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How Can I Take Off My Eyes From Your Luminous Face? Part 1

April 18, 2016 by hjz5060

How can I take off my eyes from your luminous face? Because I see my Creator through you
I long to have your sight, my spiritual master & cause in your countenance I see God and His prophet.

The poet is saying here that the person he loves has such a blessed and luminous face that the essence of God can be seen from it. One is forced to ponder that if his true love is this beautiful, how many times more beautiful would God be Himself. He further states that I am waiting anxiously to bear the responsibility of having your glance at me because it is as if God and His messenger are looking at me.

Your name is my rosary
To worship you is our dedication
Your face is like the House of God, reflection of Ka’bah

Religion is sometimes defined as one’s ultimate concern in the planet. The way the poet has put it, it means that his love is his ultimate concern and thus his only religion. I have your name on my lips all the time as if it is a good deed, just like you say the name of God which considered a good deed. Getting a sight of his love is equivalent of witnessing the house of God. That is how important she/he is to the poet.

My mystical love for you is a unique affliction No physician has the cure for it
But you’
You’re the only remedy for my agony

The poet implies here that your love is actually an illness for me. This is because it is eating me from the inside, it is destroying my existence. Unfortunately, it cannot be cured by mere doctors or physicians, only your love can cure this illness. It is you who is my medicine and my lifeline.

Uncontested I remain even though I look at you endlessly
I long to keep looking at you unendingly

It is asserted here that I can keep on watching you day and night and even still I am not satisfied by the time I am given. This is because your beauty increase with every second that passes while I have my gaze on you. This thirst of watching you will always remain, hence I wait for that time to come when I can see you for this long.

If my Beloved is not before me, then the prayer offered is a waste
To see your refulgent face is like a
Pilgrimage to me
And to keep looking at the glowing sight
Is my prayer

The poet again come back to his ultimate concern. He says that if you are not in front of me, all my prayers are a waste because it is you who I want to please. As you know that for a Muslim to perform a pilgrimage of the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia is considered one of the most important achievements in his life. In that context, the poet nonchalantly says that getting a glimpse of his love’s face is his pilgrimage and to keep looking at this sight is my prayer. There, this is my religion for you, the religion of love.

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Oh You Jealousy of The Moon ! Part 2

March 18, 2016 by hjz5060

The gentleman’s integrity was bought out
Looking at the beauty my friend melted away
Until today how aloof he was,
His chastity was finally robbed, I was so ecstatic

Just to make one thing clear, ‘gentleman’ here refers to a pious man, someone who propagates religion. The poet is implying that all these pious people have mocked him of loving his beloved because they claim it is against the religion. But the lover knows that if these people were in the situation I was in, they would have done exactly what I am doing right now. He mentions that one day the saint finally gets to see the beautiful face of the person the poet loves. He was awestruck while admiring her beauty. His faith had been bought now. Why was he still looking, isn’t it against the religion? His strict following of the religion melted away slowly and he became more considerate whilst watching the beautiful face. He did not know what he was missing until he saw what true beauty meant. Now he knows he was wrong all along. His chastity was robbed, his integrity shattered, his self-esteem stumbled. Now he knows what I was undergoing, now he can’t comment on my situation, this made me ecstatic.

Intoxication spread from the bottle,
Glasses clinked in this gathering-of-disrepute
Pleasure started showering on the wine house
When the storm cloud broke and fell all around, I was ecstatic

The poet is comparing the beauty of his love to a day at the wine house. You are like a bottle of wine from which intoxication emanates. Whoever looks at you wants you immediately, hence if you were wine, all the glasses would clink as if to demand a sip of your intoxication. When you entered this wine house, mischief descended there and it was as if a storm was going to come. Everybody was befuddled with what to do now but I stood there admiring this confusion, I was ecstatic.

Thank my End, today, after my death
She started revering my love
With her own hands, on my grave
She spread a blanket of flowers, I was ecstatic

Now I am dead. Today I will truly know what my love actually thought about me. I am grateful that today after my demise she has maintained the honor of my love. She has started to revere it, glorify it, remember it. I don’t think its too late for her to know the importance of my adoration. I only wanted her to realize how much I loved her, I don’t care even if this happens after my death. With her own hands she spread a sheet of flowers on my grave, I was ecstatic.

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Oh You Jealousy of The Moon ! Part 1

March 1, 2016 by hjz5060

The title of this Qawwali may fool you if you let it. The place where I come from, the moon is thought to be rich with beauty and whenever someone is praised, the moon is used as a metaphor. ” You’re so beautiful like the moon”. Jealousy of the moon is pointed out to the person I love thereby proclaiming that you are so beautiful that even the moon is envious of your beauty.

Oh you jealousy-of-moon, when for the first time
You met your eyes with mine, I was ecstatic
It felt like lightning, it finished everything off,
It set all on fire so, I was ecstatic

The poet is proclaiming that my love you are my love of first sight. When your eyes met mine I went crazy instantaneously. When that moment occurred, it felt to me like a bolt of lightning struck within myself and lit a fire which burned with the desire of having you. That moment was so pure, so alive, that I loved every second of it.

Pouring the pleasures of beauty into my glass
Moonlight smiled on me, I was ecstatic
In the shade of the moon, oh my lover
You got me drunk so, I was ecstatic

This stanza is totally an analogy so don’t confuse it with its literal meaning. Pouring the pleasures of beauty in the glass of wine I had,is actually referring to the moment when you used to meet me hence making me absorb your beauty just as one sips wine. That moment was so blissful that it seemed as though moonlight smiled upon me. In the shade of the moon oh my lover, you got me so intoxicated with your beauty that I felt ecstatic.

There was shyness in the eyes at every meeting
Her cheeks turned red at the talk of love
Embarrassed by my questions
She bent her neck so, I was ecstatic

Ah the innocence of the person you love, so beautifully put. Whenever we used to meet, she was always shy as if she was hiding something from me. Whenever I told her how much I loved her, she used to blush. I used to pop the question every now and then to know if she loved me or not? And when I did that,she bent her neck signaling a yes. In that moment we were infinite, I was ecstatic.

Dropping her veil she stood in front of me
And youth clashed with youth
Her eyes fought with mine so,
Looking at this fight I was ecstatic

Reiterating the scenario of conventional lovers, it was believed that the female used to wear a veil to signify her modesty. Now she stands in front of me and drops that veil. I see her face for the first time and my youth meets with hers. Youth here can mean exuberance or the literal meaning as well. When you stood there looking at me our youths clashed, and your eyes met with mine. They started to have a clash themselves, I embraced this fight as a sign of happiness. Looking at this fight I was ecstatic !

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May God Save Us From Their Intoxicating Glances ! Part 2

February 21, 2016 by hjz5060

O God save us from the intoxicated glances! O God save us from the moon-faced ones!
Let any affliction come upon us [but] God save us from the pretty ones.

Above mentioned is the chorus of the Qawwali. The poet is implying here that he has had enough of these glances from his lover and is praying not to have more of these because they have the power to make anyone go crazy. It is a situation of better safe than sorry. He is on the verge of accepting any affliction but the affliction directed by these lovable creatures.

Don’t let their innocence fool you; don’t let them make you a fool
they rob with just a smile, O God save us from their spells!

This verse does not need much explaining. It is signifying the deadly covert attacks by the people you love. They take advantage of you just by giving a smile in return, they are not trustworthy at all.

Innocent appearance and innocuous talk, but there is a difference between what they say and what they mean
Though their face is like that of moon, O God save us from the schemes of their hearts!

The profoundness in these two lines almost makes them ineffable to express here. I have to make one thing clear, whenever I make these statements, they are not about the contemporary lovers but are about conventional lovers. These people used to give everything they had for the sake of love. They had to experience a lot of heart ache when their love was one sided, and in many cases they even used to give their lives away in the search of a two sided affair. The poet is saying now that these people talk so sweetly that they cast spells using their lips, of which they themselves are aware. These sweet words are very deceptive which are meant to fool the lover yet again into thinking that this type of love is a two sided affair. When they utter these words, one knows that they are committing artifice but since they are so beautiful, one stops and believes every word they say. Their hearts maneuver such schemes by the use of their innocent faces and sweet words that one is bound to go astray. God please save me from such experiences.

In the hearts there is a desire for beautiful companions in heaven, but they show their love of prayers [to the world].
Now, from the likes of the abstinent, O God save us from these Godly ones!

Moving to a religious perspective now. The poet now says that some people spend so much time praying and being steadfast just to fulfill their lust of having beautiful companions in heaven. These type of people are in a sort of delusion because their ultimate target is not to glorify God, because He is supreme but is to glorify God, because He will award them generously with beautiful companions in heaven. These delusional people try to convince others to do also what they are doing for the greed of these companions. The poet says I don’t want to be a part of their evil scheme and hence God please save me from these “Godly” creatures.

Translation:

http://nusrat.info/mast-nazron-se-allah-bachaye/

Full Qawwali at:

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May God Save Us From Their Intoxicating Glances ! Part 1

February 17, 2016 by hjz5060

Another marvel produced by the legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the Qawwali ” God please save me from their intoxicating glances”. In this song he is referring to the person he loves, how her glances cast a magic spell and dazzle every person who looks at them.

This Qawwali just like the others start with a myriad amount of profound verses in which the lead singer is specifying the issue by the use of poetry.

When ye lift your gaze, it symbolizes prayer
When ye lower your gaze, it symbolizes your modesty
When ye narrow your gaze, it symbolizes your charm
When ye turn your gaze away, it symbolizes my death

The poet is using word play to his benefit here in which he describes how much can a mere gaze change the meaning of what you are intending to do. When you look up to the sky it symbolizes that you are in need of something and you are turning to God for that, thus epitomizing prayer. When you lower them in front of someone, it symbolizes humility. The next 2 lines are about the person you love. How if she narrows her eyes, she is showing off her charm, her grace, her elegance. And if she turns away from you, it symbolizes nothing but death for the lover.

Entire life spent in splendor, it need not be
Every night of sorrow has a dawn, it need not be
Slumber can arise in a bed of pain, in the arms of my love, it need not be
Fire is considered by the moths as child’s play, every moth is afraid of its fate, it need not be
A pious man who bows down to god, his prostration is effective, It need not be

Now the poet is delving deep inside the meaning of life. He first says that it is not necessary that your entire life is going to be sunshine and rainbows. It is going to be a cruel world out there so be ready. Continuing the cruelty of life, he further adds that not every every night of darkness has a dawn. Not every problem has a solution, so you should keep that in mind and continue your life without waiting for the solution. Furthermore, he adds that when you are aware of this cruelty, you should be content with what you have, whether the arms of your lover or a bed of pain. The next verse might take you off track if you let it. It is analogizing the moth to a person. How a moth dances around fire without the fear of death. Same can be the situation with a person. He can be aware that a situation might cause him to lose but he is still doing it. When a lover knows that his journey is going to be difficult and might lead to his death, he still wont stop his journey because in his perspective love has significant importance over life.

In the end the poet is saying that when you see a man bowing down to god, it seems apparently that he is the best of believers but that might not be true. He may be bowing down just to get his need fulfilled or just remembering god when he is in trouble. The poet says that it need not be that the man’s prostration has effect because god knows the intentions of a person.

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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

February 3, 2016 by hjz5060

After all the basics of the origin of Qawwali, today i will progress, and introduce you to the godfather of this genre of music. Nusrat Fateh Ali khan, born October 1948, is known to posses one of the best voices ever recorded.

He possessed extravagant vocal abilities which allowed him to perform for several hours in front of an audience. Extending the 600-year old Qawwali tradition of his family, Khan is widely credited with introducing Qawwali music to international audiences. After mesmerizing the Pakistani nation with his music in the 70’s, he was signed by Oriental Stars Agencies of England. Khan went on to release movie scores and albums in Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, and the US. He engaged in collaborations and experiments with Western artists, becoming a well-known world music artist. He toured extensively, performing in over 40 countries.

Khan had these unique vocal abilities that made him unique from others. His tongue used to move so rapidly that even a contemporary rap artist could not match his speed. It so happened that when Khan toured Japan, they took him to a voice recording agency which possessed a device that measured vocal speed. Khan started his routine performance in front of that device as it was operating. The speed of his tongue’s motion, therefore, could not be measured. The machine gave up and showed an error because it could not decipher the speed at which he was singing.

Khan is widely considered to be the most important Qawwal in history. In 1987, he received the President of Pakistan’s Award for Pride of Performance for his contribution to Pakistani music. In 1995, he received the UNESCO Music Prize. In 1996 he was awarded Grand Prix des Amériques at Montreal World Film Festival for exceptional contribution to the art of cinema. In the same year, Khan received the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes. In 2005, Khan received the “Legends” award at the UK Asian Music Awards. Time magazine’s issue of 6 November 2006, “60 Years of Asian Heroes”, lists him as one of the top 12 artists and thinkers in the last 60 years. He also appeared on NPR’s 50 great voices list in 2010. In August 2010 he was included in CNN’s list of the twenty most iconic musicians from the past fifty years. In 2008, Khan was listed in 14th position in UGO’s list of the best singers of all time.

After living such a prestigious career which included all these awards and the honor of composing music with the greats in the field, Khan fell ill with kidney and liver problems. On 16 August 1997, the world was left in shock when the sudden news of the musicians death , aged only 49, circled the realm of social interaction. He was on his way to Los Angeles for a kidney transplant when a sudden cardiac arrest took his life.

In my perspective, call it biased or not, Khan is the best musician to ever live. He used to explain stories and events only in a matter of seconds and believe it or not, he did not even use words that belonged to any language. The progenitor of Qawwali, Ustad ( teacher) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan will always be remembered by the world as a saint of music.

Here is a glimpse of his magic. His performance in University of Washington, please enjoy.

( I apologize for the video quality)

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Where It All Began

January 27, 2016 by hjz5060

Whenever I refer to Music from Pakistan I relate to a very specific genre which I bet you have never heard the name of. “Qawwali” as it is popularly known, has been in the sub continent for about 1600 years now. Qawwali is a form of music practiced by Sufis to inspire religious devotion and instruction.

Sufism is a mystical school of Islamic thought where truth and divine love are achieved through personal experience. Sufis are synonymous with the ‘Whirling Dervishes’ found in many parts of North Africa and the Middle East. Think of a Sufi like a Buddhist meditating in the isolation of the social circle to attain Nirvana.

Although, this form of Music predates the birth of Islam, it was revitalized by Amir Khusrow in the 13th century. A legendary musician, politician and philosopher who mixed elements from Turkey, Persia and India in the creation of a new music. The Qawwali band is known as the ” Qawwal Party” which consists of 7 or 8 individuals who divide their arduous task of performing. There is one lead singer accompanied by 3 or 4 backup singers. These backup singers not only sing but handle a musical instrument as well, mostly a harmonium. One person in the party operates a Tabla – a conventional type of drum which is run merely by the fingers of the operator. The rest of the people in the party usually clap to make the music more melodious.

Qawwali players must be extremely talented musicians and poets, able to adapt to different moods of ceremonies and able to improvise in several languages in different poetic traditions. Often, Qawwals are part of historic families who pass down this ‘trade’ to their offspring. Praise of saints and martyrs of Sufism as well as direct address to the Prophet Muhammad are common among them.

During a concert, one singer will recite poetry, hand gestures and religious phrases and the second singer will create improvised call and response variations. The main singer then commands the chorus to sing a hypnotic refrain. The variation, improvisation and repetition are carried out to such an extent that the music become hypnotic and meditive, rather like the whirling of the dervishes, leading to a trance-like state. Similarities are seen here with many kind of communal music and shamanistic traditions, from voodoo to African drumming to House and Techno and the minimalist music of composers like Steve Reich. In this heightened state, the participants can achieve fana – spiritual enlightenment. The structure of each song is usually the same – it starts off with a slow ambient opening, then becomes more rhythmical and driving as the music becomes faster pulsed and more intense. It is not uncommon for members of the audience to become extremely ecstatic and throw money at the musicians. Audiences in the States even bang their heads against the wall until unconscious in more extreme manifestations of this ecstatic ritual. One legendary star of qawwal said that “the violence of the ecstasy depends on each person’s pain of seperation from his homeland”.

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