Muslims to the rescue
Ket...@att.net
Prior to this post, I made a post with the link to an L-P article but upon
checking my own post, I found that the link does not always work. I am therefore
posting the link and the article in its entirety here.
Frankly I don't know what the purpose of this article is. Rajiv Vijaykar seems
to imply that great music was made by certain people because they were Muslims
and if today the quality of music is poor, certain Muslims are to be blamed for
it and certain others to be upheld as guardians of good music. News to me, that
the quality of music springs from a person's religious background. Next thing
you know he will be saying Kalyanji-Anandji made the sweetest music ever, since
Gujjus put sugar in their food.
With his poor choice of words in some cases, Rajiv Vijaykar displays a naivete
that makes you wonder if he has ever heard of Trent Lott.
It is my request that readers will please stick to music related topics and
discussions only.
Ketan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=860
Muslims to the rescue
Rajiv Vijayakar
The 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!
Sanjeev Ramabhadran
He forgot to mention Shabbir Kumar and Mohammed Aziz...whose rescue did they
come to?
<Ket...@att.net> wrote in message news:au003...@drn.newsguy.com...
<Rajiv Vijaykar's worse-than-usual nonsense deleted>
Surjit Singh
Ket...@att.net wrote:
> Prior to this post, I made a post with the link to an L-P article but upon
> checking my own post, I found that the link does not always work. I am therefore
> posting the link and the article in its entirety here.
> <GONE>
>
> Ketan
> http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=860
> Muslims to the rescue
>
> Rajiv Vijayakar
>
<GONE>
> 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.
This is the part I resent the most, identifying a whole langauge and a
script with a whole group of people. Completely false, non-sensical,
laughable, simplistic, infuriating, stupid (different from
non-sensical), and, I have work to do, end-of-quarter business, you now.
> Madan
> Mohan composed superb ghazals and so did Ravi and Roshan, the latter also being
<GONE>
>
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
http://hindi-movies-songs.com/index.html
at...@are.xxxberkeley.edu
> Frankly I don't know what the purpose of this article is. Rajiv Vijaykar seems
> to imply that great music was made by certain people because they were Muslims
<snip>
The purpose of the article appears to be the same as the purpose of the
recent PBS 'documentary' called "MOHAMMED: The legacy of a prophet"
shown in the US this week: whitewash.
Summary of the article: Great artists -- note they are all muslims --
therefore very clearly, being muslim is the cause of their
wonderful musical ability.
Now if someone were to write another piece that goes: Horrible
terrorists -- note they are all muslims -- therefore very obviously,
being muslim is the cause of their terrorism.
That would have the pseudoseculars crawling out of the woodworks.
Can we say double standards?
Atanu
asif
I am shocked by this article. R. Vijaykar is a sick man. In today's
times I would never mention the words 'muslims' or 'hindus.' They were
all Indians working together to create entertainment soaked in rich
Indian traditions. Ketan, I agree when you ask us to look just at
music stuff and not get upset by his baseless opinion. But please do
not post such articles again.
--
asif
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Ket...@att.net
In article <VIMM9.67931$4W1....@nwrddc02.gnilink.net>, "Sanjeev says...
>This guy is really a weirdo...
That's just a start for the name(s) I had in mind for him.
>He forgot to mention Shabbir Kumar and Mohammed Aziz...whose rescue did they
>come to?
L-P perhaps! :)
BTW, for those of you who might be ticked off at this article, I suggest you
write an email to Rajiv Vijaykar or to Screen India. Satish Kalraji, I believe
has his email address. If it is not too much trouble, maybe he can send you RV's
email address by personal email or post it on RMIM.
Ketan
Kamall Mustafa
division in the films & music industry on religious lines, specially
in view of the the recent polarisation after the unfortunate
happenings in Gujarat.
Besides, I agree with Surjit ji that it is very wrong to identify Urdu
'ONLY' with Muslims, perhaps this is the one biggest reason of the
decline of this beautiful language in India.
Re,
Kamall Mustafa
groups.yahoo.com/group/sangeet_ke_sitarey
Ket...@att.net wrote in message news:<au003...@drn.newsguy.com>...
Irfan Anwar
INHO Dr. Rajiv has expressed his point of view without maligning
any religion. This can be debated without getting furious.
I think the underlying idea about this article is the myth that music is
prohibitted in Islam still Islam has produced some of the finest musicians.
Here I would like to refer to the famous Hindi book -
'Musalmaan Aur Bhartiya Sangeet'written by renowned musicologist,
Achariya Brahspati. It is highly recommended for understanding the development
of Indian Classical Music.
Every religion has contributed towards the overall development of culture
of the world but unfortunately, the timing of this article is unfavourable.
Regards,
Irfan
Ajit
But the best one was an article about Annu Mallick I had read some 3
years ago, wherein RV proclaims AM to be the best music director ever
since RDB. AM has supposedly kept A R Rahman "at bay" - according to
him! I just couldn't help laughing at that article!
cum...@tatanova.com (Kamall Mustafa) wrote in message news:<daf40052.02122...@posting.google.com>...
naniwadekar
"Kamall Mustafa" <cum...@tatanova.com> wrote -
>
> A very ridiculous article by Dr.Rajeev Vijaykar to create unnecessary
> division in the films & music industry on religious lines, specially
> in view of the the recent polarisation after the unfortunate
> happenings in Gujarat.
>
Even more specially in view of the fact that all artists
in Hindi Music Industry today, whether Hindu or Muslim
or non-human or inanimate, are worse than pigs.
- dn
at...@are.xxxberkeley.edu
<snip>
> Here I would like to refer to the famous Hindi book -
> 'Musalmaan Aur Bhartiya Sangeet'written by renowned musicologist,
> Achariya Brahspati. It is highly recommended for understanding
> the development of Indian Classical Music.
> Irfan
If I understand the title of the book correctly, it says "Muslims and
Indian Music". Does it set up a false dichotomy? Wouldn't it be more
accurate to say "Muslims in Indian Music"?
Atanu
--
http://are.berkeley.edu/~atanu
Rajan P. Parrikar
> I think the underlying idea about this article is the myth that music is
> prohibitted in Islam still Islam has produced some of the finest musicians.
There is no unanimity on this even among Islamic scholars.
There are many who maintain that music is haram while others
say it is acceptable to a limited extent. As for your other
point, I doubt Islam had anything to do with the fineness
of the musicians. Au contraire. A large percentage of the
great Indian musicians who happened to be muslim lead lives
that were severely at odds with the prescriptions laid out
in the Quran.
On the other hand, I will argue that their being Indian
and steeped in India's eclectic, pluralistic traditions had
a lot to do with the furthering and flowering of their art.
> Here I would like to refer to the famous Hindi book -
> 'Musalmaan Aur Bhartiya Sangeet'written by renowned musicologist,
>Achariya Brahspati. It is highly recommended for understanding the development
> of Indian Classical Music.
I would not recommend the kook, 'Acharya' Brhaspati, to
anyone unless I wanted someone's pet biases to be flattered.
I understand he is popular in some Pakistani circles, but
no serious scholar takes Brhaspati's fantasies seriously.
Warm regards,
r
Abhay Jain
"naniwadekar" <nani3...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:au24k7$3os8j$1...@ID-75735.news.dfncis.de...
>
deleted
>
> Even more specially in view of the fact that all artists
> in Hindi Music Industry today, whether Hindu or Muslim
> or non-human or inanimate, are worse than pigs.
>
>
> - dn
Nani, you just insulted pigs.
Ajit
But we still have great composers like ARR, whether you accept it or not.