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Love meets music

Photo: Murali Kumar K.

SUBLIME The Baran music ensemble from Iran was meditative and soothing

“Ruhaaniyat”, an all India Sufi and Mystic Music Festival organised by Banyan Tree recently in Bangalore showcased some of the finest exponents of Sufi music and awakened the “soul consciousness” of the connoisseurs. The rich musical mysticism of Sufi poets like Hazrat Moinuddin Chisti, Hazrat Khwaja Bakhtiar Khaki, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Baba Farid, Bulle Shah and Amir Khusrau came alive in the mellifluous renditions of Kachra Khan and Mama Khan of Rajasthan, Baul songs of Parvathi Baul , mystic ‘kalams’ of Nanak Shah and Manak Ali of Patiala, Kabirpanthi singers Dayaram Saroliya and group from Madhya Pradesh , Sufi songs of Baran music ensemble from Iran and the exquisite renditions of Sufi Qawali by the legendary Nizami brothers from Delhi.

The Nirguni Kabir bhajans rendered by Kabirpanthi Dayaram Saroliya from Madhya Pradesh was a soulful rendition of the popular love epic, “Umar Marwi” in Rag Megh Malhar by Kachra Khan and Mamma Khan of Rajasthan, accompanied by other musicians on the sarangi, dholak, karamchar and other folk instruments added a note of vibrancy. The audience witnessed the yearnings of Sufi saints and mystics, who transcend the ‘here and now’ as they drown themselves in the world of unconditional love and total surrender, come alive. The Baran music ensemble from Iran was meditative and soothing. The music ensemble began with an enchanting instrumental piece played by the three instrumentalists: Samir Habibi on the Karamchar, Burhani on the traditional Sahtar : a string instrument very much like our own sitar and the percussionist Fakhruddin Gawain playing alternately on the tumbak and dak. After the instrumental piece, the leading vocalist of the team, Aryan Rahmaniyan, an eminent ethnomusicologist from Iran presented the composition, “Hafiz”: “to drink the wine of love to escape from the sufferings and pain of separation from the beloved”. In the languorous, melodious voice of Rahmaniyan, the lugubrious tenor of the song was captured effectively. Rahmaniyan concluded with a composition of Rumi about the soul’s longing for the divine and celebration of the state of ‘egolessness’. Towards the second half of the composition, there was a scintillating percussion solo by young Fakhruddin who played on the ‘Tumbak’ and ‘Dak’, eliciting a thunderous applause from the audience who were awestruck by his electrifying performance .

This was followed by an extraordinary rendition of the profoundly metaphysical and mystical Baul songs by the young female ascetic Parvathy Baul, a singer who is also a practitioner of the Baul faith. The first song “Shonar Paki” or the golden bird was an immensely moving piece which described the plight of the golden bird, a metaphor for the soul, moving restlessly in its body cage, longing to fly towards Shiva . Parvathy’s music captured the intensity of the spiritual experience. The second song, a composition by Bacchu Fakir, delineated the mental state of the devotee who is engulfed by the flames of passion for her “Prana Bandhu”. The brothers Nanak Shah and Manak Ali, from Maler Kotla in Patiala, who have specialised in the singing of Kalams of Baba Bulle Shah, began with “Rahiye Vo Naal Sajan De, Andar tu he bahar tu he, mere rom rom me tu he”, a composition by Shah Hussain in Rag Yaman set to a fast paced keherwa. The brothers captivated the audience with some unusual ‘sargams’ in their rendition of the ‘kalam’. The sonorous and energetic rendition of Baba Bulle Shah’s composition “Bichad gaya mere dil ka jaani” in rag Bhairavi with a touch of Bilaskhani Todi was remarkable for its fervour. It was followed by a very poignant tribute to “murshid” composed by Saiful Maluk.

The grand climax of the evening was the emotionally charged, lyrically exuberant qawwali recital by the Nizami brothers, Ghulam Sabir Nizami and Ghulam Waris Nizami of Delhi, associated with the Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah. Nizami brothers created a magical ambience with their qawwali “Lab pe sun le Allah ke tarane, ashq aakhon me aye huve hai” in misra Shivaranjini. The connoisseurs, intoxicated with the enchanting, prayerful qawwali swayed to the pulsating rhythms of “Tera jalwa Muhammad, Shamsukh tera Muhammad, Nurul huda Muhammad....”. The next qawwali in Behag, “Naina Milake mose”, a beautiful ragamalika was a sublime masterpiece.

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