Jaane kahan gaye voh din!

Jane Kahan Gaye Wo...

HN#52:

Gulzaar is indeed in a class by himself. Unfortunately, I am not as familiar with his work as of others but he does come across as a master of free-verse, such as ``mera kuchh samaan vapas kar do`` or Rudali`s hauntingly beautiful song, ``dil hoon hoon karay``.

But I would disagree that the Urdu poetry`s only growth ``was in the leftist/socialist/humanistic political poetry``. The only thing the Urdu poets sacrificed for films was their persian vocabulary. And romance oozes through many of their creations. Almost every ghazal sung by Talat Mehmood was rich in romance and/or philosophy. Listen for example, to Rajendar Krishan`s ``yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chaandni teri ik ada pe nisaar hai`` in Sangdil or his ``Yoon hasraton ke daagh mohabbat mein dho liye`` or Sahir`s ``kabhi kabhi meray dil mein khyal aata hai``. Even Hindi poets like Bharat Vyas and Shailander have produced wonderful romantic songs like:

sur aadha hi shyam ne saadha
raha radha ka pyaar bhi aadha
aadhe chhalke nayan, aadhe dhalke nayan
rahi man mein milan ki voh baat aadhi

Or this one from Shailendra:

chori chori aa kay piya baithna sirhane
jaan ke main chup rahungi neend ke bahaane
mujhe chhed ke jagaana re sajna
meray sapnon mein aana re sajna.

I could go on and on..

Re: # 61

DM:

You may very well be right. The tradition of weaning people away from the `false religion` always existed and still does in India, even within the Indic religions. Think Mira Bai here for example. According to me, and I know nothing about this aspect, Khusro`s genious (he was supposed to be very arrogant you know) lay in a very intuitive undertanding of the spiritual desires of the common people. Through this, he also understood pathways for reform. At that time there was very little of today`s Hinduism or Islam.

GT:

Khusrau was perhaps the first Hindi poet, though he was equally good at Persian poetry. His poetry is a classic combination which can be considered as both folk and mystic, for example, his classic ``babul mora neehar chhuto hi jaaye``. BTW I sometimes wonder if the beautiful song ``chhaap tilak sab chheeni re`` was meant to wean Hindus were from ``false religion``.

GT

I think the Indic view has always been that while religions can be false, or take false steps, there can never be one perfectly true, and certainly not the sole true religion. Any `religion` that made such a claim is, by Indian definition, a patently false religion.

You would, therefore, be hard put to find anybody in long years of Indian traditions ever making such an exclusivist claim.

If DM Sahib disagrees, we could surely listen.

kaal#68:

I think that what GT meant was the tradition of speaking up against false rituals and superstitions which is a time-honoured tradition in India - from Buddha to Nanak and continues to the present day. Kabir was part of that tradition although I am not so sure about Mira Bai being in the same mould. She was more into devotion than religious reform.

DM

True, debate and criticism (shastrarth) of all traditions WAS the Indian tradition, in which every heretic pretty soon became a hero or heroine to some groups of people (until Europe-educated Gandhi and Nehru decided to freeze the Indian mind with their silly insistence that every idea must be respected no matter how illogical and unacceptable it may be).

DM and kaal,

1. Meera opposed rituals and emphasized love (you may call it devotion). Nizamuddin, Khusro etc. did something similar.... don`t you think?

2. kaal you make a very subtle point. Let me go ahead and make a very heroic statement - for the unwashed masses in the sub-continent, Islam was NOT PERFECTLY true by and of itself. Perfection is being imposed by a subsect which has gained new followers - the chattering class or what I call Pakistani aunties. Mr. Bin Laden`s chamchas from the West were amazed at the `rituals` followed by the Afghans and desis. What appaled them further was that these rituals were tolerated in the camps. Furthermore, Mr. BL did not discourage such rituals .... as long as the `ritual` of jehad reigned supreme.

I do not want to disrupt the romance and nostalgia in the air, but I have to express my dislike for Nur Jehan`s voice. I could never stand a single song sung by her. I do not even remember if I ever listened to one complete song by her. I would rather listen to the horrible voice of Mukesh...I am sorry that`s a bad example. Mukesh was even worse. ugh.
Lata was far more tolerable. Aasha B has some spark in her voice.

Re: # 73

ranjit - You are more than welcome to appreciate the vocals that I would not even go near. That`s what happens when good poetry is sung by someone you are not very fond of. By the way, who is HR? I do not listen to indian singers or pre-partition singers. So, I guess I never developed the taste. But it seems that HR is a character from Lord of the Rings :) May I please suggest that you keep him in your back pocket...No need to let him out.

Dost-Mittar and other old timers,

Sorry to disturb the nostalgic stupor of all of you senior citizens! But I think it is senseless to sing the past for such a long time when there are modern singers of great talent easily available. Problem is that you just don`t want to listen to the latest film music. You are too biased to give an ear to it. Don`t think for a moment that all that is coming out of Bollywood is harsh noise or fake pop music. For a try would you be kind enough to listen to following songs readily available online with Musicindia.com. I assure you on its behalf that it will not desecrate the image and the idol firmly ingrained in your minds. Just you listen to them peacefully with clear heart and open mind.

1)Ya ali by Zubeen from Gangster
2)Kaho na kaho by Amir Jalal from Murder
3)Main yahan hoon by Udit narain from Veer-Zara
4)Chori chori jab nazrain milin by Kumar Sanu and Sanjivani from Kareeb

There are many more but I`ll not waste my time listing all of them. First have some feel of the things new. I am not too sure you will bother yourself even this much.

Samar

Re:ZahraJ#72

[...I do not want to disrupt the romance and nostalgia in the air, but I have to express my dislike for Nur Jehan`s voice. I could never stand a single song sung by her.....]

Lahoulwilaquat!! Madam, you are a philistine!! I am sorry to say but you have no appreciation for any of the finer things in life. How can you make such a crass statement? Have you listened to her sing - ``Mujh se Pehli si Mohabbat, Mere Mehboob na Maang``? I think you should just listen to Himesh Reshmaiyaa day in and day out. Sorry to be harsh, but this was just too much to stomach....

Re:ZahraJ

[..By the way, who is HR?....]

Just go to any Indian music channel and they are ALWAYS playing Himesh Reshmaiyya. Every song starts with a deep nasal twang with a ``OOOOUUUUuuuuuuuuuu!!!``, so you can imagine the impact on the ears. He is the modern day Cacofonix!!

#73 by ranjit,

She hasn`t heard her `Sunjey dil waley booey, ajey main nayu dhoey` either.

Philistine is right. And a hypocrite on top of that.

Re: # 84
Zahra
I must look at this Shakira person some time. Doubtless my 13 year old will tell me with great delight who she is. As for hips , my wife does all the leg-pulling necessary to keep me in line. -) I`ll risk the Abida Parveen CD. I think it will be worth it.

Zeemax
I haven`t heard ELP in a long time but I have that Album back in India. You bring back memories of ``C`est la vie`` and college.
If you remember my favourite Beatle single `` A day in the life`` has the London symphony orchestra playing completely out of tune at the end to emphasise the point.

Samar
You make good points.

Jang
I`ll buy the ticket I think. The interesting thing is that even in the 50`s , 60`s and till today there have been beautiful songs composed that people forget. Do you remember the songs of Daman. There is a very seductive song sung by Hema Sardesai in that film. I thought the film was quite terrible.
For longevity and simplicity I was thinking of this Salil Chowdhury tune , that I heard first in my mother tongue Malayalam and then in Hindi and finally the original Bengali sung by Hemantda. It has such a beautiful lilt. I always see the tribal dance in Satyajit Ray`s Agantuk when I hear this tune.
dhitang

Re: # 79

Swarrier - I am not sure if anyone would care for Eric Clapton or Simon G or Frank S when Shakira`s ``hips don`t lie`` is playing. There has to be some spark or beat in the music.

The CD I had mentioned earlier has beautiful lyrics, but I do not care much for the music. It`s very slow. You have to be in a certain mood to listen to it. It can evoke nostalgia. Just wanted to give you heads up to avoid any disappointment.