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Muslims in Indian music
Muslims to the rescue
Rajiv Vijayakar
he role of Muslims in Indian music has been tremendous all along. Where would we be today without shaayari, the ghazal, Sufi-ana music and the qawwali? Even the mujra, despite being popularised in the kotha, has been a musically-enriching form of art. It is important to note also that several key musical instruments were either devised or popularised by Muslim rulers and musicians. In film music too, all these forms and features have played predominant roles.
And speaking specifically of film music over the decades, the great Muslims really need no introduction, singers like Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mehmood, Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, Noorjehan and Zohrabai, music directors like Naushad, Ghulam Haider, Ghulam Mohammed and Khayyaam, and of course, a complete cavalcade of lyricists like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhianvi, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shakeel Badayuni, Kaifi Azmi, Raja Mehndi Ali Khan, Khumar Barahbankhvi, Jan Nissar Akhtar and many more are only the leaders of a huge list. Cutting across parameters of race, several Hindu names in film music have also been influenced or inspired by Muslims. So many Hindu lyricists used the Urdu script. Madan Mohan composed superb ghazals and so did Ravi and Roshan, the latter also being a master at the qawwali. Shakeel and Sahir have written some of our greatest bhajans, and Naushad and Rafi have composed and sung classics in this wholly Hindu genre. But as the song goes, “That was yesterday! ...” ’ Circa 2002, we find that the (present) Muslims could be practically looked upon as the saviours of ethnicity. In a music world gone berserk by increasingly irksome alien influences, it is these people who have stubbornly stuck to our roots and are determined to win the war for Miss Melody and Mr Poetry, who have already lost significant battles with the invaders who have attacked these sacred arts simultaneously, and not to whitewash matters, viciously. To examine the crucial role that Muslims have played in the music of 2002 and I can envisage them essaying more vital roles in the next few years, we have to analyse the music scene first.
Increasingly over the last few years, some paradigm changes have taken place in melody land. Today’s music abounds in electronic eccentricities and techno tattle, and, ironically, it is A.R. Rahman (a Hindu convert!) who has spearheaded this movement. The lethal combination of electronics, Indipop with the music channel culture has led to a dangerous dominance of packaging and the almost complete sidelining of musical content with an unhealthy emphasis on sound, music video, glamour and media hype. Of the lyrics, the less written the better, pun intended.
Of course, the powers-that-be have already decided that the masses (read metro teenyboppers) want this kind of stuff. Remind them that the nationwide (even worldwide) sales figures and facts of our music tell a rather different story and they have their excuses (piracy, MP3, FM Radio) produced by a vocal sleight-of-hand, as if quality (or the lack of it!) counts for zilch! They would not ponder on why it is still Devdas, Raaz, Sur and Tera Chehra that registered good sales in a recession-ridden 2002. So in a milleu where everyone is prone to out-DCH the milestone score that was Dil Chahta Hai and come up with insufferable clones and worse, it is gentlemen like Ismail Darbar, Javed Akhtar, Lucky Ali and Adnan Sami who are relentlessly refusing to forgo and forget their Indian-ness at the altar of a sham trendiness.
In the mammoth contribution of Muslims to the sane aspects of music this year, first and foremost, we must consider the man who stubbornly refused to take his work for granted, Ismail Darbar. Of his four films released this year, three (Devdas, Desh Devi Maa Ashapura and Deewangee) were absolute musical winners. Ismail’s darbar was studded with not only the well-known Devdas exotica but also with brilliant numbers like “Mitti aag hawa paani se ...”, “Taaron ki odh kar ...”, “Kadam kadam pe ...”, “Ek phool ...”, “Dabe paon se woh ...” and the title-track of Desh Devi, “Sa se saansein hai ...”, the semi-classical “Saat suron ka ...” and the Western title-track of Deewangee. Ismail’s special USP is that he does not just make a tune, but keep working on the nuances (vocal or orchestral) till an average tune is enhanced to above-par just as the great composers of yore did. Ismail makes technology his slave rather than master, and ensures decent verse too. Which is why even in the sole disappointing score he did this year (Shakti) he made Anuradha Paudwal (“Mere munne raja ...” sing with that same extra something that made her break through in the ’80s, and gave Adnan Sami his (vocally-) finest film song to date, “Hum tum miley ....
Evoking memories of the great work of Naushad and Shakeel in the Hindu ethos, lyricist Mehboob joined hands with Ismail in the Hindu devotional subject that was Desh Devi, and came up trumps too. And along with Nusrat Badr’s work in Devdas and Salim Bijnori’s verse in Deewangee, he formed a trio that gave good verse in a year in which even average lyrics were at a premium.
Of course, the two names which came up with truly brilliant work and have emerged as giants in today’s context were Javed Akhtar and Nida Fazli. In a scenario where there was stark respect for originality, thematic aptness, elegance and originality of thought, Javed Akhtar gave a minor tour-de-force in Agnivarsha, again a Hindu subject but set in the B.C. era, which was not only commendable by itself, but also stood out because the (Hindu) dialogue writer took gross Urdu liberties in the dialogues!
“Prem ki varsha ...”, “Chal re sajan ...”, “Din andhiyaare ...” and ““Aanchal ki chhaya ...” were all exemplary in their purity of language, reminding us of the potent perfection of Sahir’s milestone feat in Chitralekha four decades ago. Javed also fused into the hep milleu of Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai (music by Ehsaan Noorani, along with Shanker and Loy) without lyrical compromise. The score too was one of the better efforts this year, even if S-E-L were probably given a brief to do a reprise on DCH. Mention of Javed’s achievements this year would be incomplete without recalling the only great non-film album to come this year, Tum Aaye. The Alka-Hariharan-Raju Singh combo worked magic on the bedrock of excellent Javed verse like “Meri yaadon mein ab tak ...”(a song that is enough to include the poet’s name in music history) and most of the other seven tracks.
Mr & Mrs Iyer, the Aparna Sen masterpiece, too was marked by an evocative, if offbeat and non-commercial score by Ustad Zakir Husain. Nida Fazli’s sole outing, “Jabse kareeb hoke chale ...” shone luminously in another ‘different’ score, Leela, and it was irony of the first order that the song was not included in the film.
And talking of Nida Fazli, where would Sur be without him? Easily the most soul-suffused album of the year, Sur’s “Kabhi shaam dhale ...” and “Aa bhi jaa ...” led a tuneful treasury of songs that also included triumphs like “Dil mein jaagi ...”and “Jaane kya dhoondta hai ...”, “Tu ...” and “Khoya hai tone jo ...”. Lucky Ali, hero and singer in the film, was yet another healthy name to reckon with in the otherwise ailing entity called Music 2002.
Sajid-Wajid, too, emerged as saviours of substance, sur and shaayari with Chori Chori (only the audio was released) and Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai. The latter film had commercially-inclined but decent lyrics by Jalees-Rashid. But the former was another mini-triumph of great melody with “Aate aate aa gaye paas hum ...”, “Kehna hai aaj tumse ...”, “Main ek ladki ...”, “Chori chori ...” and “Mehndi mehndi ...” were topped by the fascinating Amir Khusro creation “Amma mere ...” and that delectable qawwali “Roothe yaar nu ...” sung by the Sabri Brothers and Adnan Sami!
Let us divert here to Sami, whom we have already mentioned in connectionwith Shakti. Adnan Sami composed and sang the only successful pop album this year, Tera Chehra. And its musical flavor (with a strong fusion of R.D.Burman, qawwali, Sufism and raag-daari) remains an object lesson to music opanies on what the so-called generation X is looking for in Indipop today!
Coming back to S-W, they also composed two more qawwalis of note this year in Gunaah (“Rooth kar hum ...”) and Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai (“Chaahaton ki duniya mein ...”). And their music in Shararat had “Dil kehta hai ...”, “Mastana albela ...” and other skilful situational melodies. Mention must also be made of veteran Naqsh Lyallpuri, who wrote the splendid songs of Shaheed Bhagat Singh (one of the four versions on the martyr, which was never released and whose music on Venus outdid all the others). Faced with the challenge of writing new thoughts to classics like “Mera rang de basanti chola ...”, “Pagdi sambhal jatta ...” and “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ...”, Naqsh met it successfully and added wonderful verse in songs like “Sadhu sant faqeeron ki ...”, “Aao ni beheno...” and “Chhup chhup ke zamane ki ...”
And the half-Muslim Anu Malik, at a low-ebb of creativity, still dazzled in the perfect balance of modernism and core substance that was Filhaal giving the film such dazzlers as “Le chalen doliyon mein ...”, “Solah singaar karke ...”, “Kyoon baar baar ...” and “Naya naya dhula dhula ...”. And since Islam has accepted A.R.Rahman, let us also include Rahman here and applaud the fact that The Legend Of Bhagat Singh did have its cherish-worthy moments, especially “Desh mere ...” and “Maahive ...” Finally, we have those names that keep Indian melody going, even if they lace it with an ounce of derivation and a pound of lyrical trivia - Nadeem and his Hindu partner Shravan. Indian film music’s most powerful weapons to keep the firangi and techno attack at bay, their Raaz stormed the charts (“Yeh shaher hai aman ka ...” was outstanding), Haan Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya did well despite the film’s failure, and Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai, Dil Hai Tumhara and Dil Ka Rishta all flaunted their Indianness with praiseworthy pride.
As we hope and pray for a renaissance in song quality, we must also accept the fact that we must emulate these men in being proud about our culture.
Viva Quality!
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http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=860
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Quite interesting though !