When I was a little girl, I remember my mother telling me that Urdu is a very refined language and that some words in Urdu cannot be translated well into another language to express the full depth of the word. She gave me the example of the word SOZ, or SOAZ, (pronounced sews, or so(r)es and soa(r)s without the sound of the R. The sentence she used to describe it was, "Uski awaaz mein bahut Soz hai ."
Another memory is when I was perhaps six years old. I remember holding my mother's hand as we settled into one of the front-row seats for a live concert with Bismillah Khan at the India International Centre in Lodi Estate, New Delhi. It was a venue near our house, and my mother's dear friend, Shanta Rao, was also with us.
We sat across from the Maestro, and I wanted to believe he continuously smiled at me. He was continuously smiling with a joy that remained with me. The glowing radiance on his face, chubby red cheeks, joyous expression, and perpetually smiling eyes are etched in my memory.
As Bismillah Khan played, I became so mesmerized by the sound of the shenai that I remember how I became conscious of my head involuntarily swaying with the music. It wasn't in my control to stop that. Shehnai was my only favorite instrument for a long time, and I played it often on my cassette tapes. It still is one of the instruments that can move me. Just not the sad strains, but the happy ones, with which he mesmerized a little girl.
My mother often sang loudly with the radio as she went about her business at home. God knows she needed that happiness. Music has stayed with me, often to lift me out of whatever is not going right.
Verse and melody have an innate magic built into them. If these two words had to be 'made' out of something, it would have to be magic. And if these two words had a 'TASEER' (another Urdu word I heard from my mum), a 'temperament,' it would be to have the ability to transport us, to sway, to take one (us) away. It is to influence a person and achieve a desired or even undesired state of mind. This reminds me of something I wrote for World Poetry Day in 2022:
"My love nest and my battlefield,
Both travel with me.
My playground and my life's grind
Are only a thought away.
Come life, let's entwine together
Our resources, in a fixed embrace.
All I need, sweet life, are
Words to take me away. "
My sentiments here are that I carry my universe in my mind, which is influenced by my thoughts, and I need just words (or, in my instance, verse) to take me away (elsewhere or anywhere that pleases me). My thoughts, verse, and music in my life are intertwined.
(https://veenubanga.blogspot.com/2022/03/written-for-world-poetry-day-032122.html)
So it was today that music unfolded its magic with a new discovery. I was not even listening to music. I think it was something arbit when this video showed up. I remember coming across this video earlier and perhaps listening to another version. I had been looking for "Yeh Nayana dare, dare.." because one of the girls in my school group had shared it, and I had enjoyed listening to it. Also, that day, I needed a softness to my day, a soothing voice. Who better than Hemant Kumar?
What struck me was that the singer used the original song's melody and sang it in his own words. I was reminded of when I would listen to music on the radio and write my own words to it, even to some popular songs. Ha! We are more alike than we are different, we humans. There are others like me.
I loved his verse and enjoyed listening to it again today. It is in Urdu, and the thought is so beautiful. The words of adoration are both simple and yet intricately entwine the object of his desire with his own very essence- his spirit. I was not very clear about the word "puhar''; the channel host graciously clarified that it meant 'showers.'
“Khwabon ka chehra tu hai,
Tu meri rooh ki khushboo,
Tu hai rim jhim si,
Tu hai rhim jhim koi puhaar,
Tu Jane na, yeh Nayana dare dare,
Yeh jam bhare bhare.."
https://youtu.be/9G_5sRJv_FE?si=ZVMvMYvasp0TKpgk
This song was my introduction to the group called Alfaaz aur Aawaaz. Initially, I thought this was a one-off, but later discovered so many other songs.
The other songs that I discovered opened up a new genre for me. I never could get into ghazals, and this is a ghazalisation of popular songs. Some sad, but not a wasted sad, a sad of realization. A realization is learning something, so it's not a waste of time or life. It just is.
Just like that, this video became something more than a sad song:
https://youtu.be/MgoLBGInzmY?si=IT1Hq_3YWNdc6F-L
The rendering of this song made me long to be there in person, if only to witness the pulsating sentience that must have reverberated in the air, of the indestructible connections that souls forge beyond space and time. Refers to Amrita Pritam, the famous Panjabi writer.
Two below links of the exact song and incident at different moments are both worth watching for clarity:
1) https://youtu.be/Xgvkr6BpjMI?si=o_EMD8b0-ZtO8zCA
2) https://youtu.be/pk-gd-uQXmg?si=ESc1qwwA5I41cXyh
https://youtu.be/pehQuK5oCRY?si=X2GfSpAtxxUYkP_d (beautiful guitar; strings are not something that endears to me readily)
(unveils a fascinating story. I never knew this about Sahir Ludihanvi before)
The ultimate song about betrayal, perhaps betrayed by time and circumstance, and then a deep acceptance:
https://youtu.be/MgoLBGInzmY?si=IT1Hq_3YWNdc6F-L
I'm not a ghazal person, yet I was mesmerized. I think perhaps these are more like reciting poetry. Maybe the accompanying guitar gives it a fusionesque quality that has appealed to me. Or maybe, sometime, somewhere, I liked ghazals but did not remember till these artists struck a chord with their rendition that extends the life of these pre-loved songs and takes them deep into one's heart.
Their YouTube channel is called Alfaaz aur Avaaz.
Veenu Banga
started 03/26/2044 completed 03/27/2024
11:56 pm
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