Tag: folksongs

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Asad Mir’s Yeli Janaan Ralem by Rahul Wanchoo

A SearchKashmir production. First in the series.

Rahul Wanchoo sings Asad Mir’s “Yeli Janaan Ralem”. Asad Mir (d. 1930) in mystical verses describes love, act of meeting the beloved, as a feeling similar to being reborn, to be a new human, again.

VIDEO LINK

Audio steam and Download available here:

Saavn: Link




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Lyrics:
yélí jànànû ralêm
adû balêm dílé bèmàrò
dàg jígras tsalêm
adû balêm dílé bèmàrò
yélí jànànû ralêm

käli yélí tòtû kalêm
zäli panjras gatshí lúrû-pàrò
hês hòsh rang mé dalêm
adû balêm dílé bèmàrò
yélí jànànû ralêm

àbè zamzam chhalêm
asad mîras dílé gúmànò
rahmatûki jàmû valêm
adû balêm dílé bèmàrò
yélí jànànû ralêm
adû balêm dílé bèmàrò

Translation:

When I meet my beloved
My ailing heart will come alive again
Bruises carved on it will go
My ailing heart will come alive again
When I meet my beloved

Someday, I will lose my speech
Cage around me will fall apart
I will lose all my senses and sheen
My ailing heart will come alive again
When I meet my beloved

zamzam water will purify me
Asad Mir has this surmise
He will decorate me with the graceful attire
My ailing heart will come alive again
When I meet my beloved
My ailing heart will come alive again

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Vesiye Gulan aamay bahaar (enhanced) by Raj Begum

farewell to the voice of Kashmir. Rest in Peace Raj Begum. End of an era. Last of the great songstress from valley.

Vesiye Gulan aamay bahaar
Perhaps the best remembered song by Raj Begum. Lyrics by Maqbool Shah Qraalwari (1820–1876)

Here’s a cleared and voice enhanced version of the recording. [The original audio (probably from tape) was uploaded by Muneeb Haroon]

Video: Clipping from “Spring Comes to Kashmir” (1956)

Lyrics:


Parvaan laegith gath Karas tath shamah royas tal maras, chum kal tuhinz moul chum ni haar, az saal antan balyaar. Vesiye Gulan aamay bahaar az saal antan balyaar.
Tath prani maaye Goi tche kyah maeshrovthas kyah chum mea rah ousukh zche myonui ghum gusaar az saal antan balyaar
Chum loal chi gaemich mea yaad, peoy na zche myonui zanh ti yaad, Goi na kanan paighaam yaar, az saal antan balyaar.
Aey yousuf khursheed ro Dar misr tchandath su ba su kaerthas zulaikha khas ta khaar az saal antan balyaar
Trevith cholum thavith firaaq, chum loal jigras ishtiyaaq mea haevith anun vanas bi zaar, az saal antan ballyaar.
Yaktaash Kot goam dhaali dith Zainul Arab chas jaan Nisar, khhooni jigar kormas Nisar Az saal antan balyaar
Shaaman cholum kaerithy sou graaiy paaman mei thavith goam jaaiy daman ratas Rozay shumaar az saal antan balyaar
Yas Zaali badnas ashequn naar su Zaani kyah gov hijr e yaar, Maqbool kornas dil nigaar Az saal antan balyaar.
Vesiye Gulan aamay bahaar az saal antan balyaar.


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Yiyem Nate Hai Maaras Paan

Bharti Raina sings kalaam of Rahim Saeb Sopori. She learnt this song as a kid from her music teacher Indira Kachroo, who used to live near Regina Cinema, Baramulla. She had last sung it in 9th standard while on an all Girl’s guide camp to Harwan. That was a long time ago.

video link

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Song of the Trees


I, the gardeners’s daughter, longed for a mate,
Slowly, slowly, the new spring came.
The apricot tree made a request to God:
I am named ‘the late comer’;
So early though I blossom;
I shall be useful to the peasant at wedding-time.
Slowly,slowly, the new spring came.
The Phrastan tree made a request to God:
I am named ‘the auspicious one’;
Why bear I no fruit?
The peasant stands awaiting my fall,
So that he may use me as a beam for his house roof,
Slowly, slowly, the new spring came.
The Chenar tree made a request to God
I am named ‘the goddess’;
Why bear I no fruit?
Though my cool shade pleases the whole world.
Slowly, slowly, the new spring came,
The willow made a request to God:
I am named ‘the hero’;
Why bear I no fruit?
Alas! in my youth my body becomes hollow.
Slowly, slowly, the new spring came.
The pear tree said before God:
I am named pear and fruit I bear;
I give cool shade as well,
It pleases the Bhavakhar,
Slowly, slowly, the new spring came.

~ ‘Song of the Trees’, translation of a Kashmiri folk song given in ‘Flowering Trees in India’ (1957) by M.S. Randhawa for the section ‘Trees in Indian folk songs’

Pear Trees in Blossom.
Village Khrew.
March 2013. 

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Vinden och floden (The Wind and the River),1951 by Arne Sucksdorff

sabzaar gulzaar

Vinden och floden (The Wind and the River),1951 by great Swedish filmmaker, Arne Sucksdorff. Based on the life of boat people of Kashmir. Lyrically capturing the songs and images of that life in one of the most beautiful films ever made on Kashmir.

Arne Sucksdorff visited India in 1950, it seems with the objective of documenting the life of its working people. Out of this visit came two films: Village Hindou (Hindu Village) about the lack of water in an Indian village, and Vinden och floden (The Wind and the River), about river life of Kashmir.

The film begins with a quote (missing in the extract above) which summarises the vision of the film, “NÃ¥r de tunge pramme stages op ad Jelum-floden, sker det under en storslÃ¥et dialog mellem Allah, Mennesket og Skønheden. (When the heavy barges poled up the Jelum River, she does so in a magnificent dialogue between God, Man and beauty.)”

The music of the film, a blend Kashmir folk and India Classical, is by Ravi Shankar, who was yet to attain international acclaim back then. He was working with AIR at the time and probably artists form AIR station Srinagar were used for creating the sounds.

The film begins with scene of a Hindu ascetic mediating atop a hill in Srinagar. Down below, the city is brimming with scenes of lyrical songs of life. A life sustained by a river that quietly flows through it and weaving a web of ecology in which people seem to be at peace. A peace for which people thank their benevolent gods.

It is a way of life that is now almost over. Jhelum has been cleared of its boat people and their ‘slums’. [a view from 2014, what the river looks like after the ‘cleanup’ of boat people]

Winter 2014

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Extracted from ‘Uma Vida Dividida‘ (2001).

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Tourist Guide, 1960

Video: A travel guide for Kashmir published in September 1960 by Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity,, Ministry of I&B., for the Deptt. Tourism, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Printed in Bombay.

Audio: Kashmiri music from film ‘Magic of the Mountains’ (1955) by Mushir Ahmed for Film Division. The first song is the famous lament of Habba Khatoon (16th century).

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Song for Durbarmove

Jammu. Spring.2013.
Angan phuli chamba mala
Jamuan di karni pyari a
Chitthian bhejda koi na hin
ti khat nal ue chhori bas a
chakri Kashmir an di pai ma him
a on da tera sukh a sand
Jasmine is blooming in my courtyard and wafts its scent across my bed!
O Beloved, thy service in Jammu, but perforce thou must go to Kashmir:
I send thee letters, but none come back to tell of thy welfare – 

Jasmine is blooming in my courtyard and wafts its scent across my bed!
~ A dogri folksong dating back to early 20th century Jammu about a woman’s lament about separation from lover caused by ‘durbar move’.
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video: ‘Bumbro, Bumbro’, 1964

Came across this mesmerising bit in A Bhaskar Rao’s “The Dancing Feet” (1964), a Shantaram Production about folk dance forms of India. [link for full movie at NFDC channel, where they had trouble dating the film]

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Notice the same place on the

 Bank of Jhelum, Srinagar, 1906

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Got names of some of the people in the video from readers via Facebook page of the blog

The woman in red: Raj Dulari, was a teacher at Lal Ded school

Zia Durrani and Nancy Gwash Lal, who were members of the original opera too.

One of the singers is Raj Begum.

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