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terrorism interview Playing
with words Defining
frontiers of music
The Palestinian cause is not one that can be expressed in any millenarian religious ideology. It is not a cause of Muslims, it is a cause of all the oppressed people of the world By Muhammad Ali Jan I have always regarded the Palestinians as the most inspirational people in the world. This epic declaration may raise a few eye-brows at first; after all, the Palestinian struggle is perhaps at its most divided stage, with its former leadership (i.e. the Palestine Liberation Organization) actually colluding with the enemy. Besides, the majority of the world, and especially Arab governments, are watching as silent witnesses to the ensuing massacre of innocent Palestinians. The massacre itself follows two years of a brutal siege of Gaza that denied the basic necessities of life to 1.5 million people in one of the world's most densely populated places, as well as one of its poorest. Nevertheless, I stand by my declaration; who else has faced a foe as formidable, well-armed, disciplined and most importantly, backed unconditionally by the biggest superpower in the world? Who else was colonised precisely at the moment when the era of decolonisation began for the rest of the world? Yet, what other national liberation struggle has demonstrated that the right of the people to live with dignity, honour, free from the squalor of refugee camps and the terror of settlers and soldiers is still a desire worth fighting for, better yet, sacrificing entire generations for. This is a tribute to the most heroic struggle of our times, one that has lessons for the entire Third World, i.e. for all of us wretched of the earth, to use Fanon's phrase. First, a word about the enemy; It is for more than one reason that the United States unconditionally supports Israel. The geo-strategic advantages aside, Israel reminds the USA of its own past, one based on the genocidal expulsion and eventual extinction of the native population. Israel too is a settler colonialism, a pioneering one that seeks to exclude and virtually eliminate the Palestinians as people. Its ruling ideology, Zionism, is based on establishing the superiority of the settler population vis-à-vis the Arabs. An ideology that has been declared as racist even by the United Nations, it nonetheless forms the basis of the Israeli state. The most important part of this ideology, however, is its ability to build upon the European guilt stemming from the Holocaust, to always present Israelis as a beleaguered, persecuted people, who have to use force to prevent another holocaust from taking place, even as they themselves perpetrate a holocaust against the Palestinians. Thus, the shamelessness with which the current Israeli establishment was able to justify the massacre of 400 people (and counting) for rocket attacks that have killed a grand total of 1 person in Israel (which itself was a retaliation to Israel's constant disrespect for the ceasefire). At the same time, Israel continues to expand settlements on Palestinian land, declared illegal by UN, the aim of which is to complete the expulsion of the Palestinians from their lands that began sixty years ago. If we discount the struggle of the vanished native Americans against white settler colonialism, no other liberation movement has encountered an adversary like the Palestinians have faced. Now for the present situation; the roots of the present crisis lie in the Hamas victory in the 2006 elections. While many (including Israel) interpreted it as a proof of the 'radicalisation' of the Palestinian movement, I saw it as a proof of the Palestinians commitment to democracy, casting aside a corrupt, ineffectual and compromising leadership for a new one. Hamas showed great political maturity by inviting the much discredited PLO to form a national unity government. Yet, America and Israel were not willing to let this budding democracy from functioning. They had already chosen that they wanted to negotiate only with their stooge, i.e. the PLO under Abbas. Thus, Israel refused to accept the results of the elections, broke the coalition government, armed the PLO's goon Ahmad Dahlan to take over Gaza. When Hamas retaliated, and recaptured Gaza with the help of its people, Israel began a plan to literally starve 1.5 million people into submission with a siege. It is the failure of all these plans to break the Hamas, which now expresses the will of the Palestinian people that has led to the latest assault. This brings me to the final point I wish to make. The Palestinian cause is not one that can be expressed in any millenarian religious ideology. It is not a cause of Muslims, it is a cause of all the oppressed people of the world and it contains valuable lessons for all of us. Apart from the more abstract notions of freedom, liberty, the right of a people to their land, the Palestinian cause tells us something more concrete about the post-colonial experience; the continued presence of American Imperialism in shaping our lives, the will of the people hardly finding expression in the conduct of their representatives, the denial of democracy through corrupt, dictatorial regimes, whose route to power comes via Washington. What we need to learn from the Palestinian people, however, is the need to struggle against the formidable foe, armed to the teeth, against men, women and children armed with stones. Today, as Israel mounts a horrendous attack on the Palestinians, one that threatens to eliminate them, we need to stand by the resistance movement, not only for their sake, but for our very own. Eqbal Ahmad once explained why the Palestinian cause stirs the emotions of people around the world by showing how it touches us on a primordial level. "Our painful colonial past, neo-colonial present and the dangerous perspective of our future, all converge on the question of Palestine" he said. It is for this reason that we must stand by the Gazans, for if Gaza falls, it will take with it many of the dreams that have inspired, even sustained many of us in the Third World; Gaza must not fall! Defying barriers By Mustafa Nazir Ahmad Aaliya Rasheed, a 26-year
old dhrupad singer, is an aspiring example of how even amateur singers Appreciating her talent, SIPA's founder, Barrister Raza Kazim, persuaded Aaliya Rasheed in 2001 to go to India for learning dhrupad – the oldest surviving style of medieval Indian classical music that has a rich devotional element. She went to India and took residence at the Dhrupad Institute of Bhopal, where she spent four years under the tutelage of the renowned Gundecha brothers. Since her return from India, Aaliya Rasheed has been performing at various concerts in Pakistan – such as the All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) – and has also performed twice in India; including what she terms her "most memorable performance," held in Mumbai in March. She currently teaches at the Musicology Department of the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, besides imparting musical knowledge to schoolchildren. The News on Sunday interviewed her recently on the sidelines of a concert held at the University of Gujarat. Excerpts follow: The News on Sunday: Were you blind by birth and how far did you study? Aaliya Rasheed: I was blind
by birth. In fact, blindness runs in my family and one of my cousins is TNS: At what age did you start learning music? AR: I started taking a fancy to music since childhood and listened to all sorts of music. In my school, there was a half-hour music class daily. My teacher was Master Alexander Neelam, who taught me basics of music. He taught me how to top play harmonium, keyboards and dholak. Due to his training and the fact that I needed to listen to anything only once to remember it, I won many prizes for the school. I also participated in many television programmes like Mela. As a matter of fact, I still listen to all sorts of music, but perform classical only. TNS: When did decide to follow a career in classical music? AR: After I did my Matriculation, the school where I was studying offered me the job of music teacher. Subsequently, I started working at the school besides pursuing my studies privately. In August 1999, I got an offer from Sanjan Nagar and was fascinated by the opportunity to learn classical music. In fact, Sanjan Nagar's founder Raza Kazim listened to my singing and advised me to learn classical music. He made me quit the morning job and offered me a stipend more than double my salary. Raza Kazim also convinced my mother who had apprehensions about my learning music. I spent three to four hours in the mornings at Sanjan Nagar, listening to music and practicing, while I studied in the afternoons and evenings. Meanwhile, I listed to sitar for the first time and slept during the performance. During this period, I met PTV producer Farrukh Bashir and this paved the way for my television performances. Meanwhile, I attended the APMC for the first time in 1999. Farrukh Bashir predicted that I would be performing at the event the next year. His prediction proved to be true and I performed Mirza Ghalib's ghazal at the APMC in 2000 and won the first prize in the amateurs' category. This was mainly due to Shabbir Hussain Jhari, who was my teacher at that time. TNS: From whom did you get your initial training in music? AR: At Sanjan Nagar, my regular teachers included Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, Sara Zaman and Shabbir Hussain Jhari. In addition, I also got a chance to attend workshops by Indian artistes. Moreover, I learnt indirectly from many legends who were recording at Sanjan Nagar like Fareeda Khannum. I also got a chance to perform a ghazal of Farida Ji on harmonics. TNS: When and how did you get a break in your career? AR: I had not dreamt in my wildest dreams that I would be able to learn music in India, but I got such an opportunity in 2001. Through Raza Kazim's contacts, I was sent to India to learn dhrupad from Gundecha brothers. I was the first Pakistani woman to learn dhrupad in India and that is why I also feature in the documentary titled Khayal Darpan. TNS: Would you like to tell us something about the experience of learning music in India? AR: When I went to India, the relations between Pakistan and India were not at their best; the Kargil incident was still on the people' memories. However, my teachers – the Gundecha brothers – treated me as a family member during my four-year stay in India. Though there were problems (for example, I was not allowed to eat meat because my teachers were Jains by religion), I have many happy memories of the visit. For example, before I was returning to Pakistan I was interviewed by all the major newspapers and Tv channels. A performance was also held in New Delhi, which was also attended by the Pakistan ambassador to India among others. On my return to Pakistan, many concerts were held in Lahore and Karachi. TNS: Would you like to tell us about your most memorable performance so far? AR: I had a chance to visit India twice after my first visit there. My March 25, 2008, performance in Mumbai was perhaps the most memorable, because more than 750 people were there to listen to me at six in the morning. During my second visit to India, I performed at Ahmedabad, Baroda, Calcutta, Bhopal and Mumbai. TNS: Who are your favourite voclaists? AR: My favourite musicians include Nazakat Ali Khan, Salamat Ali Khan, Roshan Ara Begum, Fateh Ali Khan, Amanat Ali Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Parveen Sultana, Bhimen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj and Zakir Hussain.
Toni Morrison in her Nobel
lecture talks about a wise old blind woman who, once asked by a youth Actually, it is not the writer or manipulators of language that have a close connection with words, but every human being uses language not only in speech or writing but also in the act of thinking. Thus we begin our lives or become humans by translating/transcribing the world into words: a phenomenon that starts with imitating one's elders and continues till our last days after we have found our own voice and style of communication. On a structural level, this transformation takes its form in the early stages of education when a child learns how to identify 'abstract' shapes of letters/script into recognisable and agreed upon sounds. Often this practice is carried out with the help and introduction of basic text books. The whole exercise is a means to grasp reality and to enriching our imagination, by condensing the vast universe into 26 or 38 letters and their innumerable combinations. This transition takes place
in our schools in three stages: by including letter, word and thing. A The exhibition was held after a considerable period of silence or invisibility on Saeed's part But one realised that the hibernation did well for the artist who has managed to devise a different form of expression. In fact, his recent work could not be categorised as miniature or illustration; and it would be difficult to determine the genre, since Usman seems to be reverting to an initial activity: Combining words (ideas) with images (reality). It was notified in the exhibition that the artist had taken inspiration from a text written by his grandfather in which the meanings of certain Urdu verbs were explained in English. Usman picks that treatise and, apart from installing pages from it on the wall, seeks to redefine the verbs through his works on paper. It is interesting to realise how the understanding or association of words have changed through generations, like the term 'Maarna', earlier used in the sense of beating up someone, is now commonly applied to denote the act of killing -- mainly in terrorist actions. Likewise, the altered notion of one word 'Jaana' (to go) was highlighted through a series of three drawings, each based on one means of transportation in history: horse, carriage and motorcycle. Probably the name of the exhibition 'Wordplay' alludes to this shift in the comprehension of language/concepts. The artist appears to be describing or explaining the words through his visuals, but this basic act is not as simple. Usman has successfully thought the temptation of being explicit while dealing with the political themes. Thus, one saw imagery that refers to our current conditions. For instance, the box of a suicide bomber with all the explosive devices and a cell phone, rendered in an immaculate fashion in the section of 'Maarna', besides the diptych with two torsos, which reminds one of Adam and God from Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, a section from his famous Fresco in the Sistine Chapel. The contemporary artist recreates these figures into a headless torso without any arms or legs and hollow from inside -- more like the bodies after an explosion or parts of mannequins. The political content is evident in the way Saeed composes his elements. In one work, cypresses are arranged in the formation of Swastika. In another piece, Buddha is drawn with a cross shaped earring, with its hook resembling the crescent. In the same group of drawings a woman is shown carrying a large book on her head. The religious and political symbols are used in his 'wordplay' piece, but these are embedded in the wider scheme of imagery in such a scheme that the subject does not appear to be illustrative or obvious. Instead, a sense of humour is introduced in certain works, such as two palms joined in an attempt to shape a perfect 'bey' the second letter of Urdu language which, according to common belief, ensures a beautiful spouse, if a good shape of the letter is formulated by connecting the upper lines of both hands. Likewise, with the word 'Daalna', backs of two animals' (horses) skeletons are outlined as if in a mirror image, with an archer shooting, and bones spread out on the entire surface. The work not only signifies the presence of violence in our midst, but also hinted at the latent element of sexuality. Although Usman is known as a miniature painter, his latest body of work proved that he is more interested in exploring the realm of art without a baggage -- may it be that of history, tradition, convention or technique. Hence, if on the one hand he displays a high level of academic sophistication in his figurative works, at the same instance he shows stars drawn with a group of kids in his family. The looseness of ideas and rendering, visible in that piece, emerges as an attitude in most of his work. This unexpectedness is a positive sign, especially in the context of our art world, that is constituted of politically inclined painters and orthodox miniaturists, both following their narrow path, and believing in their journey or illusion of a journey, to be the final destination -- a stage that serves more like a futile destiny for several of these individuals.
It has been observed in history that the binding clause of being quasi-religious offers resistance to change By Sarwat Ali Among the Muslim
civilisations there has been a very strong tradition of recitation. This
recitation is best exemplified by the recitation of the holy Quran, as the
qiraat is held with a great degree of In the ancient societies the oral tradition somehow was venerated more than the written word for it was said that oral transmission of knowledge or sentiment was purer in form. It accrued due to some mysterious process where man only becomes an agent of transmitting some divine wisdom. The written word was held in great esteem also but it was ranked lower primarily because it involved a meditated process than the torrents of pure inspiration. The same school of pure inspirational rendering had been followed by our traditional musicians who commit everything to memory without any recourse to the written form, either in lyrics or in notation, and then in the act of performance, pray and hope for the torrents of inspired improvisation to open its flood gates. Recitation too was part of the same process where the content was recited to reach the audience or listener immediately without the intervention of any other medium. There has been great emphasis on recitation or reading aloud, holding its own merit without reference to either the medium or the text. In Arabia during pre historic times specific songs such as caravan and elegies existed. In the seventh century a song called ghina was introduced from al Hira. Ghina eventually came to mean a song in particular and music in general. During the early Abbasid period, a rationalist tendency developed among the Islamic thinkers which were first influenced by theological ideas of Eastern Christians and later by direct contact with Greek philosophy translated into Arabic. Music became one of the courses of scientific study and the technical nomenclature musiqi was directly borrowed from the Greeks. Where no Arabic equivalent was found or known Greek terms were simply transliterated with some adaptations, hence musiqi came to represent the theoretical aspects of music and ghina was reserved for the practical art. In most of the Muslim societies the formal basis of the term musiqi is similar to the western concept of music -- its distinguishing characteristic in most situations is a common notion of musicality, organisation of sound in time. At times, however, in the case of the call to prayer and the proper chanting of the Koran the notion of musicality does not suffice but another distinguishing feature that of function is used. The colloquial definition of music is more in keeping with the traditional Islamic view which emphasis theoretical aspects of music associated with professional musicians and instrumental music. The emphasis of scared chants and strict; vocal performances is placed on the texts, which is related directly to the Koran or religious literature. For recitation perhaps the term lehan is used which among theological sections is considered to be qualitatively different from ghina or mausiqi. The recitation of the marsiya too follows the same tradition. Among the Arabs the two major forms of poetry, the qasida and the marsiya probably had some recitational content attached to it. Among the Muslims the earliest examples of marsiya were Hazrat Fatima's elegies on the Prophets death which referred bitterly to her own miseries, as well as marsiyas of Imam Hussain by his sisters which gave first hand information on the tragedy of Karbala. Imam Hussain's martyrdom was described by many contemporaries' poets and prose writers. The latter was known as maqatil and was read in the Muharrum assemblies. Books known as Shahdat Nama and Jang Nama were written on the basis of these maqatil and historical works. Some of these prose accounts were profusely interspersed with verses. Kamaludin Husayn bin Ali Waiz Kashifi wrote his Rawzatush Shuhada (The Garden of Martyrs) two years before his death (1503) and it was first translated from Persian into Turkish by Fazuli in about 1534, while in the sub continent different translations of this book were made in Deccani poetry. It was also translated into Urdu by Sayyid Ali Wasiti Bilgrami as Dah Majlis while Haydar Buksh Hayadari titled it Gulshane Shahidaan. In 1812 Haydari wrote an abridged version named Gul e Maghfirat but the watershed in these Urdu translations was Karbal Katha by Fazal Ali who used nom de plume Fazli. It appears that marsiya, soz, noha, salam became a more specialised form as a distinct community of marsiya go or soz khawaaans emerged. From the writings of Abdul Halim Sharar on Luchknow it appears that during the Nawabi rule in Awadh soz or marsiya khawan specialists, almost comparable to the best known vocalists or singers were instrumental in evolving the form of recitation prevalent now. One lead vocalist while the rest identify the tonic note or at best recite the refrain seemed to have been perfected in the nineteen century Awadh. These days when intonation and method of composition is under pressure from globalisational forces there is a possibility of change in the traditional forms of chanting and recitation. Though it has been observed in history that the binding clause of being quasi-religious offers resistance to change. Marsiya, hamd, naat recitation could be thus less susceptible to change, though it cannot be said with certainty because qawwali, composed in modal structures where the application of the note is specifically in accordance with the indigenous "ang" has been displaying signs of change. Only when Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan rendered the tragedy of Karbala in the qawwali format he took great care to do so in the most traditional "ang'.
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can perfect their skills by learning with strict training and discipline.
Blind since birth, Aaliya is blessed with a tuneful voice. She gratefully
used this gift of God by starting to learn music at the age of six. Later,
she received training in music at the Sangan Nagar Institute of Philosophy
and Arts (SIPA), Lahore, where Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan Sahib taught her.
also blind. I came to Lahore at the age of six from Dubai and took admission
in a blind school in Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore. I did my matriculation from
here. Because my family was in Dubai and later in Gujranwala, I had to live
in a hostel with my aunt and uncle visiting me in weekends. Later, I did my
Intermediate privately.
whether the bird in his hand was alive or dead, answered in a clever manner,
it is in your hand. Morrison elaborates on this story by comparing the bird
as language and the writer being that young person who can either kill the
creature or make it sing and fly.
similar process is followed in the recent works of Usman Saeed. In his solo
exhibition, Saeed shows works on paper, executed in water based medium as
well as in pencil and ink. Usman was trained as a miniature painter at NCA
before completing his MA from the Royal College of Arts. During his studies
at NCA, Usman Saeed demonstrated an incredible level of skill which was only
compensated with his reputation of being an excellent fashion photographer.
veneration. If it meets with the strictest demands of holding the note and
proper intonation it can be devastatingly moving. As can be the azaan which
in our day and age is often said in total ignorance of its aesthetic aspects.