Jahan-e-Khusrau underscores the changing face of Sufism. By Shailaja Khanna
A Sufi melody is born from the deepest part of the soul. Considered to be the purest form of music, each line is a declaration of unconditional love for the Almighty. Muzaffar Ali’s popular festival on music, Jahan e Khusrau, with Sufi thought as its primary theme returned to the Capital in its 13th edition. The venue remained Arab Ki Sarai, Humayun’s Tomb, Nizamuddin. Envisaged as much as a visual spectacle as an aural experience, the festival is supported by the DS Puri Foundation, and presented by the Delhi Government and the Rumi Foundation.
Hazrat Amir Khusrau was born in Awadh, and though he had a Persian father, and culturally inherited a lot of Persian thought, he was said to have always claimed he was Indian through and through. His hundreds of compositions are sung till today, he is credited with creating Urdu; qawwali as a genre was created by him; he was also an acclaimed statesman and mystic.
Three nights brought together musicians from different parts of India, with the underlying theme remaining mysticism. The highlight of the first day was the first part of a two part dance drama Yamuna - Dariya Prem Ka (the river of love), conceived by Muzaffar Ali. As the organisers said, “When time has flown by, only the Yamuna remains, to remind you of the timelessness of the human soul, the basis of mythology. The Sufis who have lived by this river and felt it flow in their veins have been inspired by it in their devotional compositions.”
Malini Awasthi, the popular folk and Sufi singer, who has performed on this platform several times earlier, admitted she has sung for Jahan-e-Khusrau in london, and Srinagar also. Malini Awasthi spoke of her concert “The current perception about what Sufi music is, I think today is mixed up. Various saints, pirs and faqirs wrote about the beauty of love and this emotion is so powerful it is sufficient to unite you with the Almighty. Sufism is a very deep philosophy; in Awadh too this thought was very much alive. Hazrat Amir Khusrau, after whom this festival is named, composed many of his most popular devotional pieces in Awadh, including chaap tilak, kahe ko gaye bidesh. I am today known best for my folk music, which like the emotion of Sufi music, is very primal, very rooted to the soul. I feel the lyrics in both genres are very important; Rahat Ali Khan sahib of Patiala gharana, based in Gorakhpur, and Shujaat Husain Khan from the Rampur Sahaswan gharana, also from Gorakhpur, taught me the importance of diction which is so important in both genres; I learnt it for 15 years!” Malini continued, “Muzaffar sahib, (for whom I have the highest respect and a deep connect, perhaps because of our Awadh roots) and I carefully chose the three compositions I sang; each piece was completely different. The first piece was Hind mein kaise phaagrachi written by Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, ostensibly about Holi, but actually referring to the Indian Mutiny against the British. The second piece was written by a poet from Kakori Teri nindiya ko laage aag. The third composition was a quawalli by Awadhi composer Raj Niyazi; Jalwanumahhaituheetu, jalwanumahnahinhu main, phirbhi ye jaanta hoon main, kitujhsejudaanahinhoon main”. Uplifting thoughts indeed!
The concluding artist that evening was 33 year old Kanwar Grewal from Mehmaswai, Bhatinda. Kanwar learnt classical music while studying. He continued with a Masters in Music from Patiala University, but is now devoted to a life to internalising music, being completely inspired spiritually by Bibi Manjeet Kaur, a Saint from Malerkotla. His Punjabi lyrics were all derived from Baba Bulleh Shah, and his nine troupe musicians were all from the Punjab.
Pooja Gaitonde was the youngest artist at 25; raised in Mumbai, she has trained in classical music from S C Bhat of the Agra gharana, and then from Ustad Munawar Masoom Sayeed Khan who taught her various facets of Sufi kalaam gayaki. She was happy to collaborate with Delhi based accompanyists; only her accompanying vocal chorus was from Mumbai. She said “It’s a dream come true to sing at Jahan-e-Khusrau.”
Other star artists included Kailash Kher and Shubha Mudgal.
The festival concluded with the inimitable Hansraj Hans, today also the gaddi nasheen of the Sufi seat at Nakodar, Punjab, that he had been nominated to by the last Pir, Baba lal Badshah. In his words, the origin of Sufi thought was perhaps from the Punjab, the land of Guru Nanak, who sung to verse, Shah Hussain, Sultan Babu, the Sindh mystic Ganj-e-shakar, Jhullelal (after whom the popular Mast Qallandar was composed). Hansraj said after his concert, this time, he focussed on Urdu compositions and sang only two in Punjabi. He added that he had composed each piece he sang specially for this festival which he said is “the biggest festival of its kind in India.”
The countries that have participated in the past at this festival have included artists from USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Besides Delhi, Jahan-e-Khusrau has been presented in Jaipur, Patna, lucknow, Srinagar, Boston and london.
(The author writes on music, musicians and matters of music)