Top Ten South Asian Pieces of Music

This has been the most informative discussion I’ve seen on Chowk.

I’ve had a couple of friends in their 40’s who in their younger years lived with classical musicians. Through them I was able to distinguish some differences in sound that would allow me to better appreciate classical music.

I have a childish query. Why is Asad Amanat Ali Khan not considered as good as his chacha Hamid Ali Khan? OK, so Hamid is simply better. But I’ve heard people say that ‘Asad is a fraud’. Does anyone know why? After reading the posts here, I did try out some of the selections including ‘umraan langyaan pabban phar’. I liked Asad’s ‘ghar vapis jab aao gay tum’. Unfortunately, my ears are not tuned yet to distinguish between what is genuine and that which may not be. I don’t see why some are critical of Asad’s skill. However, I can sense that Hamid Ali Khan is better.

Some of my favorite NFK pieces:

- Zayhaal-e-miskeen

- Sanu pul gaee khudai chana saree

- Main nivaan maira murshad ucha

- Man atkaya bay qadraan day naal

Some classical pieces:

- Maee nee main kinoun akhaan (all versions)

- Sohni gharray noun akhdee (Pathanay Khan)

- Lamakaan main ghar banaya yaar nain (Abida Parveen)

- Kishori Amonkar

What is the name of ‘style’ Kishori Amonkar sings in??

- Preetam Madhum (Abida Parveen)

Question about ‘Preetam Madham’: Who wrote the words for these songs? It is in hindi I think. Translation anyone?

Ghazals/fimli songs:

- yeh kaghzi phool jaisay chehray (mehdi hassan)

- mujhay duniya valoo (Mohammed Rafi)



these last two I classify as songs for left-wingers- very inspiring.

- kya aisay kam sukhan say (Runa Laila and lyrics by Ahmed Faraz)

- Mudat huee hay yaar ko (Noor Jehan)

- Mirza Ghalib (Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh)

Another question:

A song by Abida Parveen : ‘ab yeh aankhain kissi taskeen say tabinda nahin, mainay raftaar say jana hai voh aa-aye ga nahin’.

Who are these lyrics by? Does anyone know which album this ghazal is found in?

PS) Please desist from mocking and underestimating the power of Junoon. Ali is a bad vocalist and the album ‘ishq’ may have been only half-good, but his and Salman Ahmed’s intensity, particularly in concerts, more than make up for everything.

Not ze vun wiz ze leetle svastikas?!!

I cannot believe my eyes! Two more cohorts of the `Allo, `Allo brigade. I have to confess - I was smitten with the same (and recorded each and every episode to boot!) I have to tell you this: My sister is a doctor in England, and she tells me that it was so popular that all the nurses would go around and at the opportune moment, they would tell the doctor or patient: ``Now lizzen vairy carfully - I vill zay zis only vunze ...!``

Aamir

Well it definately is all about - quality of life, quality of your work, the motivation factor, how hyper/laidback one is, shortcuts (that may not be a good idea). However, if you feel you can do justice to the work at hand - after 72 hrs then by all means carry-on killing yourself!! I realise your q was more rhetorical in nature but will add - cant do more than 18-20 hrs at a stretch. No call of duty is worth the effort beyond that - in my humble opinion !!

aicha

Thanks Temporal,

However i knew of urdustan`s site. For the poets , it has a huge list of the Delhi poets , but i could not find their Kalam! I`ll look again.

love,

sa:)

Dear sadna:

You are so right.

``At Partition, people migrated or didnot migrate according to their personal proclivities. We are lucky to be able to enjoy the efforts of those who managed to succeed and flourish, whether on one side of the border or another.``

Thank God -- between India and Pakistan -- at least -- there are no LOCs -- as far music is concerned.

Dear Eklavya:

i wish someone will hammer your sentence -- ``our modern Indian civilization, as it exists today, is the shared product of a collective life in which all communities have participated`` -- on the head of the braindead members of the Hinduva parivar.

Great to see your posts. How are you doing my friend.

Dear zafar:

You`re right dhurpud is not monotonus or dull -- it`s only my impatience -- it does unfold rather too slowly -- and who has got that much time -- (poor excuse for poor taste, I know)-- you`re one lucky man -- got to listen to Dagar brothers on daily basis.

Dear Amit:

Thanks for the web site. What a treasury of Indian classical music!

Lately heard the rendition of that -- ``ka karoon sajni aiye na balam -- by Ajoy Chakarvarty -- what a fluid resonant voice -- captures the pathos of that celeberated thumri! -- goes two three octaves effortlessly -- another star on the horizon of classical music.

shima

I see you have mentioned Allo Allo - where did you see it ?? I ask this because feel American tastes arent that ready or refined for fallen madonnas ... & dickytiquers & ... so you couldnt have ...

Just curious but pls feel free to tell me to mind my own biz.

ps I avoid murky posts because I worry about losing my already tenuous grip on english

aicha

dost_mittar#104
Thanks! I have that one, fortunately.

Aamir

yes and if it wasnt for the loads of chocolate fudge&chai life would indeed have been a misery !

``I thaught i only worked that hard.`` - hmmmm given your presence here - working hard or hardly working??

aicha

Sameer, you are welcome. It is our pleasure to share our common interests with you. You certainly are a good student :). Music and flower are two best creations of God, so they do not have religion, and they are as much yours as mine. I learnt lot about Punjabi music, which I am not very familiar mostly because of language. Thank you for that.

Shirin Ahmed #149:

[...Does anyone know of some good Desi poetry sites ? preferably in the Roman style ?...]

...try this one...the site is a little slow and probably needs some promotion...check out the bait baazi (antraakshri) there...

http://www.urdustan.com

__________________________________


(ajnabi: apologize for using your board)

SameerJB:

...need some help with trans-creation this minor poem in punjabi...if it is ok...we can move to the speaker’s corner...keep the words simple...

...urdu suggestions also welcome...


LET ME BE

Leave me alone
need no peak
no valley
need no help
to confront
reflection.

why do gods
know this not
would be less
melancholy
less happy
more content
if they just
let me be.


...just a suggestion...

[...MENU CHUDDH DEY

chuddh dey yaar
menu ki karna
choti tey ...?]


love & rgds,

t

PS: TO CHOWK EDITORS

What happened to the rest of Shah of Chicago? Even ajnabi is musing!

tantralogician
Why mix politics and music? If you want to share information on specifics to give proper perspective thats one thing, you donot seem to be doing that. What do you or music gain anyway with heated tempers ?

At Partition, people migrated or didnot migrate according to their personal proclivities. We are lucky to be able to enjoy the efforts of those who managed to succeed and flourish, whether on one side of the border or another.

For instance, the lyricist Qamar Jalalabadi and his family(Hindus) apparently migrated from Afghanistan, at Partition. His homeland and former countrymen lost him and his talents, and they are the poorer for it. We enjoy Mehdi Hassan, though he migrated from from India. We enjoy Naushad, though he didnot migrate from India.

And btw, I think you mention the so-called `Hindu` characteristic of `accretion` essentially to get yourself on a spurious upper ground here. Accretion works both ways, brother. Have you considered, what did the Europeans contribute to the development of Indian music, literature or any of the arts? Was there a similar symbiosis and sythesis of culture, religion, talents and skills in the arts leading to new styles , new creations and vigor? Did they even bother to patronize the Indian arts officially?

The irony is you are likely to have migrated out of India and will kick up a big fuss if the contributions of your own culture from the subcontinent to your adopted homeland were ever looked down for being `late arrivals`. And what if such a labelling is done after tens of generations of your descendents have lived, sweated and died in their homeland, Mr logician?

re: tantralogician # 146

Tantra,

Your knowledge of music is most impressive. My involvement with classical music, on the other hand, has been limited to helping local SPIC-MACAY chapters organize a couple of concerts. So no arguments there.

I do, however, have some concerns.

1. It seems difficult to believe that in a thousand years Muslims have made only some incidental contributions to the development of Indian classical music. This view becomes all the more untenable when you consider the fact that at least in the present times many of our best musicians have been muslims. You would agree that a vast majority of Muslims in India/Pakistan had Hindu ancestors. Doesnt seem reasonable to think that they would lose their ability to make original contributions to classical music once they became Muslims.

2. I agree that Indian music is a product of Indian civilization. But Indian civilization is not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. And continuous growth, development and adaptaion by learning and by accretion is an INDIAN trait, not a Hindu trait. Thus our modern Indian civilization, as it exists today, is the shared product of a collective life in which all communities have participated. Do we not do injustice to this stupendous achievement by making exclusive claims on parts of it? What value do such claims add even if they could be substantiated?

3. In any case, I find the whole discussion regarding religious identities of people in non-religious fields at best superfluous (at worst, it can be downright disgusting and harmful). I dont see how a person can be a better physicist, athlete, singer or sitar player just because he or she was born a Hindu or a Muslim. So any pride of any kind associated with Hindu achievements or Muslim achievements seems out of place to me. I have often criticized our Pakistani friends for giving in to such kind of thinking, and I truly dont feel comfortable seeing Indians - whether they be Hindus or Muslims or anybody else - going that route.

Or, am I completely misreading you?

Regards,

EK

Thanks dost-mittar, Neptune, Truth, Shima, Eklavya and Amit for sharing your thought with me despite making so many mistakes, though all innocent ones. It makes me doubly grateful for forgiving my mistakes and and responding in the most delighted and respectful ways. Can you imagine YLH or F_K calling raga darbari to raga sohni, crediting a song to S. D. Berman instead of Sachdeva?, calling Chanchal Singh to Nirender Chanchal, writing dawa instead of zaban and so on? I must be taking this thread lightly and not thinking before writing.

I visited both the URLs Neptune and Amit mentioned and both are great. I will be visiting those sites often in the future. I have absolutely no opinion about Dharupad and Khayal and plan to put some effort of my own to learn the difference between them. All I can say, which I might have said tens of times on chowk, is that whenever we talk about Islam, it is religion only and when we say Musalmaan, it does not mean culturally non-Indian. Hinduism term on the other hand is used both for religion as well as culture. In this sense, Islam and Hinduism are two distinct religions whereas a Musalmaan and Hinduism do not always mean that wide gulf in terms of culture. It is impossible to define clear boundaries between the cultures of Indian Hindus and Muslims, particularly when they are involved in a profession definitely desi in origin and propagation through centuries. Certain professions are more Islamic than Hindu and Muslim tailors tending to the needs of Muslim women (burqa) and butchers (meat sellers) might have certain distinct Islamic culture but not in classical music. How can a Pakistani Muslim take pride in certain musicians of Muslim origin when the Islamic Pakistan practically forced out most well-known Muslim musician, Bare Ghulam Ali Khan. He migrated to India after 1947 against his wishes to stay in Lahore. Had it not been for Noor Jehan and Khursheed Anwer, Pakistani music industry would have truly been barren-siberia. Mehdi Hasan, coming from well known gharana from Rajhistan, had to work odd jobs for several years before finally becoming known. Khayyam, Shamshad Begum and M. Rafi (all three from east Punjab) chose not to migrate to Pakistan in addition to a pucca lahori Surriya Jamal Sheikh. Should Musalmaans hate them because they stayed back and hate Bare Ghulam Ali Khan for dumping Pakistan for India? Absolutely not. Similarly Hindus should not hate Noor Jehan or Khursheed Anwer or Bundoo Khan for migating to Pakistan. Because, music is a discipline of culture and Hindu-Muslim titles are really meaningless. A good piece of music is a good piece of music any way you look at it and that is it.

Does anyone know of some good Desi poetry sites ? preferably in the Roman style ?

sa:)