Of music, musicology and other arts

And princely collections

Dr Muhammad Athar Masood is a man of parts. He is a scholar of Persian, a bureaucrat by profession, and a musicologist by choice. As an insightful researcher he has carried out a thoughtful study of the music of the subcontinent in his published articles which constitute the content of his book titled Maqalaat-e-Masood, appearing in 2014.

Indus Raag is a wonderful production by a distinguished connoisseur of the classical music Sharif Awan who has been commendably assisted in the venture by his talented spouse Malahat. It is in fact an album of 12 CDs comprising classical renditions of the subcontinental music by a galaxy of reputed classical vocalists and instrumentalists from both sides of the border whence the sub-title of the book Music Beyond Borders.

Dr Jawaz Jafery is a well known writer, poet and educationist. His latest publication Khak Sey Uthnay Wala Fun contains some eight essays on art-related subjects like classical music, poetry, mythology and wrestling.

The three publications on kindred themes, are being reviewed in this column in tandem.

Maqalaat

The book contains twelve articles — ten of which highlight different aspects of the subcontinental music while the remaining two are biographical in character. Dr Arif Noshahi has contributed an illustrative preface to the book for the benefit of the common uninitiated reader whereas Dr Mazhar Mahmood Shirani and Owais Suharwardy have written its flaps commending the author’s effort and its estimable output.

The first article comprises a translated version of a paper in French by the noted orientalist Francoise ‘Nalini’ Delvoye taken from his compilation titled Confluence of Cultures: French Contribution to Indo Persian Studies (1994). It carries a cursory survey of the Persian books written on the classical music of the subcontinent besides a close study of its technical aspects as well as its comparison with that of Central Asia including Persia.

The other articles relate to seven noted books in Persian on the subcontinental (classical) music; Emperor Jahangir’s taste for music; raag mala Hindi; an introduction to Mafarrah-al-Quloob enunciating the cardinal principles of music and some melodic ghazals authored by Hassan Ali Izzat for Sultan Tipu Shaheed (1199 AH); review of the three manuscripts of Usul al Naghmatul Asifi incorporating the classification of different ragas; introduction of Inayat Khan Rasikh, compiler of the journal on the musicians of India; an introduction to Naghma-e-Qudsi by Ameer Minai; and biographical notes (the first based on a newspaper interview), containing some revealing facts, on the celebrated Indian sitar maestro Vilayat Hussain Khan (1928-2004) and distinguished art connoisseur Rashid Malik (1924-2007).

Title: Maqalaat-e-Masood

Author: Dr Muhammad Athar Masood

Publisher: Oriental Publications Pakistan, 35-Royal Park, Lahore

Pages: 283; Price: Rs600/-

*****

Indus Raag

This is the third edition (2014), and a collector’s edition, of the unique musical collection, the first two editions (special and economy pack) having earlier appeared in 2012 and 2013 respectively. It is claimed to be, and rightly so, ‘a reference document towards understanding the musical culture of the subcontinent’. As against its prototypes, the instant edition encapsulates some new tracks whereas ‘some existing (ones) have been edited or replaced and entire music content has been mixed and mastered in a quest for perfection and precision’.

To quote Saleem Asmi, former Editor, Daily Dawn, Karachi, this edition embodying a ‘12-disc ensemble opens up a vast audial landscape of ‘taans’ and tunes, in which the listener finds himself lost in an ecstatic experience. There are renditions, both vocal and instrumental, of an entire spectrum of ‘raags’ from Bhairavi to Jaunpuri to Aiman and Darbari.’

The star performers constituting the pageant are Ustad Rais Khan (Sitar), Ustad Fateh Ali Khan (Vocal), Pandit Vishva Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena), Ustad Nasiruddin Saami (Vocal), Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan (Vocal), Ashraf Sharif Khan (Sitar), Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shaggan (Vocal), Asad Qizilbash (Sarod), Ustad Salamat Hussain (Flute), Ustad Bashir Khan (Tabla), Ustad Hamid Ali Khan (Vocal), Ustad Raza Ali Khan (Vocal), Mumtaz Ali Sabzal (Banjo), Javed Bashir (Vocal), Akbar Ali (Vocal), Kamal Sabri (Sarangi), Ustad Zafar Ali Khan (Vocal), Mazhar Ali Khan (Vocal), Jawad Ali Khan (Vocal), Sajid Hussain (Sitar), Karam Abbas Khan (Vocal), Ustad Nazeer Khan (Tabla),Shaukat Manzoor (Vocal), Abdullah Khan (Shehnai), Shahbaz Hussain (Tabla), and Ustad Afzal Khan (Harmonium).

The brochure accompanying the prestigious album carries introductory-cum-commendatory remarks from a galaxy of art critics and connoisseurs like Javed Jabbar, Mushir Anwar, Asif Noorani, Mushtaq Ahmad Yousufi, Anwar Maqsood, Salima Hashmi, Uxi Mufti, Dr M Athar |Masood, Ken Hunt, Salim Asmi, Prof. Piotr Balcerowicz, Jameela Siddiqi, Salwat Ali, AG Noorani, Anwer Mooraj, Ally Adnan, and Raza Ali Abidi.

Indus Raag – Music Beyond Borders

Produced by: Sharif Awan

Promoted by: Tehzeeb Foundation Pakistan, Karachi

Price: Not indicated

*****

Khak Sey Uthnay Wala Fun

The first four articles in the book relate to the classical music of the subcontinent encompassing themes like dhurpad, kheyal, the concept of gharana, and some Pakistani (Gwalior, Patiala, Kasur, Sham Chaurasi, and Talwandi) and Indian (Agra, Kirana, Jaipur-Atrauli, Bhendi bazaar, Indore, Rampur-Sahaswan, Kapurthala, and Haryana) classical gharanas. The remaining four articles concern Zuhair Bib Abu Sulma, the first anti-war poet of Arabia, the Urdu ghazal in Europe and America, the historic and creative aspects of the oracles, and the art of wrestling in the subcontinent.

The contents of the book are research-oriented which bespeaks its author’s versatile knowledge, experience, and creative ability. He has worked out the details of his themes on classical music in a systematic and reader-friendly format so that even an uninitiated reader would be able to grasp the fundamentals of the classical stream of music.

The article on Urdu ghazal in Europe and America testifies to the author’s awareness of the contemporary trends in the Urdu literary world. He has incisively commented on the diction and style of poets-expats Ahmad Mushtaq, Iftikhar Nasim, Humera Rahman (America), Saqi Farooqi, Bakhsh Lyallpuri, Anjum Khayali, Abid Wudood, Akbar Haiderabadi, Faizan Arif, Arshad Latif, Mansoor Afaq (England), and Aftab Hussain (Austria) besides passing references to Afzaal Navid, Asifa Nishat, Yasmin Habib, Baqar Naqvi, Sabahat Asim Wasti, Gulshan Khanna, Rafiuddin Raz, Irfana Aziz, Ashfaq Hussain, Sajjad Haider, Yashb Tamanna, Sohail Amjad, Ashur Kazmi, Javed Anwar, Hussain Abid, and Aziz-ul-Hassan, among others.

The article on wrestling is intended to highlight it as an art specific to the subcontinent. It is a nostalgic critique, as it were, of the growth, maturation and finally ‘extinction’ of the art on a soil where it found its eventual germination in the 17^th century during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan (1628-58), who was himself a connoisseur of knowledge and art.

Title: Khak Sey Uthnay Wala Fun

Author: Dr Jawaz Jafery

Publisher: Sanjh Publications, 46/2 Mozang Road, Lahore

Pages: 190; Price: Rs: Not indicated