Music Archives - Page 7 of 8

November 11, 2008October 12, 2020

George Harrison in Kashmir

We were talking – about the space between us all

And the people – who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion

Never glimpse the truth – then it’s far too late – when they pass away

Lennon had been making comments on Christ and Christianity; and George was taking a keen interest in all things India. These were tough times for The Beetles: there were even talks of retirement.

In July 1966, The Fab Four arrived at Delhi on what was to be the band’s first visit to India; it was a brief visit, and Harrison famously bought a Sitar from a music store in Connaught Circus, Delhi (now better known as Connaught Place or just CP, and the shop was Rikhi Ram and Sons.).

In September, seeking Sitar lessons from maestro Ravi Shankar, George Harrison returned to India on a six-week trip along with his wife Pattie Harrison (who later married Eric Clapton). He stayed at Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay (now Mumbai) and commenced taking lessons from Ravi Shankar; but soon realized that he was too famous even in India: when mobs of Indian Beatles fan started descending to the Hotel, he decided it was time to move to a place that offered anonymity and peace. Kashmir with its natural beauty and general inaccessibility proved to be the perfect place.

Once in Kashmir, he moved into the retreat of the famous Kashmiri houseboats (invented at the start of the century for the luxury of European tourists) that still line the Dal Lake. In the serene background of still waters of Dal, for the next few weeks he started learning Sitar from Pandit Ravi Shankar, and this was the only extended period of training that Harrison received from Ravi Shankar. He practiced Hatha Yoga (to get over the discomfort of having to sit on the floor with the Sitar), he started reading Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi and Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga. This was the start of his life long affair with Hinduism; and the immediate impact of the visit was for the world to see in the next Beetles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was for this album that George Harrison created the beautiful song Within You Without You.

And the time will come when you see we’re all one,

and life flows on within you and without you.

Although the song did start the fashion of the ‘Indian sound’, generated western pop interest in ‘Indian thought’ and sent a million back backers on pilgrimage to Kashmir*; but the fact remains that the song, unlike its many successors, in many ways sounded like an outcome of genuine devotion to Indian music and thought.

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George Harrison stayed with Clermont Houseboats, a famous tourist establishment (their office right next to Sheikh Abdullah’s grave)in Kashmir that over the years has played host to eminent guests like actress Joan Fontain, violinist Yehudi Menuhin, actor Michael Palin, former U.S. Vice President Nelson A. Rockerfeller and many more.

People still go to the place and look for the particular houseboat in which George Harrison stayed. Last year, Peter Foster, former South Asia Correspondent of Daily Telegraph, wrote about his trip to Kashmir and finding the George Harrison houseboat, now decrepit and sinking .

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‘Hippie’yo kay lambay lambay baal’

It’s a singsong line that I, while growing, had to hear every time I indolently would refuse a visit the barber, naeevid.

Hippies have long,

really long hair.

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Junoon in Kashmir:

Kashmir Valley on 25th May, 2008

According to the official Junoon website: the concert, to be organized by the non-governmental organization SAF (South Asia Foundation), will be held on the banks of the Dal Lake.

Needless to say, this going to be quite an event; that is, if everything goes well.

A Respite.

From George Harrison to Junoon, a long vacuous journey.

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You may also like to read about Kashmiri Folk music

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The information about George Harrison’s trip to Kashmir is from the book:

The Dawn of Indian Music in the West

By Peter Lavezzoli

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Cross posted at At The Edge

September 20, 2008October 12, 2020

A Glimpse of Kashmir

Glimpse of people, streets and sounds of Kashmir.

I do think that some of the shots are not of Kashmir, and yes, music is great.
Courtesy of GlobalCafe

September 12, 2008October 12, 2020

Kashmiri folk Soundtracks from Tahaan

I had previously written about Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan at my other blog.

For me the best part of the movie was listing its two Kashmiri folk songs.

The song are Ha Faqeero and Mastaan Mastaan (Lyrics by A.G. Madhosh and Fazil Kashmiri respectively)

The songs are sung by veteran kashmiri singer Gulzar Ganai and the music is by renowned percussionist Taufique Qureshi. Not so incidentally, brother of Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Husain, Taufique Qureshi is also of kashmiri origin. There are times in song when you can listen to his personal touch to these songs. Also, the recording is top notch.

This must be a first when authentic Kashmiri music has been used in a mainstream Indian film.
And for that credit must go to Santosh Sivan.

July 23, 2008October 12, 2020

Oldest records of Kashmiri folk song

Browsing around for Kashmiri music, I came across two tracks that are possibly the oldest records of Kashmiri folk music. At least they must be the oldest recordings that are still available. Both the songs were first recorded/released by Folkways Records in 1950s.

First more about Folkways Records.
According to wiki:

The Folkways Records & Service Co. was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948 in New York City. Asch sought to record and document sound from the entire world. From 1948 until Asch’s death in 1986, Folkways Records released 2,168 albums. The albums are very diverse in content including traditional and contemporary music from around the world; spoken word, poetry, and muli-lingual instructional recordings; and field recordings of communities, individuals, and natural sounds. It was also an early proponent of the singers and songwriters, such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Leadbelly, who formed the center of the American folk music revival.

(Among them, we would know Pete Seeger as the man behind popular songs like “We Shall Overcome”and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” These songs were later popularized by Joan Baez. Another of his song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” was made famous by The Byrds)

Now More about the two Kashmiri songs:

The name of the artists is unlisted for both the track and name of the tracks also is also arbitrary.

Track titled, Kashmir: Folk Dance, appears in the album
Music of the World’s Peoples: Vol. 2
Original Release Date: January 1, 1952
Label: Folkways Records
Song Length: 3:37 minutes

Other track titled, Geet (Kashmir) appears in the album
Music from South Asia
Original Release Date: January 1, 1957
Label: Folkways Records
Song Length: 3:46 minutes

You can sample these songs and buy them here

Listen Now

In addition, in 1962 they came out with an album titled Folk Music of Kashmir that had instrumental as well as wonderful vocal music. The album was recorded and produced by E. Bhavani. However, the liner notes to the album (.pdf file, with excellent short notes on Kashmiri music and some old photographs) mentions the name as E. Bhavnain)

Here is a list of songs from the album:

Side I
1 – Santur, Instrumental, Duration: 3:27
2 – Title Music, Vocal solo with chorus and other instruments, Duration: 3:54
3 – Title Music, Instrumental with flute, Duration: 2:47
4 – Love and the Beauty of Nature, Instrumental, Duration: 3:54
5 – Instrumental, Duration: 3:11
6 – Song of the Boatmen, Boatmen singing, Duration: 4:15
7 – Love Duet, Duet, Duration: 3:51
Side II
1 – Song of the Nightingale, Instrumental Duration: 5:14
2 – Instrumental, Duration: 2:23
3 – Romantic Music, Instrumental, Duration: 2:20
4 – Song of the Silkworms, Vocal with chorus, Duration: 9:29
5 – Beautiful Kashmir, Chorus, Duration: 4:00
6 – Song of Spring, A man singing, Duration: 2:39

This is truly a unique album that has captures the true spirit of Kashmiri folk music.
Songs about Spring, songs of boatman, Silkworm and Natutal beauty are unique recordings ( read my earlier post about traditions of Kashmiri folk music )

The songs from this album that require special mention and some added information about them that is not given along with them:

Track 5 from Side 2 titled Beautiful Kashmir, a song in praise of beauty of Kashmir. The song has some robust chorus singing peculiar to joyous Kashmiri songs.
Track 3 from Side 1 titled Title Music , fast and up beat, is actually a wonderful recording of a Chakri type of Kashmiri music that is peculiar to Kashmiri wedding celebrations.
Track 2 from Side 1 titled Title Music , is of course the famous Kashmiri Song Bumbro Bumbro. This is possibly, the oldest recoding recording of this beloved song of Kashmiris.

You can sample these songs and buy the songs or the entire album at the site Smithsonian Global Sound

July 23, 2008October 12, 2020

Folk music of Kashmir recorded by Verna Gillis in 1972

Kashmir, 1972
Verna Gillis writes in a blurb to this video at her Soundscape You tube Channel:

In 1972, travelling in India with Brad Graves, it was 115 degrees – the rains were late and we were sweltering in the heat. We flew to Kashmir, lived on a house boat for two weeks, and recorded music which was released on Lyrichord Discs now available as a CD – LAS 7260

Verna Gillis as a producer came at a time when few had heard the term ‘world music’ and she, according to many, was the one who kick started this genre of music.

According to Robert Palmer, one time chief pop critic of The New York Times and one of her earliest supporter:

”She [Verna Gillis] came along at a time when all this music from around the world was becoming relevant to jazz and pop and new classical music. There wasn’t anyone else who could move between ethnomusicology and presenting. She was open to all sorts of music. She was a synthesist. She created a larger dialogue.”

From 1972 and right up till 1978, Gillis recorded traditional music in places as varied as Afghanistan, Iran, Kashmir, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Peru, Surinam, and Ghana. In 1979, she opened Soundscape (that closed in 1984), a multi-cultural performance space in New York City, which she directed for the next five years. In year 2000, she was nominated for a Grammy in the Producer category.

The fact that Kashmir was one of the first destinations for her musical journey and that Kashmiri music found space in world music might surprise many.

Recorded on a houseboat on waters of famous Dal Lake, Eli Mohammad Shera and others sing Sufi songs of love and devotion. In addition, there are several instrumental solos and duets bringing fore the melody of traditional folk instruments of Kashmir. The chatter of artists going on in the various tracks of this album only adds charm to it and bears testimony to the unassuming origin of the album.

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You can check out sampling of songs from the album and even buy it below.
(Do check out the third track Rebab solo for its seemingly Irish sound)

Listen now

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Video courtesy of Soundscape, do check out the website of Soundscape for more info. on Verna Gillis

July 23, 2008October 12, 2020

Authentic Kashmiri folk music

Browsing Youtube came across an excellent series titled Folk instruments of Kashmir, made under the banner of anteeye Films by Kashmiri artist Sajad Hamdani.

A list of Folk instruments of Kashmir covered under the series:
(click to go to the video)

Also, listen to the wondrous sound of this video on Sufiyana Music of Kashmir.

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More about Sajad Hamdani:

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You might also like to read my earlier post about
type of Kashmiri folk songs.

July 23, 2008October 12, 2020

Types of Kashmiri folk Songs

[…] but a folk song is born differently from a formal poem.Poets create in order to express themselves, to say what it is that makes them unique. In the folk song, one does not stand out from others but joins with them. […] It was passed from generation to generation, and everyone who sang it added something new to it. Every song had many creators, and all of them modestly disappeared behind their creation. No folk song existed purely for its own sake. It had a function. […] all (songs) were part of a collective rite in which song had its established place.

– lines from Milan Kunder’s The Joke

This is true of folk songs everywhere in the world. These songs had specific functions, significance and meaning for folks who sang them. Yet, Folk songs remain essential to Kashmiri way of life. The way in which these songs are being sung has changed. Folk songs still exist but you can now hear them on VCD/DVD produced especially for mass consumption. Naturally, purist sneer and they wonder: what happened to the genuine kashmiri folk songs? But, most people are happy knowing that these songs still exist and are sung, and hope that maybe the ‘scene’ is better in rural areas.

Here is a list detailing most of the types of Kashmiri folk Songs:

Love songs or Lol-gevun : Lyrics( known in Kashmiri as lol , the word for ‘love’) written by the beloved last queen of Kashmir, Habba Khatoon are famous in this category
Dance or Ruf songs: groups of girls or women stand in rows, facing each other, women in each row interlink their arms around each other’s waist, moving forward and backward, they sing these songs.
Pastoral songs: there are two type of such song, one sung by Kashmiris and the other by Gujjars (a separate ethnic group ) in their own dialect.
Spring songs or sont gevun: Songs celebrating the coming of spring season.
Wedding songs Wanwun: Common to both Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits, but Muslim songs have more Persian words while Pandit songs have Sanskrit vocabulary and some Vedic chants. Some of the best songs are sung on the night of the henna known as Maenzraath. Among others there are songs from the folktale about the legendary lovers, Himal and Nagiray.
Opera songs or Baand Jashan: songs performed by the traveling band of folk theater (Bhand pather) artists known as Bhand. Salman Rushdie gave them a new literally life in his novel Shalimar The Clown.
Dancer’s songs (Bach nagma Jashan): Usually meant for occasions like marriage or other big festivity. A particular band of musician performs these songs accompanied by a lithesome (at times, effeminate) boy/man who dances comically attired like a woman. To listen to a real beautiful dancing girl hafiz-nagama would have to be arranged.
Ballads (called bath or Kath, meaning ‘stories’ and literally in kashmiri meaning ‘talk’): A particular variety of satarical ballads is popularly known as laddi shah. A man stirs the iron rings strung on an iron rod and makes witty comments on the social issues. A common refrain from the songs started with line: Laddi Shah, Laddi Shah draar’kin pyow, pya’waane pya’waane ha’patan khyow( Laddi Shah, Laddi Shah! fell off the window! And a Grizzly bit him just as he fell!)
Sacred Thread ceremony songs (Yagnopavit gevun) for Kashmiri Pandits again have more vedic chantings. In an almost equivalent ceremony for Kashmiri Muslims, there are separate songs for the circumcision ceremony.
There are also Cradle songs, lullaby (lala’vun) and ditties for children( most popular Kashmiri ditty: Bishte Bishte Braryo, khot’kho wan). An interesting thing to note is that with the passage of time the mystical poem hukus bukus telli wann che kus (Who’s he? Who are you? Now, tell me who am I?) by Lal Ded, the great poet-saint of Kashmir, morphed into a popular nonsensical childrens’ ditty Akus Bakus Telivan Chakus.
Dirge or Van: recited in chorus by women of the family after the death of an old persons.
Then there are folk songs that depend on the occupation of the person singing them. There are songs of seed-sowers, harvesters and laborers doing their daily hard work. There are songs for workers involved in creating delicate embroidery weavers and makers of exquisite Kashmiri Ka’leens, creators of papier-mache. There are songs sung by saffron reapers (usually women), shepherds, village belles fetching water (some of Habba Khatoon’s lol songs are popular in this category). In Kashmir farm work like grinding, spinning yarn and stacking paddy are performed by women, unlike many other places in the India subcontinent, they also do sowing and harvesting, and they sing different song while doing these physically daunting tasks. Some of these are songs about the waters of Jhelum, songs of saffron fields of Pampore and song about Chinar.

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My other post on Kashmiri Music:

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The list is based on the excellent work titled Folklore of Kashmir (1945) by Somnath Dhar.
It can be found in the Encyclopaedia of Kashmir by Suresh K Sharma, Shiri Ram Bakshi.

Do read: An article on Bhand Pather by M K. Raina, one of India’s best-known theater actors and directors)

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July 23, 2008October 12, 2020

The Most popular Kashmiri Song: ya tuli khanjar

ya tuli khanjar remains the most popular Kashmiri song and it has remained so for more than 25 years. No Kashmiri Mehndi raat or as it is called in Kashmiri: Maenzraath, is complete without a performance of this song. Maenzraath, of course is the best and for some the only occasion when one gets to enjoy a performance of Kashmiri Music.
Check out the video of:
ya tuli khanjar teh maaray, nata saani shabba rozay

This one is sung by singer Abdur Rasheed Hafiz, the best living proponent of Chhakri and Rof style of Kashmiri Music. At the beginning of the song, names of Hasan and Hussain are invoked; but, when the song is sung by pundits or even among a gathering og Pandits, this stanza is omitted.
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I couldn’t resist making an mp3 out of it. Download the song ya tuli khanjar (3 mb)

Enjoy.

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And now to quote the clichéd term music knows no boundaries .
She has made millions stay glued to music, and made them stay back with Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Naa Karo.
Pakistani Ghazal singer Farida Khanum often referred as “Malika-e-Ghazal” (Queen of Ghazal) too has a Kashmiri origin. Her mother was a Kashmiri, and Gulgam village in Kupwara is claimed to be her ancestral village.

Kashmiri Songs by ‘Other’ Artists

Recently, I came across two Kashmiri songs sung by Indian Melody queen Asha Bhosle.

The songs are:

Lalas wantai chhu sawaal
Ha ashkI tchhooro, rashkI kerthas

The diction is almost flawless, one can hardly fathom that the song is being song by a non-Kashmiri and her voice sounds just as melodious in Kashmiri language.

You can listen to the songs here [Song Link]
(Audio quality isn’t the best. Still, it is worth listening)

After hearing these two songs, I decided to look around for other Kashmiri song (and songs with some Kashmiri Lyrics) sung by non-Kashmiri artists.

Here, is what I found:

The first one was the easiest as it is a song by one of my favorite Indian Bands – Indian Ocean, the sound of contemporary India. Amit Kilam, percussionist of the Band is a Kashmiri Pandit.

The particular song is Kaun from their best-selling album Kandisa. The wording are not altogether in Kashmiri, instead the song has a Kashmiri refrain to it. The song has sufi flavor and the rhythm (not particularly Kashmiri) to match it. Indira Kilam, mother of Amit Kilam wrote the Kashmiri lyrics for Kaun.
The song starts with the Kashmiri words:

Kein dhafna, gil mashrao, dayotsi dayotsi, meli bahaar

And ends with the words:

Lol’uk chaavi bahar vasiye, Lol’uk fol’ye gulzar
Dil’an hind taar, Ach’av ki’nn sar, Tel’ee meli bahaar

Samplings of the songs by the Band are available at their site. Although Kaun isn’t available at the site, looking up the album at a local music store would be a great idea as their music is magically ethereal.

The next song is by Bangladeshi Melody queen Runa Laila. Runa Laila was a big name in the Indian Subcontinent for much of the 70s the 80s. That she had sung a Kashmiri song came as a surprise to me.

The song is Kati chukh nundbanay and the lyrics are by Mahjoor, the dearest of Kashmiri poets. Recorded in the mid-70s, the song proved to huge hit in Kashmir and probably one of the reasons why my grandmother is a big fan of Runa laila.

You can listen to the song here

Besides these artists, I have also heard Ila Arun singing in Kashmiri. Ila Arun, a folk-pop artist who was quite popular in the 80s and the early 90s although in the 90s she was known more for her bawdy movie songs with folkish touch of hoarseness. DD Kashir, launched in the year 2000 with much fanfare in Srinagar. As part of its launch celebration many artists from India like singer Lucky Ali (son of yesterday star comedian Mehmood) and Ila Arun were invited for a stage performance to be telecasted live on the newly launch Channel. Lucky Ali sang his song Maut (later used in the film Kaante) – it sounded too eerie for the simple reason that it was being telecasted from Kashmir. However, it was Ila Arun, who surprised the audience by singing a Kashmiri song.

For the next song, I looked at the obvious place to look for – Bollywood. For all it’s fascination with Kashmir, there aren’t many Kashmiri songs to be found in Bollywood.

There is a song Urzu Urzu Durkut from Yahaan (2005). Urzu Durkut is a Kashmiri blessing meaning ‘good health (ur zu) and strong knees (dur kut) ’. Although, the film won critical acclaim for its portrayal of Kashmir problem, I still had problems appreciating this seemingly sincere attempt.

The next movie is the most famous of all, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir (2000). It was the upbeat music by musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, that introduced Kashmiri lyrics to rest of the Indians.

The songs were:

Bumbro Bumbro
Rind Posh Maal

Both these songs were based on two of the most popular Kashmiri compositions.
The original Rind Posh Maal was a love poem by a late 18th century Kashmiri poet, Rasul Mir. The popularity of the poem is obvious from the fact that the Kashmiri are still singing it. The original poem had the memorable lines.

Raza hen-zi-ya-ni naaz kyah anzni gardan
Ya illa-hi chesma bad-a nishi rachh-tan
Ga-tsi kam kyah cha-ni baar-ga-hi lo-lo
Rinda poshamal gindi-ney dra-yi lo-lo

How graceful the swan neck of henziyani looks,
Guard her from evil eyes, O Lord,
Thy bounty, she won’t lessen,
Lo, the dearest is going on an outing of fun and frolic

Henzi: an archaic Kashmiri word for woman.

The original composition Bumbro Bumbro is from the first Kashmiri Opera ever written, Bombur ta Yemberzal (Bumblebee and Narcissus). The original song still reverberates in the valley.

July 23, 2008October 12, 2020

Bombur ta Yemberzal: The first Kashmiri Opera

The popular Kashmiri song Bumbro Bumbro, a song so popular that grandmothers often sing it to the delight of their grand children, is from the first Kashmiri Opera ever performed and written, Bombur ta Yemberzal (Bumblebee and Narcissus).

Kashmiri poet Nadim, having seen a performance of White Haired Girl (Bai Mao Nu) in China, was inspired to write one along a similar style in Kashmiri language. White Haired Girl, first performed in 1945, told the story of trials and tribulations in life of a young peasant girl living in an exploitative society. White Haired Girl with its communist revolutionary theme was one of the eight plays permitted during the Cultural Revolution in China that lasted 1966 to 1976. Marshal Bulganin and Khrushchev, during the 1955 visit to Kashmir, saw the second production of Bombur ta Yambarzal. In 1971, the Soviet government conferred Nadim with the Soviet Land Nehru Award, an award given by Soviet Union to selected Indian artist in recognition of their outstanding work.

The cultural movement in Kashmir during that era starting 1930s and ending mid 1970s, like many other places in the world, was lead by many left leaning artists. Bombur ta Yemberzal first produced and performed in 1953, just as its Chinese inspiration, told the story a peasant girl and her tribulations. Based on a folk saying according to which although Bumblebee and Narcissus aspire to be together, they can never be together in their lives. First performed at famed Nedous Hotel and SP College Hall, both places of deep significance in the cultural scene of Kashmir, the play was a great success. The play had characters with names like Bombur, Yambarzal, Gullala, Maswal, Gilatoor, Agarwal, Tekabatani, Irkyoam, Wav and Harud. All these names had symbolic meaning with some of them like Bombur, Yambarzal, Wav and Harud being Kashmiri words for Bumblebee, flower Narcissus, Strong winds and Autumn respectively. Written at a time when Kashmir was going through a tumultuous phase that saw among many other events: 1953 arrest of Sheikh Abdullah and formation of Bakshi Government,* the Opera hoped for a better future as can be fathomed from its optimistic ending and was in someways a play on these events, Yambarzal and Bombur do get to meet at last.

The success of Bombur ta Yemberzal owned as much to Mohan Lal Aima, director and composer of music for the Opera. He took the tunes of already existing popular Kashmiri songs and by varying their rhythm, managed to create an original musical experience. For the song Bombro Bombro, its traditional Chakri tune was tweaked with a faster tempo to create a memorable song, a song that generation of Kashmiris were to sing.

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