This post might be heavily musical for your liking, but read on.

I am currently addicted to Aik Alif from Coke Studio season two; reproducing the video here :

Sung by Sufi folk singer Sain Zahoor and the band Noori, it has a beautiful feel to it. The lyrics are by Baba Bulle Shah, and the translation can be obtained here (or watch the video with lyrics and English subtitles embedded here). It has an easy and addictive groove or taal, which I gather is the Sindhi theka. But the lyrics and singing are what make it work so marvellously.

One reason why I like to listen to Sufi music, is that I don’t understand it. Rather, I don’t want to understand the technicalities or nuances that make it deterministic for me. Then there is the inherent humility in Sufi music, that mainly stems from its poetry. Always in praise of god or truth, however you see it, the humility is reflected in the music and singing.

Which brings me to the person who introduced me to Sufi music. Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I never had any training in any form of classical music, most of it was self taught through listening, attending concerts, reading or playing. So whatever I have learnt or know about Sufi music, is due to Nusrat saab. If there is one person in the whole wide world that I’d call a genius, it is Nusrat saab. A close friend had once said that the day Nusrat saab died, he had tears in his eyes. That day I did not understand it, but later I came to realize why. There was a time during engineering that I was addicted to Nusrat saab’s music, digging up every song of his, every concert video I could get. I still don’t have a clue about his music, because I never wanted to understand it, I just wanted to enjoy it. I still watch in sheer awe the power he exudes through his singing, the raw talent he commands, yet the humility that comes across.

Arguably my most treasured collection is an old recording of Nusrat saab singing at a dargah. A friend had a cassette handed over to him by some relative of his, and I digitized it. I would love to share it with interested music lovers.

One fun exercise was when I sat down to map his singing range. The harmonium I had ended up being insufficient. He went beyond the last note, quite easily at that. In another recording, he jumps across 3 octaves within a fraction of a second. In yet another, he almost beat the lowest note of the harmonium. I could go on and on, such is the man’s genius. When Rahat Fateh Ali Khan says that he would die a happy man if he had even 1% of Nusrat saab’stalent, I know why.

….

In India, Kailash Kher is a good singer but I don’t know how good a Sufi singer he is. The only person I know, who tries to understand Sufi music, is probably A.R. Rahman. But the music he creates tends to be very different from Pakistani Sufi music, which just takes off with the power in singing, while Rahman usually reflects his humility by using lower notes, one major difference.