Laya – I don’t know how to express this hindi word in English
letters but its closest word in English would be ‘Rhythm’. And Tufail Niazi said that ‘Laya’ is like the beats in heart, something that makes the body move,
respond, react & so on…and as soon as a child is born the ‘Laya’ is in
motion and if the ‘Laya’ is not in order, or it is simply switched off, then
the human body will just lose all its dynamism and agility.
But the ‘Sur’ (Again I don’t know what could be the
parallel word in English to describe ‘Sur’ – probably ‘Melody’ or the ‘right Note’ or ‘Scale’…but
all these are just signs indicating to the ultimate truth) is the ‘Soul’, he said.
He said the whole body represents ‘laya’, but ‘Sur’ is the Soul.
I was really moved by his simplicity in which he said
things of deep psychology and philosophy!
Tufail Niazi, a 'Punjabi folk singer from Pakistan'….well,
this introduction would be really unfair & insufficient to his great
artistry & character.
I am not sure how I reached him! I really appreciate many musicians of
today’s ‘Pakistan’ which used to be ‘Hindustan’ before 1947, such as Ustad
Salamat Ali Khan of Sham Chaurasi gharana, Gazal singers Ghulam Ali & Mehdi
Hassan and as far as I remember I was simply checking out youtube videos of
them, and then I came across something called ‘Lok Virsa’ programs. It
seemed to be a Pakistan government’s initiative to record and archive interviews
of its great performers in the field of art & music, for the future
generations. And there I came across
this program of Tufail Niazi.
When it comes to music and that too Indian (or these
days they call it ‘Subcontinental’ which I still do not approve of and I still
believe it is originally Indian!) music, I have the patience to listen for some
time before I can get bored of it.
And therefore I watched this man and listened to his
voice…a bit brittle as he was almost 70, but so melodious and honest…that
I soon was mesmerized. I ended up watching the whole program (interview &
performances) of almost 3 hours only to be left with just one feeling:
Enchanted!
Tufail was born in Jalandhar (Punjab, then India…& even
today!) in 1916 when nobody knew of something called ‘Pakistan’ in this world.
He was a Muslim by religion but was a Punjabi and spoke ‘Punjabi’ (This is not
considered natural today as people think that a Muslim would only speak ‘Urdu’!....Such
a stereotyping of a Muslim in India\Pakistan!!).
He hailed from a lineage of ‘Pakhavajees’ and
singers who used to sing ‘Keertan’ or
play ‘Pakhawaj’ in ‘Gurudwara’ (Religious place of worship for ‘Sikhs’…a sect of
the greater Hindudom…although these days it is considered as a separate religion,
but I consider it as one of the different paths within the Hindu way of life to find the ultimate truth. Bytheway ‘Hinduism’
cannot be termed as a religion as there is not a single book or single
god\prophet here to follow…but it is way of life accepting of the fact that
there can be multiple ways/different paths to follow in order to realize the ultimate power or God or whatever you call it. Hinduism even has space for ' Sage Charvak'..who denied existence of god!)
He sang the ‘Keertan’ for around 2-3 years in
Gurudwara and then moved to a ‘Gaushala’ (Cow Protection House), where he would
sing songs to preach ‘cow protection’ in the society! Now this is something which people of today might
find really difficult to digest in India\Pakistan, because a Muslim is seen as
a beef eater in this part of the world and Muslims themselves do not tend to deny this image either. But here a Muslim boy was singing songs in
favor of protecting the cow! And he sang such a song in the ‘Lok Virsa’ program
too, and with such expressions that I could see he really felt for the lyrics of that song. This was the India back in those times....!
In all his singing, I could observe that his facial
expressions would also change according to the mood of the song…just like a
real good actor! And later during the interview I came to know that he had also
worked in various plays (nautanki) such as ‘Ramayana’, ‘Mahabharata’, ‘Heer Ranjha’, ‘Pooran
Bhagat’ as actor in his young days. This explained his expressive ways on the
stage while singing.
I will not talk about his life story anymore as most
of it is available on internet for anyone interested…but I would like to talk
about my experience of listening to his ‘gayaki’ (singing).
Simplicity, honest emotions, connection to the soil of Punjab, a sense of innocence, focus
on the words & expressions, sweetness of ‘Sur’ and effortless singing while
carving out even complex phrases or intentional transgressing from one ‘raga’
to another only to create more ‘soul’ness in the composition….is what my
conclusion of his singing…his music…if only I could express my feelings in
words! Because these experiences are beyond words…and yes…I really believe that
‘Sur’ is supreme over words!
Mind you, he sang all his life, in Punjabi language
and mostly the Punjabi folk but still I found in his singing, classical touch
and raga based compositions…yet with the folk instruments as accompaniment. So
it was a unique combination of Punjabi folk and Hindustani classical music with
such an appeal to the Punjabi heart or for that matter to any simple human
being of India\Pakistan, who could smell & cherish the moist soil of a coming Monsoon!
During the whole interview, I could never ever think
that he is not an Indian! He spoke Punjabi and had that innocence in his eyes, of
an honest and simple man, that we come across in the small towns & villages
of India even today!
Infact I think that he is more Indian than anyone
else, as he worked hard to preserve & promote the Punjabi folk music &
art. He didn't abandon his Punjabi language and the culture even after migrating to Pakistan where Urdu was being thrust upon people as the elite language of this new Islamic State and Punjabi was being looked upon as the language of uneducated!
Listening to his Punjabi folk is like peace & joy
both at the same time, for the heart, whereas listening to Yo Yo Honey Singh &
the likes, is like pain in the a**! Anyways….today’s world goes for pain in the
a** only, and not for the pain in the heart....but still, I will write what my heart feels!
