Under the Gamak series on Friday, Char Bait Muqabla was held on YouTube and Facebook Live of Madhya Pradesh State Tribal Museum.
Ustad Lal Miyan, artist of Anjuman-e-Gulistan-e-Charbait Party, Bhopal and Bazm-e-Shahid Charbait Party artist Ustad Mohd. Mukhtar performed at Charbait Muqabla.
On this occasion, Nusrat Mehdi, Director, Madhya Pradesh Urdu Academy, while giving information about Char Bait said that Charbait is only a form of poetry, it has four lines in each band. It is written in a special Bahr i.e. metre. The basis of Charbait is singing and its singing has its own distinctive color and charm that mesmerizes the listeners.
No instruments are played in this, only a "daf" which can also be called dhapli, is used in it. In Charbait, every type of poetry is sung in several ragas in a specific rhythm on the beat of daaf.
It is said that at one time the popularity of Char Bait was at its peak. Like qawwali, there was a lot of craze among the Rasikas for Charbait too. Char Bait in India is believed to be four hundred years old.
Many poets of Bhopal have contributed significantly in making the subject material of Charbait literary, among them Munshi Bhopali, Kaif Bhopali, Sheri Bhopali, Basit Bhopali, Taj Bhopali, Sahib Bhopali, Vakil Bhopali, Zaki Warsi, Syed Ramzan Ali and Ishrat Qadri and more.
At the event, both the groups were in tug of war and performed at thier best, leaving the listeners mesmerised.