis) and various volumes of Kashmiri folksongs, Kashmiri sayings and Kashmiri folktales indicate the amount of work Aatash has put in its endeavour.

“Folklore helps to understand the history of a nation. Its customs and working of society,” said Aatash. “Every word and phrase has sea of knowledge in it.”

In addition to the books, Aaatsh has published more than 100 entries in Kashur Encylclopedia Folklore, giving him a special name among the literary giants.

It is said that whenever JKAACL, Radio Kashmir or Doordarshan get stuck on some topic in Kashmiri and there seems to be no way out, they approach Aatish who within no time produced a quality paper based one research for them. 

Parallel to his literary career, Aatash also progressed on his academic career which started first as a private school teacher and then as a government school teacher, which ultimately ended in his retirement as a lecturer in Kashmiri language. Most of his higher studies were done after his appointment as a teacher. He did his MA in Kashmiri and B.Ed from University of Kashmir. 

Not only a folklorist, Aatash is a poet, critic, researcher, compiler and an expert on children’s literature too. His  Khencha Mencha series for children has been well received in academic circles.

In 2013 he wrote a Kashir Shur Adbich Sombran, (An anthology of Children’s literature in Kashmiri). He was awarded Bal Sahitya Puriskar for children literature in 2011. 

His expertise was utilised by Board of School Education (BOSE) roping him in as a member of expert committee for preparation of syllabus and text books of Kashmiri language from class 1st to 12. What could have taken half a decade or even a decade to complete, Aatash managed to complete the work, along with other members, in just 18 months.

“If you ask me about my pen, I would attribute a great deal of its refinement to Prof Amin Kamili and his legendary magazine Naeb. This quality magazine gave me a platform and its strict editing gave me a direction,” said Aatash. “Once Kamili saheb sent me back my draft seven times, before finding it worthy to publish. In todays time such a thing is unheard of.”

In 1978 when Aatash wrote a poetic collection Zool Amaran Huend  (Illumination of longings), he thought nobody will like it. But the book ended up winning best book award for the year 1979. “At that time I was a simpleton. I didn’t even knew that books get award too. Somebody told me that JKAACL is accepting books for award but when I went to their office they said that date is already over and we had advertised it in radio and newspapers too. I replied that I neither have newspaper of radio access and somehow they accepted my entry,” said Aatash. “And then out of sudden I got the award.”

In 1981 together with S L Pardesi he translated Russian poet Alexander Pushkin’s poems into Kashmiri. The book received Soviet Land Nehru Award for the in the same year.

In Research and Criticism, one of the best books of Aatash is his Kasheer Hazrat Sheikh Noor-u-Din Reshi sends kalamas manz, (Kashmiri compilation about Kashmir as reflected in the poetry of Hazrat Sheikh Noor-u-Din Reshi RA) published in 1994. He has also been instrumental in bringing to fore some forgotten brilliant writers of Kashmir like Shamus Din Ahmad, Iqbal Nath Vanpoh, Abdul Ghani Thokar and others. 

He has written two books in Urdu language too, Kashmiri Lok Adab (Kashmiri folk literature) and Kashmir Angrazi Sayahaon kay Safar Namoo me (Kashmir as reflected in the travelogues of British visitors). Two more books in urdu are unpublished and seven more in Kashmiri languages in different genres await publication.

A cancer survivor, Aatash is workaholic making the  most of his time. He has to his credit more than 40 books and hundreds of research articles. From 1978 on an average he has published one book every year, an astonishing achievement for anybody. Attesting to his worth, a biography titled Ghulam Nabi Aatish Shakhsiyat Te Adbi Khidmaat has been written by Gulzar Ahmad Rather. 

“I have done my work for Kashmiri language and culture now it is time for us to follow what we say” said Aatash who is pained to see the present condition of his beloved language. “People say that Kashmiri language is not under threat but look at houses only elders speak Kashmiri and not youngsters. What will happen in next 20-30 years nobody will speak Kashmiri. We demand government to preserve it but it is for us to preserve it. It pains me when I see youngsters speaking in atrocious urdu instead of natural Kashmiri.”

source: http://www.greaterkashmir.com / Greater Kashmir / Home> Opinion and Editorial / pix: edited …source: facebook.com/Mumkin Hai Yeh / May 12th, 2018

Village in Tiruvarur gets a ‘Taj Mahal’ tomb as tribute to late mother

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Travel & Tourism, Uniquely Indian Muslim HISTORICAL RECORDS - Sufi Shrines, Dargahs, Tombs, Mughal Mausoleums (wef. December 07th, 2024), Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , ,

Tiruvarur Village / Chennai, TAMIL NADU :

Chennai-based businessman pays homage to his deceased mother with Mughal-style funerary complex in Tiruvarur village.

A view of the marble mausoleum resembling Agra’s Taj Mahal built at Ammaiyappan in Tiruvarur. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A near-replica of Agra’s Taj Mahal has been making news this week, as reports about the marble mausoleum built in Ammaiyappan village, Tiruvarur, by a son for his mother who passed away in 2020, have been going viral online.

“My four sisters and I were very young when we lost our father, a hardware merchant in Chennai. Our mother Jailani Biwi, who was just 36 then, brought us up single-handedly, and stayed by our side through thick and thin. After her demise at the age of 68 years in December 2020, we felt her presence should be an enduring one. So with my family’s consent, I decided to build this mausoleum for her on a one-acre plot in Ammaiyappan,” Amruddin Sheikh Dawood, told The Hindu .

Constructed over two years, the complex houses a mosque and madrassa (school for religious instruction), besides the grave of the deceased on 8,000 sq ft, and was built at a budget of nearly ₹5 crore.

Intricately carved trellis panels and water tanks are part of the edifice, bringing an exotic look to the structure in this rural setting.

Mr. Dawood, who is a rice merchant based out of Chennai, said that the resemblance to Taj Mahal was almost incidental. “We simply wanted a building that used elements of Mughal architecture, but the designer we consulted in Tiruchi suggested that our idea was very similar to that used in the famed monument, so we just went ahead,” he said.

“Since Taj Mahal was the inspiration, we felt that white Indian marble rather than granite, would be ideal. We sourced 80 tonnes of marble from Rajasthani quarries,” Mr. Dawood said.

North Indian artisans worked alongside local labourers to complete the building, which was formally inaugurated last week to visitors of all faiths.

Countering critics about the scope and budget of his dream project, Mr. Dawood said that the building was a symbol of the family’s love for their matriarch. “A mother’s affection is priceless, and in our family, she was the one who held us together all her life. This mausoleum is a humble gesture to show our respect for her, and also to inspire others to cherish their parents,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Tamil Nadu / by Nahla Nainar / June 13th, 2023