THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE MUSIC OF PAKISTAN

The music traditions of Pakistan are rich and varied. While qawwali, the
ancient Sufi song style popularized by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, has overtaken
almost every other kind of Pakistani music in terms of popularity and export¬
ability, there are a great many other significant styles. The country is justifiably
proud of its many outstanding ghazal singers, with film and pop music also
playing key roles in modern Pakistani music. This album explores all these
styles to provide a striking insight into the deep-rooted music of Pakistan.

PATHANE KHAN: Mera Isqh Bhi Tu

5:05

ABIDA PARWEEN: Yaar Di Gharoli

8:04

TSIGANES DE SIND: Popular Melodies

3:16

FARIDA KHANUM: Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo

7:07

SULTAN MUHAMMED CHANNE & SHAH WALI:

Traditional Pashtoun Song

5:13

MEHDI HASSAN: Thumri In Raag Desh

7:19

VITAL SIGNS: Guzray Zamaney Waley

3:42

SAJjAD ALI: Jhullay Lai

4.52

FAAKHIR: Dil Na Lagay

4:29

10

ADNAN SAMI KHAN: Lift Kara De

4:11
11

NOOR JEHAN: Jis Din Se Piya

4:09

12

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN: Aj Rang Hai Hai Maa

10:40

Produced by WORLD MUSIC NETWORK

in association with ROUGH GUIDES

and NEW INTERNATIONALIST

THIS COMPILATION:

®&© World Music Network 2003

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registered trademarks of World Music Network UK Ltd

Total Playing Time:

LC 11067 Made in Great Britain

RGNET 1116 CD
VV^R 1 -* • • ^iETW»R.k

Pakistani music

Pakistan is one of the world's youngest nations carved out of, and formed after, the partition of India
in 1947. The ideal behind the creation of Pakistan was to give former Indian Moslems a self-governing
homeland but, even so, a larger number of Moslems remained behind in India. The original country,
as formed in 1947, consisted of West Pakistan and East Pakistan and in 1971 the latter fought a
successful war of independence, emerging as Bangladesh.

The drawing and redrawing of political boundaries does not essentially change a musical culture
that is far older than these boundaries, but it does throw up a certain inconsistency when it comes
to the modern habit of defining music by its country of origin. Also, there is always a certain problem
with representing the music of those countries that were carved out of other countries with strong,
ancient musical traditions of their own.

So far as classical music is concerned, Pakistan shares the same age-old inherited tradition as north
India. The same instruments are played, and the same raags (or melodies) sung, although classical
music has not, on the whole, flourished in Pakistan to the same extent as it has done in post-Partition
India. Even so, there have been quite a few outstanding vocalists of the north Indian style, based
in Pakistan, but where Pakistani music stands distinct from that of India is in its rich and varied
tradition of folk music, particularly from the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan, with
each area adding a distinct signature of its own.

Abida Parween
The history and culture of these regions is obviously older than Pakistan,
with the province of Sindh having been the site of the ancient Indus Valley
civilization. Much of this provincial folk tradition is steeped in mysticism,
having been home to many a Sufi (Islamic mystic) saint-poet. In recent
years, the ancient Sufi song style, qawwali, has overtaken almost every
other kind of music in terms of popularity and exportability, particularly
with the advent of the late qawwali singer and composer, Ustad Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan (from Lahore, in north Pakistan). Nusrat's success led to a
great deal of curiosity on the part of record labels and producers specializing
in world music. Numerous other mystical singers, who were normally only
known and celebrated within their local communities - generally adjoined
to a Sufi shrine - were also discovered and recorded. Pakistani legends
(such as Pathane Khan) then became available on good-quality recordings
instead of only being available on pirated cassettes distributed through
Pakistani bazaars.

One kind of Pakistani music that is not regionally based but hugely popular
all over Pakistan (as well as abroad) is the light-classical ghazal form. Ghazals
are romantic couplets in Urdu (inherited from a Persian style during the
time of Moslem rule in India), usually composed to music in a light or semi-
classical style. Pakistan can be proud of many outstanding ghazal singers,
notably Mehdi Hassan and Farida Khanum. Mehdi Hassan has done much
for the huge ghazal revival of the 1980s and has inspired newer generations
of ghazal singers with his unique style. Of all the different kinds of music,
ghazal (both in terms of performers and patrons) has been the single most
thriving music industry within Pakistan.

However, a great deal of what passes off for ghazal these days is really no
better than a downmarket pop song. New singers - in Pakistan as well as
in Britain - often opt for ghazal as their main art, imagining it to be a soft
option, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth, as ghazal requires
a perfect mastery of musical notes and raags as well as a full understanding
of poetic content, which can only be delivered through flawless diction.
The words of ghazal, unlike pure classical songs, cannot be garbled or
mispronounced.

Most Pakistani singers were also absorbed into its vibrant film industry
(based in Lahore) before cinema finally capitulated to the home video
revolution of the mid-1980s. Rather unfairly, Pakistani film music has always
been compared to Indian film music and, understandably, has never
amounted to more than a pale imitation. Yet the outstanding vocalist Noor
Jehan (often called the 'Queen of Melody' or the 'Nightingale of Pakistan'),
who left a successful film career in India to migrate to Pakistan in 1947, did
bring a certain style and class of her own, and many Pakistani film songs
of the 1950s and 1960s owe their enormous success to her distinctive,
coquettish voice. (Incidentally, it is a voice that India's Lata Mangeshkar
- the other nightingale - has publicly acknowledged as one of her chief
inspirations.)

What we understand as 'pop' music is a fairly new phenomenon in Pakistan,

as it is also in India. In both these countries, film music has generally served
popular tastes and there had previously been no market for non-film pop
music. Yet with the growth of television and satellite communications, an
entirely new generation of Pakistanis are now forming pop bands fashioned
along Western lines and composing original songs for presentation through
video. The MTV generation, as it is known, has been heavily influenced by
access to Western pop groups, largely as a result of satellite television.
Groups like Vital Signs, along with performers such as Sajjad Ali and Faakhir,
have charted completely new territory on the Pakistani music scene.
Although rooted in the folk traditions of Pakistan, their music consists
largely of Western instruments (with ethnic drumming), which seems to
appeal to younger listeners.
Mehdi Hassan

- Throughout Pakistan, Pathane Khan became something

- of a legend in his lifetime for his inimitable style of rendering Sufi poetry.
{ Here, he sings a poem by Punjabi Sufi mystic-poet, Khwaja Farid (1845-1901)
J in which the poet praises his master or Sufi guide to the extent that the
master becomes everything: 'You are my love, my friend, my place of
pilgrimage and my mosque, the cause of my pain and its cure.'The song

- a sort of anthem of love with the underlying message that only love of
the master or spiritual guide can lead to a true understanding of existence

- is a Sufi classic, and over the years has been performed in a variety of
ways by leading musicians.

Vital Signs
-Abida Parween is the world's leading Sufi (Islamic mystic)
singer and has carved a niche for herself that would not normally be
associated with female music performers. Widely respected in Pakistan as
well as abroad, she sings an exquisite repertoire of Sindhi and Punjabi
poetry (known as kaafi), and on this track, combines two of her favourite
numbers - 'Yaar Di Gharoli' translates, literally, as 'The Friend's Water Pot'
(the 'friend' being God or spiritual master) and, once the pot has been filled
with His loving grace, one need have no fears. The last part of the song
uses the refrain 'Ghoom Charkra', which captures the repetitive rhythm of
the spinning wheel, the smitten lover losing herself in remembering her
beloved's name.

- Pakistan is enormously rich and varied in its

instrumental music, each province specializing in a distinct sound of its
own. The folk music of the province of Sindh has lent itself to both the
mystical Sufi tradition of the song style known as kaafi as well as inspiring
modern pop musicians. Alongside the older traditional instruments like
the sarinda (a fretless lute, predecessor of the sarangi), the European
harmonium has also come to be a mainstay of folk as well as Sufi music.

- A classically trained singer, Farida Khanum, reigning

'Queen of Ghazai', has had a long and distinguished career, and is just as
popular in India as she is in Pakistan. Her singing, with its uniquely restrained
delivery and measured pace, echoes a bygone age when beautiful
courtesans sang expertly to kings and rulers in resplendent surroundings.
This is probably her single most popular ghazai, owing to its simple,
straightforward language (from poet Fayyaz Hashmi) set against a tune
composed in the Raag Yaman Kalyan. The words of the song implore the
beloved to stay a little while longer...

- The rabab is the most famous

lute in Afghanistan and predominates in northwest Pakistan. Carved from
a single block of wood covered in parchment, its four strings (made out
of gut) are played with a plectrum, and underneath these a number of
sympathetic strings give the instrument its distinctive resonant quality.
In north India, the rabab evolved into the instrument now known as a sarod.
Here, Sultan Muhammed Channe, leading exponent of the rabab, plays a
well-known folk tune from the region.

- Pakistan's prime male vocalist of ghazals, Mehdi Hassan

performs a rarely heard light-classical composition. The words of the song
allude to the gathering of dark clouds and the imminent rain while the lover
pines for her beloved. Raag Des is often used to convey the bittersweet
pain of separation. This is a live recording, at a landmark concert in London
that will be remembered as probably the only occasion when three top
maestros performed together. Mehdi Hassan is accompanied by the
legendary Pakistani tabla player, the late Ustad Shaukat Hussain, and the
Indian sarangi player Ustad Sultan Khan - both soloists in their own right
and, in recent years, seldom heard as mere accompanists.

- This Pakistani pop group - comprising Rohail Hyatt, Shahbaz

Hassan and Junaid, and among the first of its kind - was a roaring success
in the late 1980s and 1990s, but has since split up. They specialized in cover
versions of traditional folk songs that have been given a more modern
treatment. The formula was enormously popular with younger generations
of Pakistanis, both within their country and abroad. Many of their numbers
became wedding-dance floor favourites.

-This Sufi hymn of praise is sung to a pop/dance beat. Being

the grand-nephew of the legendary classical singers Ustad Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan and Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Sajjad Ali is fully trained in classical
music, which gives his popular songs an unmistakable depth and texture.
At a time when catchy bhangra rhythms were the order of the day in
Pakistani pop music, Sajjad Ali dared to venture out and provide softer,
slower, ballad-style songs, so creating a new trend.

- A patriotic song, 'Dil Na Lagay' combines traditional Punjabi

rhythm and melody with modern. Western instruments. From being
something of the 'boy next door', Faakhir immediately rocketed to fame
on the release of his very first solo album, Aatish, which had record sales
for a 'mere' pop album. His rich blend of Pakistani folk and pop, with an
underlying pain and longing that spoke to the homesick, appealed to
listeners within Pakistan as well as abroad.

AONAN SAMI KHAN - Adnan, a Pakistani who grew up in Britain, has often
been dubbed 'the world's fastest keyboard player', having played (Western)
classical piano since the age of 7. With its catchy beat and hilarious lyrics,
'Lift Kara De' immediately captured fans and critics alike. It is a plea to God
to send His bounty and give the singer a 'lift' in life. The video of the song
- even more popular than the song itself - is memorable for Adnan's unique,
funky, dance movements.

NOOR JEHAN - Noor Jehan began her career as a film actress in pre-Partition
India and moved to Pakistan soon after its creation in 1947. The last of the
great singing stars - normally actresses mime to the voices of professional
singers - she was to Pakistan what Lata Mangeshkar is to India, but with
one vital added element. Whereas Lata lent her voice to leading ladies
of the silver screen, Noor Jehan could act and sing. This song is from
the film Intezaar (made in the late 1950s), in which Noor Jehan also played
the lead.

NUSRAT FATEH AU KHAN - Rang literally means 'colour', and in this sense
is a declaration of 'today I'm being painted in the same hue as my beloved'.
Rang is traditionally sung at the end of a qawwali recital at a Sufi shrine.
The song - composed by qawwali 's founder, Hazrat Amir Khusrau
(1253-1325) - has been sung in the same way for more than 700 years. It
has a mood of joyful exuberance, celebrating Khusrau's acceptance into
discipleship with the great Sufi master Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya
(1242-1325). It is traditional to recite the entire spiritual tree of succession
during the performance of rang, as Khusrau says he has not only gained
one master, but by getting him has got the entire chain of masters who
came before him. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the greatest performer of qawwali,
brings a depth to this rendition that is rare among other performers. He is
sincere to the traditional requirements of rang, and yet confident enough
as a musician to explore related themes to this, the most classical of
qawwali songs.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Jameela Siddiqi is a Sony Gold Award winner for her series Songs Of The Sufi Mystics,
for BBC Radio (1997). She has written extensively on Indian classical and devotional
music, including a chapter for the book The Rough Guide To World Music, Vol. 2.

bheegi bheegi
raton me|_n...

kabhi to
nazar milao
Abide

1 PATHANE KHAN: Mera Isqh Bhi Tu (edit) from the album TROUBADORS OF ALLAH (SM16172)

(Khwaja Farid) Copyright Control. Courtesy of WERGO/Schott Music & Media, Mainz, Germany

2 ABIDA PARWEEN: Yaar Di Gharoli from the album SONGS OF THE MYSTICS (NRCD5505/6)

(Sachal Sarmast) pub Navras Records Ltd. Licensed from Navras Records Ltd

3 TSIGANES DE SIND: Popular Melodies from the album TRESORS DU PAKISTAN (PS65062)

Copyright Control. Licensed from Kudsi Erguner

4 FARIDA KHANUM: Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo from the album THE EXCELLENCE OF FARIDA KHANUM
(SIRCD091) Copyright Control. Licensed from Sovereign Sirocco Ltd

5 SULTAN MUHAMMED CHANNE & SHAH WALI: Traditional Pashtoun Song from the album TRESORS
DU PAKISTAN (PS65062) Copyright Control. Licensed from Kudsi Erguner

6 MEHDi HASSAN: Thumri In Raag Desh (edit) from the album LIVE IN CONCERT: CLASSICAL GHAZALS
12

(NRCD0001/2/3) (trad) pub Navras Records Ltd. Licensed from Navras Records Ltd

7 VITAL SIGNS: Guzray Zamaney Waley from the album HUM TUM (CDSR207) (singer: Junaid Jamshed,
lyrics: Shoab Mansoor, music: Vital Signs) pub Brian Engel Publishing. Licensed from Oriental Star Agencies Ltd

8 SAJJAD ALI: Jhuliay Lai from the album AIK AUR LOVE STORY (CDSR415)

(singer: Sajjas Aii, lyrics: Waqar Ali, music: Waqar Ali) pub Brian Engel Publishing. Licensed from Oriental Star
Agencies Ltd
9 FAAKHIR: Dil Na Lagay from the album AATISH (CDSR706)

(singer: Faakhir, lyrics: Faakhir/Nadeem Asad, music: Faakhir) pub Brian Engel Publishing. Licensed from Oriental
Star Agencies Ltd

10 ADNAN SAMI KHAN: Lift Kara De from the album BHEEGI BHEEGI RATON MEIN... (CDSR377)

(singer: Adnan Sami Khan, lyrics: Riaz Ur-Rehman Saghar, music: Adnan Sami Khan) pub Brian Engel Publishing.

Licensed from Oriental Star Agencies Ltd

NOOR JEHAN: Jis Din Se Piya from the album TARRANUM (SIRCD082)

Copyright Control. Licensed from Sovereign Sirocco Ltd

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN: Aj Rang Hai Hai Maa (edit) from the album TRADITIONAL SUFI QAWWALIS
LIVE IN LONDON Vol. IV (NRCD0029) (Hazrat Amir Khusrau) pub Navras Records Ltd. Licensed from Navras
Records Ltd

RGNET 1116 CD

Series produced by Phil Stanton

Compiled by Jameela Siddiqi

Mastered by Laurence Cedar
Coordinated by Duncan Baker
Sleeve notes by Jameela Siddiqi

Design and artwork by

Wildcat (wildcat1@ntlworld.com)
Front cover image by Tibor Bognar/TRIP
Back cover image by Imagestate
CD tray image by robertharding.com
Additional photography by
Dave Peabody (p2), a.o.

With thanks to
Mark Ellingham, Richard Trillo
& all at Rough Guides
Sandra Alayon-Stanton &
all at World Music Network

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