Soul Stirrers

I have wondered many a time how, of all genres of music, 'ghazals' are close to my heart. A little introspection led to the discovery that my interest in music and literature converges, to the same point at which ghazals blossom.

'Ghazal' literally means 'talking to your beloved'. Beloved may range from God to a dog. But, most of the ghazals, talk about the beauty of love and pain of separation. Ghazal, predominantly a poetry form, was made popular by ghazal singers who brought soul into it through great compositions. Unlike 'dhurupad', a hindustani classical genre for which understanding of 'raaga' is a prerequisite to enjoy, ghazals in Urdu impress even an average music listener. Ghazals, nowadays with hindi lyrics reach to wider listeners.

Of all ghazal singers, i revere the most are Ustad Mehdi Hassan and Ustad Ghulam Ali. Even though both of them are from different 'gharanas', the similarities in their composing style and voice in lower and mid octaves, are striking. The two Ustads are a cut above the rest in terms of,

1) Choice of Poetry

2) Composition

3) Improvisations during each rendering

Initially, i was introduced to ghazals through cine-ghazals. The song from ‘sarfarosh’, ‘Hoshwaalon ko khabar kya’ rendered by Jagjit Singh, if i remember correctly, was the first ghazal i listened to. Then, i had not known what exactly a traditional ghazal is and i was going gaga about this number. I collected a lot of Jagjit, Hariharan and Pankaj Udhas ghazals and listened to them.

After i moved to delhi in 2005, one day i was talking to my senior manager about ghazals and raving about Jagjit’s songs. He, an avid listener of ghazals, told me to throw away the mediocre ghazals of Jagjit and listen to Ghulam Ali. I was shocked. I bought a Ghulam Ali’s CD the same month and fell in love completely with the songs. Boss is always right!

I came to know about Mehdi Hassan, of late in 2007. Then i started downloading Mehdi Hassan’s songs and lost myself completely into it.

I would recommend these numbers for your joyous listening.

Mehdi Hassan

1) Abke Hum Bichde – Excellent lyrics, great composition and rendering.

2) Aaye kuch abr kuch – Difficult to understand urdu lyrics, but a listener’s delight.

3) Baat karni kabhi mushkil – great lyrics and composition

4) Zindagi mein to sabhi – lyrics not so special but a very good composition (mehdi rocks in charanam)

5) Tujhko aate hi nahin – Post-modern like lyrics combined with good composition.

6) Rafta Rata who meri – Lovable fun filled wordplay. Delightful song.

Ghulam Ali

1) Itni Muddat baat mile ho – Great lyrics, nice composition and excellent improvisations.

2) Humko Kiske gham ne maara – Great lyrics and great composition.

3) Chamakte Chaand ko – Excellent Philosophical lyrics and a great song all-round

4) Roya Karenge aap bhi – you can notice the lyrics addressed directly to the listener, which is a rarity in any form of poetry.

“Roya Karenge aap bhi paheron isi tarah,

atkaa kahin bhi aapka dil bhi meri tarah” which roughly translates into something like this:

“ You will be crying like I do,

If your heart get stuck somewhere, like mine had” (somesort of curse or what?)

5) Chupke Chupke raat din – another ghazal on separation with nostalgic references of good times. A must listen.

A long list of ghazals of the great Ustads still pending, for me to listen. Hope to complete them this summer and start listening to Begum Akhtar soon…