Tag: Nusrat

tumne bhi thukra hi diya hai

A beautiful qawali by Khan saab. I am not sure about the name of the writer. From the last stanza it seems that it was written by Mohsin Naqvi. If anyone can confirm/correct it, please post in the comments.

tumne bhi thukra hi diya hai
dunia se bhi door huye
apni ana ke saare sheeshe
aakhir chakna-choor huye
(ana – self, ego)

humne jin par ghazlein sochi
unko chaha logon ne
hum kitne badnaam huye the
woh kitne mashoor huye

tark-e-wafa ki saari kasmein
unko dekh ke toot gai
unka naaz salamat thehra
hum hi zara majboor huye
(tark-e-wafa – end of faithfulness, relationship, naaz – pride)

ek ghadi to ruk kar poocha
usne to ahwaal magar
baki umar na mud kar dekha
hum aise magroor huye
(ahwaal – condition)

ab ke unki bazm mein jane ka ‘Mohsin’ gar izn mile
zakham hi unki nazar guzaarein
ashq to na-manjoor huye
(bazm – mehfil, gahtering, izn – allowance, ashq – tears)

तुमने भी ठुकरा ही दिया है
दुनिया से भी दूर हुए
अपनी अना के सारे शीशे
आखिर चकना-चूर हुए

हमने जिन पर ग़ज़लें सोची
उनको चाहा लोगों ने
हम कितने बदनाम हुए थे
वो कितने मशहूर हुए

तर्क-इ-वफ़ा की सारी कसमें
उनको देख के टूट गई
उनका नाज़ सलामत ठहरा
हम ही ज़रा मजबूर हुए

एक घडी तो रुक कर पुछा
उसने तो अहवाल मगर
बाकी उम्र ना मुड कर देखा
हम ऐसे मगरूर हुए

अब के उनकी बज़्म में जाने का ‘मोहसिन’ गर इजन मिले
ज़ख्म ही उनकी नज़र गुजारें
अश्क तो ना-मंजूर हुए

Getting closest to Nusrat – Rahat live

Today, finally i got the chance to watch Rahat Fateh Ali Khan live in concert. As we haven’t seen Nusrat singing live so to watch Rahat perform is the closest we can get to watching Nusrat live. And yes that is true as well. No surprises here, Rahat is hugely talented.

Lets first talk about the good stuff. He stared with man kunto maula and did it brialliantly. After that came 2 bollywood movie songs he has done, no wonder he did it awesomely but that was not the stuff we were interested in. Then came the real gem dillagi…Nusrat’s version is of 17 mins. It was not that long but again brilliantly did. Next was yeh jo halka halka saroor hai…& it was a mind blowing performance clearly showing what a great teacher Nusrat was and how beautifully Rahat has been trained under him. Again a long spell of bollywood stuff and then sanu ik pal chain na aave & akhian udeekdiyan. He was about to end it with dam mast qalandar but somebody requestesd to sing tere mast mast do nain (from movie Dabbang). He amazingly sung tere mast mast do nain; not really in a movie song style but at really high pitch. Amazing…amazing performance. And the ending beauty was evergreen dam mast qalandar mast mast that got everyone to clapping with the song. For me personally, the bollywood stuff was the absolute crap, firstly in a sense that that is not what Rahat’s real talent is and secondly it disturbed the flow. When he sang dillagi & halka halka saroor it was magic all around but it got disturbed with that x y z stuff from bollywood.

Really, Rahat has got a huge talent. While singing for more than 2 hours not a single time his voice went out of sur or pitch went low. To give such a performance one needs to have some potential which was clearly visible. Due to the kind of idiotic Indian crowd that comes to attend such shows, they are expected to sing such bollywood numbers and for the same they need to keep drums and other things in orchestra. Otherwise from a qawali point of view, mouth organ & another instrument (probably keyboard) were sounding too loud. There probably was some issue with the sound setup as well. Also clapping sound was not audible and harmonium & tabla were also lost in the drums sound. The whole orchestra was being driven by the mouth organ not by harmonium. Despite of all this, it was an awesome, amazing performance by Rahat and i would love to watch him again & again; best probably at some place where he would sing only qawalis.

Now coming to all the bullshit that happens in India. As expected the arrangement was pathetic. They divided it into 3 sections. First was some VVVVVIP shit, second one for the people who had 2000 Rs tickets and third for the people carrying 1500 Rs tickets. And oh yes there was one ticket for Rs 1000 also and i think those people were standing at the end. The 2000 Rs ticket section was just 20-30% full and people from the 3rd section were trying to enter there but being stopped by security. Finally the revolution erupted, people jumped (man aunties also 😀 ) over the fencing and everybody was sitting in the 2nd section leaving the 3rd one empty.

About the people, as usual they just go there because they can afford to go. One thing i don’t understand is that while going to such an event cant they dump their kids at home ? And oh yes is it for the first time in their life that they get to see ice cream, coke, spring rolls etc over there ? Why the heck they cant take care of their tummies before coming to such shows ? Then every alternate person was getting up and fetching coke ++ stuff for their family of dozen plus items etc etc.

Despite all this, it was an amazing experience to watch Rahat perform live. Wish to see many more such concerts !!!

kuch to hava bhi sard thi kuch tha tera khiyal bhi

A wonderful ghazal by Parveen Shakir

Update: Just found 2 videos on youtube. One is of Nusrat saab rendering this beautiful composition and another one from a mehfil where Parveen Shakir herself recites this. Embedding both the videos here.

kuch to hava bhi sard thi kuch tha tera khiyal bhi
dil ko khushi ke saath hota raha malaal bhi

[malaal=sorrow]

baat woh aadhi raat ki raat woh pure chaand ki
chaand bhi ain chet ka us pe tera jamaal bhi

[chet=name of a month, jamaal=beauty]

sab se nazar bacha ke woh mujh ko aisa dekhte
ek dafa to ruk gai gardish-e-maah-o-saal bhi

dil to chamak sakega kya phir bhi taraash ke dekh lo
sheeshagaran-e-shahar ke hath ka yeh kamaal bhi

[taraash=chisel/polish (stone), sheeshagar=glazier/one works with glass]

us ko na pa sake the jab dil ka ajeeb haal tha
ab jo palat ke dekhiye baat thi kuch muhaal bhi

[muhaal=difficult/impossible]

meri talab tha ik shaksh woh jo nahi mila to phir
haath dua se yun gira bhool gaya sawaal bhi

shaam ki nasamjh hava puuch rahi hai ik pata
mauj-e-hava-e-kuu-e-yaar kuch to mera khiyaal bhi

us ke hi baazuon mein aur us ko hi sochte rahe
jism ki khvahishon pe the rooh ke aur jaal bhi

gam hai ya khushi hai meri zindagi hai tu

Awesome lyrics by Nasir Kazmi and given a life by Nusrat saab. My lifetime favourite.

gam hai ya khushi hai tu, meri zindagi hai tu

aafton ke daur mein, chaiyn ki ghadi hai tu

meri raat ka chiraag, meri neend bhi hai tu

main khizan ki shaam hun, rutt bahar ki hai tu
(khizan – autumn, decay)

doston ke darmiyaan, waj-he dosti hai tu

meri sari umar mein, ek hi kami hai tu

main to woh nahi raha, haan magar wohi hai tu

‘Nasir’ is dayaar mein, kitna ajnabi hai tu
(dayaar – place)

Following are 2 slightly different versions, from 2 different live mehfils (with better sound and video quality)

And here the same ghazal done by Rahat with Farrukh saab on harmonium

wigad gai e thode dina ton

A sweet song by Nusrat saab. Its written by Bari Nizami. Listen to it here on pz10.

wigad gai e thode dina ton
doori pai e thode dina ton

tere hundian peende nahi saan
peeni pai e thode dina ton

chan jiha mukhda nazar ni aaunda
rutt surmai e thode dina ton

shaam savere a jande san
khabar na lai e thode dina ton

dil mar jana hun tak darda
chot te sahi e thode dina ton

sukh sunehda koi ni aaunda
aas te dhai e thode dina ton

ik din ‘Bari’ hal ho jani
mushkil jehi e thode dina ton