The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Capturing Urdu in all its vibrant energy

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Sunday, Mar 23, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Capturing Urdu in all its vibrant energy

Bageshree S.

Abdul Hameed has documented forgotten folk tales and songs in Urdu

Abdul Hameed

Bangalore: Any mention of the word Urdu, and the mind makes immediate associations with ghazals and all that goes with the genteel world of Lucknowi graces. Not many are acquainted with Urdu’s rich repertoire of modernist, avant-garde literature or the folklore traditions that provide a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of those who are uncertain where their next meal comes from.

R. Abdul Hameed’s mission over the last three decades has been to document folk tales, songs and sayings in Urdu that are fast falling out of use and fading into oblivion. A section officer with the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, he has spent all his spare time visiting far-flung districts in north Karnataka, where Urdu is still a vibrant spoken language, and collecting material for his research.

What set him on this project was an incident in a wedding hall in Molakalmur, his home town in Chitradurga district. When some elderly women started singing traditional bridal songs, the younger lot stopped them and played a tape of film songs instead. “I realised that these beautiful folk songs will just die along with these old women if someone does not document them,” says Hameed. The late folklorist H.L. Nage Gowda, the man behind Janapada Loka, was an ideal and an inspiration for his work. He went on to do a Ph.D. in Urdu folk traditions, an area that has received little attention in academic circles, and has now applied for a scholarship to make a documentary film on them.

One of Hameed’s most rewarding experiences was when he visited Dayi Ki Gali in Bidar where many traditional midwives live. A group of 15 old women — who are no longer summoned either to aid childbirth or to sing traditional songs — had enough songs in their repertoire to sing through the night. The themes ranged from matters of religious faith to the mischievous banter of wedding halls. “Most of the women were about 60 when I recorded their songs. I am sure many of them are dead by now,” he says.

Hameed’s collection includes songs sung during marriages, festivals and crop harvesting. Particularly fascinating are those written by women poets that reflect the joys and sorrows of their everyday life. Interestingly, lullabies sung by women in Bidar have a curious mix of Urdu and Kannada expressions. While the songs are in Urdu, the refrain is the typical “jo, jo, jo…” that we find in Kannada lullabies.

In yet another song, a woman curses her fate for being married to a man addicted to Matka, a form of gambling. “Arre matke wale tu number dikhaya/ Meri zindagi tu barbad kiya”. The anonymous woman poet, so naturally inserts an English word in her song.

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