P for Patiala…the ABCD of the Patiala Gharana (I)

A- E

 

Ali Baksh and Fateh Ali Khan founded this school of Indian classical music in the 19^th century. The formidable duo, who trained under stalwarts of the Delhi and Gwalior Gharanas, earned the military titles of Jarnail ( General ) and Kernail ( Colonel) for their singing prowess from the Maharaja of Tonk. The pair were also fondly referred to as Alia-Fattu in the music circles.

Akhtar Hussain, son of Ali Baksh, was an accomplished musician who enjoyed the aptraonage of the King of Patiala but when partition happened in 1947, he chose to move to Pakistan. It was a struggle to establish himself again because he had left behind everything he owned. He slowly picked up the pieces of his life by giving music lessons.

But let’s talk here of   A for “Ashiq Ali Khan”

This lesser talked about a artist of the Patiala Gharana was quite a maverick. It would be hard to find a Hindustani classical singer who performs in tailored western suits even in this day and age but that’s precisely what he did. His illustrious father, Fateh Ali Khan, one of the co founders of the Gharana, passed away when he was still in his teens. He received some music training from Ali Baksh, his Uncle and the other cofounder of the Gharana, but soon ran away from home and sought solace in opium and Sufi shrines. Some of his father’s students came to his rescue and made sure he received further training. There’s a story about him being poisoned by jealous contemporaries and his losing his voice. To overcome the setback he is supposed to have developed a special style of singing the highlight of which were the immensely fast,yet precise taans. Ashiq Ali Khan taught several students – names like Zahida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Mukhtar Begum.

B for “Bade Ghulam Ali Khan”

The best known student of Aashiq Ali, Ghulam Ali Khan took the Patiala tradition to great heights. There are many a folklores associated with the singer. How he agreed to sing in Mughal- e – Azam, for instance. Or his return to India from Pakistan

Bade Ghulam Ali is often refered to as belonging to the Qasur Patiala Gharana, an an off shoot of the original Patiala Gharana, but many think that his ties with the other branch were as strong. An article in fact describes his Shakkar ceremony where he officially honoured his Gurus Ashiq Ali and Akhtar Husaain ( Son of Ali Baksh and grandfather of Shafqat Amanat Ali) in a public ceremony.

But Bade Ghulam Ali Khan did add to the Patiala legacy in a big way and is credited for developing Punjabi ang  thumri and khayal singing of Patiala.

C for “Coke Studio”

Patiala Gharana has been represented on this music series more than once. Shafqat Amanat Ali‘s  immensely popular Khamaj and Ankhon ke Saagar were a part of Season 2. He featured again in the 10^th season after a considerable gap.

Meanwhile season 6 featued Ustad Fateh Ali’s son Rustam Fateh Ali Khan

Hamid Ali Khan sang in the season 7

Infact Shafqat has featured even on Coke studio India..a feat matched by Shila Rao when she sang Paar channa de in season 9 of the Coke studio Pakistan

D for “Darbari” 

This drut Khayal features the duo of Ustad Amanat Ali and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan which took Patiala to great heights in the 60’ s and the 11 minutes of this recording shows us why. It showcases everything Patiala- the fast taans, the delicate ornamentation and the perfect division of parts while singing in jodis, which is another Patiala tradition.

 

E for “East meets West”

Fusion experiments with the west in the Patiala Gharana began probably with this collaboration between the Norwegian Sax player Jan Garbarek and Ustad Fateh Ali.

https://soundcloud.com/owais-raza-14/ragas-and-sagas-jan-garbarek-ustad-fateh-ali-khan

Then there was a band called Fuzon …and rest, as they say is history.

to be continued… 🙂

Remembering Bade Fateh Ali Khan of Patiala

There are some things that bring you joy, and some that bring you peace; there are things that you seek solace in, and there are things that inspire you to go higher. Music is all of those things and for me Ustad Fateh Ali Khan’s music is that and more.

Just over a month ago , as the world was still celebrating the start of another year, this great artist departed from it after a well lived life at 82 on the 4^th of January, 2017

When someone passes away they take away with them all that they know, all that they have experienced, all that they have learnt… so with him that day we lost a little bit of the Patiala Gharana legacy- a bit of what his forefathers had learnt from the legendary Tanras Khan of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s court, a bit of the nuances that he picked from Ustad Umeed Ali Khan of the Gwalior Gharana-his maternal uncle and father-in- law; a bit of the lightening fast tans which reminded us of the genius of his uncle Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan, and maybe scores of  centuries old, original bandishes which he was a proud custodian of, and either he didn’t have the time to teach or his students didn’t have the capability to learn.

But what he left behind in the form of the music that he performed will take us more than a lifetime to relish, grasp and revere :

Hear him sing an ode to the Mughal dynasty set in Raag Adana- a composition of Tanras Khan 

Here he sings in praise, in the same Raag, of his great Uncle after whom he was probably named and one of the founders of the Gharana– Fateh Ali ,who earned the the title of Kaptan for his prowess in singing and was often called Taan Kaptaan for his grip on the rapid melodic passages which are a hallmark of Patiala

Technical correctness in music sometimes robs a performance of the emotional connect that it has with the audience. But that was never the case with Khan Sahib’s singing. In his singing I often felt love, gentleness and ease which makes it such a delight to listen to him

This Pahari rendition of his just proves this

And another one in Bhupali- the effortless ease with which he sings just shows the many many years of hard work that it would have taken for him to make it sound so simple!

Fateh Ali Khan and his music had a connection with Norway. He performed there several times. He also teamed with the famous Norwegian saxophonist Jan Gabarek for a fusion album called Ragas and Sagas which also featured his student Deeyah who is a half Pakistani,half Afghani and  from Norway. This track from the album is my favorite

The Ustad was not averse to singing in the lighter generes. Here is a ghazal that’s a favorite

And this Darbari bandish was actually adapted for a movie

The best of course, were his performances with his late brother whom he lost early on in his career.He never quite recovered from the loss of his brother and performing partner. They are now probably united in the heavens above.

Death often arrives without a warning. The onus is on us to take time to listen to ,and to tell more and more life stories in words, in songs, in paintings, in pictures… for it is in these stories that we will find and remember the people who are gone for who they really were…

Because try as hard as we do, we can never get them to speak once they are gone…

Ghar Waapas Jab Aaogey Tum, Kaun Tumhe Pechanega?

A recent episode of my perennial favorite Coke Studio Pakistan featured a song called Umra langhiyan– rendered by a young talented singer Ali Sethi. The credits of the song mentioned the original singer and composer- Asad Amanat Ali Khan. There are many young music lovers (especially in India) who are unaware of the existence of this extremely talented and accomplished singer of the Patiala Gharana.  He was very popular in Pakistan and much mourned when he died quite young of a heart ailment in 2007.

His voice was unique- slightly nasal with that tinkle that he inherited from his father, Ustad Amanat Ali. His training gave him great control and a good range. But there was something in his voice, beyond all technicalities…and that was expression. Whether he sang about love, or separation, or joy- you could feel the emotion so well.

He would have turned 60 today if he were alive, he was only 52 when he passed away. On his birth anniversary I pick some of my favorite performances of his from YouTube.

Kacchi jeyi tand  teri yaari

Feel the aftermath of a broken relationship here-

“kuj tu sen tez mizaajan di

keeti kadar na merayan laadan di

assi ujar de ujarde ujar gaye

assi holli holli vichar gaye”

Blame it on your fiery temperament

And the fact that you never appreciated my affections

Slowly what we shared fell into ruin

Slowly we grew apart…

Kal chaudhvin ki raat thee

it’s hard to beat the Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali versions etched in our minds, but this delightful rendition grows on you after a few listens..

Laagi re tosi laagi najar saiyan laagi

A bhairavi thumri which he performs with Ustad Hamid Ali Khan. There was a tradition of singing in jodis (pairs) in the Patiala Gharana. Asad said in an interview that it was his chacha,Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, who made the decision that Asad should sing with his (Fateh Ali Khan’s) younger brother Hamid. He had hoped that they would follow the footsteps of the Amanat Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan pair-probably the most popular classical duo in the 1960’s in Pakistan. And to some extent these two did succeed  in recreating some of that magic!

Mora saiyan mose bole na 

A  Khamaj bandish of the Patiala gharana was later adapted by Shafqat Amanat Ali to give one of his most popular numbers till date. Asad renders it here in the more traditional format.

Ye Arzoo thee tujhe

With lyrics by Haider Ali Aatish, this was a very popular ghazal sung by Ustad Amanat Ali. Asad renders it here as a tribute to his father

Umran Langiya

Don’t need to elaborate on this any more. Just listen to this, my favorite out of all versions on YouTube…19 minutes or so of pure bliss.

Insha Ji Utho

A very young Asad sings these Ibn- e- Insha words which were originally sung by his father( soon after his passing away). Ustad fateh Ali Khan is in the audience and  breaks down while listening to it, as he remembers his brother. Since both Ustad Amanat Ali and Asad passed away young, this song began to be considered a jinx of sorts by the family and Shafqat’s sisters and aunts made him promise that he would never perform this one.

Ghar Waapas Jab Aaogey

And this one just to remember this great artist.  He came back to enthrall music lovers through a song that he composed and sang, but how many actually knew and remembered him?

I hope more people listen to his songs, I hope more people sing them.

Dil Dhadkane ka Sabab…Celebrating Heartache

Shafqat Amanat Ali’s music is a reflection of what has been passed onto him as a legacy. He never fails to remember his roots and always finds a way to pay tribute to this inheritance. His album Saagar when he was part of the Fuzon Band had a repackaged Patiala Gharana thumri in Raag Khamaj. Then Tabeer had his father’s famous Darbari.

The album Kyun Dooriyan had a song called Naukar Tere, the tune of which is inspired by a traditional Saraiki wedding song that his grandmother used to sing. (His grandmother was the sister of Ustad Umeed Ali of the Gwalior Gharana. She had extensive knowledge of music and in fact was in charge of the training the children in the family while Shafqat was growing up )

One of the highlights of Shafqat Amanat Ali’s recently released album, Muh Dikhai is a Ghazal –“ Dil dhahdkane ka sabab yaad aaya” Written by the very famous urdu poet Nasir Qazmi this ghazal was originally composed by Shafqat’s father, Ustad  Amanat Ali Khan

Born as Raza Kazmi in Ambala, India, he wrote under the pseudonym Nasir. A great admirer of Meer he is often credited as one of the founders of modern ghazal. Simplicity of thought and of words helped him connect to mass audiences. A peer of Faiz,who was massively popular, he was still able to carve a  special mark in the world of poetry.

What is common in most of what he has written is an undercurrent of resigned sadness. It is believed he was very affected by the partition which forced him to move to Pakistan and that sadness is reflected in his words.

But besides the sadness of losing his roots, his poetry,is also about having lost love and friendship.  The expression of loneliness and the helplessness of it is, a theme that runs through many of his poems .

Intizar Hussain, a renowned Urdu fiction writer of Pakistan said in his tribute to Kazmi at a seminar-“Nasir Kazmi is the poet who, through his poetry, taught people the etiquette of sadness” Going through his works make you nod in agreement to that statement.

Silence is a sign of  a level of comfort in a relationship but sometimes it is the sign of a relationship gone bad…

Aaj toh wo bhi kuch khamosh sa thaa

Maine bhii us-se koi baat na kii

He too seemed a little quiet today

And I didn’t talk to him either

Nasir laments here about the relationship that ceased to be

Yaad aata hai roz o shab koi

Hamse rootha hai besabab koi

Haunted by his memory day and night

The one who is  upset without a reason

He expresses so beautifully on what all is missed when a relationship ends

Vo dosti toh khair ab naseebe dushmana hui

Wo choti choti ranjishon ka lutf bhi chala gaya

The friendship met its fate and ended in animosity

And with that went away the joy of those petty tiffs

It was Nasir Kazmi who said

Dil mein aur kya rakha hai

Tera dard chuppa rakha hai

What else would you find inside my heart

Only the pining and pain for you

And the phrase was borrowed probably by Anjaan for this song from the movie Imaandar ?

The need to be connected with the world and to be alone at the same time is a feeling that everyone knows, but how many  can say it like he does

Diwangi e shauq ko ye dhun hai in dino

Ghar bhi ho aur be dar o divar sab hi ho

A frenzied desire overwhelms me these days

Of having a house sans its walls and doors

It isnt the world around us that is usually responsible for our woes, it is mostly ourselves who cause it- and he talks about it in his popular ghazal Apni dhun mein rehta hun

Apnii lahar hai apna rog

Dariya hun aur pyaasa hun

My being is what ails me

Like a flowing river that thirsts

And music lovers from the subcontinent often have swayed to  Dil mein ik lehar si uthi hai abhi– sung beautifully by none other than Ghulam Ali Sahab.

Some profound thoughts in this one too

Bhari duniya mein dil nahin lagta

Jaane kis cheez ki kami hai abhi

In this bustling world, my heart finds no solace

What is it that is lacking, what is that it is seeking?

And

Tu sharik e sukhan nahi hai to kya

Hum sukhan teri khamoshi hai abhi

So what if you are no longer participating

Your silence is still a part of our conversation

A rare and surprisingly optimistic note pops up sometime-  struggling and possibly succeeding in living with the pain- a comfortably numb state if you may

Kuch ab sambhalne lagi hai jaan bhi, badal chala daur e aasman bhi

Jo raat bhari thi tal gai hai jo din kada tha guzar gaya wo

My heart finds a new strength, the times are changing

That trying night has finally passed, that hard day has finally ended

Dil Dhadkne ka Sabab – Translation

When I felt my heart beat,  I remembered why

I was remembering you…  that is why

My friend, as I struggled to stay afloat , 

The effort just made me miss you like never before

The day was hard to get by as it is and then I remembered

That promise of an evening rendezvous

O  your long forgotten vows of fidelity

Recalling them is but a death wish

Then so many people came by and were gone

Reminding  me of that  joyful place

I’d have had no qualms about sharing my woes

Alas I remembered them, only when he was gone

I  then sat in lesiure, in the  shadow of the bossoms ,missing him

And  cried to my heart’s content

Even  Mallika e Tarannum has lent her voice  to a film version of this ghazal – (Music by Ustad Nazar Hussain? )

And how can we not listen to the Ghulam Ali version

And there’s an Asha Bhosle version for the album Meraj e Ghazal

Catch Jagjit Singh singing it 12:50 onward here :

I wish I had access to Ustad Amanat Ali’s original rendition… but this one re created and sung beautifull by his son is brilliant, by any standards.

Reading Nasir moves you… his dignity in pain amazes you. His subtle and sophisticated references to what he is going through almost makes you ask him..in his own words…

Tu jo itna udaas hai nasir

Tujhe kya ho gaya bata to sahi

Why this feeling of gloom Nasir

What the hell is wrong with you……

All poetry taken from http://www.rekhta.org