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politics review
Life of a maestro Gup and
running May
Day, May Day
politics For the present though, both the PPP and the PML-N are anxious not to part ways. And there is still room for optimism given the extent of public involvement with the issue By Kamila Hyat The parting of ways between
the PML-N and the PPP, seen by many as inevitable since the The first innings of the PPP-PML-N government though is over. Some would say it threw its own wickets, in an act of extreme irresponsibility. Others may hold it has in fact been cleverly bowled out by the presidency, the disguised googlies and leg breaks hurled its way finally proving unplayable. Ugly allegations of match fixing, by some within the PPP camp, also continue to float. But whatever the truth is, the deposed judges, who have dominated national politics since November 3 last year, are not likely to be restored in the immediate future. The PPP has continued to insist it is not interested in individuals and seeks a wider constitutional bill which, it maintains, would be intended to safeguard the independence of the institution. No one knows the contents of this constitutional package or how likely it is to be tabled. A resolution seeking the restoration of the judges, which some Senators have said will be moved in the Upper House, adds a further element of interest to the situation. It is not clear if the PPP will support the resolution or what the outcome will be. There is a strong possibility now that a full-fledged campaign by lawyers and civil society for a restoration of the deposed judges may resume. Lawyers continue to hold meetings ahead of a final decision. Certainly, ordinary people, angered by what they see as a betrayal by democratic forces, seem ready to venture onto the streets. The possibility of protests outside parliament is very real, and such a scenario would obviously be exceedingly embarrassing for the Gillani government and the PPP chief, Asif Ali Zardari. While the PPP, indeed since after the February 18 election results were announced, seems to have been trying to buy time on the judicial issue, it now seems apparent these tactics have not quite worked. The issue of the judiciary will not so easily dissipate. Logically speaking, in strictly pragmatic terms, the PPP has a point when it says the question of who is chief justice is of little consequence to people. As a ruffled Asif Ali Zardari said at one recent press conference, the deposed chief justice will not be distributing sacks of flour if he returns. Certainly, the issue of flour and food has a more immediate impact on lives than the judicial restoration. But despite this, the matter of the judges has gained a deeply-rooted hold on the public mind and captured public imagination. The media has played a part in this and the pre-November 3 judiciary has come to be equated with wider notions of democracy and justice. By failing to deliver on this issue, by breaking promises he had made in Bhurban, Asif Zardari has been cast by the public into the role of villain -- a man who has allied himself with anti-democratic forces. Though PPP insiders continue to hold the stalemate with Nawaz Sharif came about only because of a disagreement over the modalities to be used for restoration and that Zardari and his team foresaw major problems if the existing Supreme Court stayed a parliamentary resolution restoring the judiciary, the party and its spokespeople have failed to convince. Part of the reason for this is that rather than making its position clear and putting forward its version clearly and coherently, the content of closed door talks between leaders, held in Dubai and then London, have been kept secret. Furtive meeting between PPP leaders, presidential aides and other key figures have also continued to take place. Zardari's unnecessary and rather personalised attack on the deposed chief justice, for failing to give him relief and delaying the hearing of a case against him, has only worsened the situation by making it seem that rather than acting on the basis of principle, the PPP leader was interested in settling petty scores. For the present though, both the PPP and the PML-N are anxious not to part ways. For the PML-N, a final break with its coalition partner would place at peril the prize of the Punjab. For the PPP, it would mean being forced into a three-cornered arrangement with Musharraf and the MQM -- hardly a prospect likely to build the party's faltering democratic credentials. As such, it would obviously prefer not being forced into such a situation. Although it has refused to give any new date, the PPP says its is committed to restoring the judges. The PML-N too maintains that Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will be brought back. Civil society meanwhile seems to be preparing for a new campaign to bring this about. For the moment, of course, little can be said with certainty about the future of the judiciary or the final fate of the non-PCO judges. But despite the setback, as dialogue on the issue between the PPP and the PML-N collapsed, there is still some room for optimism given the extent of public involvement with the issue and the continued assertion by both major parties that they want to see a restoration in the not too distant future. Majority of works on display at the Coopera Art Gallery, Lahore are landscapes executed in oil and water colours By Quddus Mirza Though not paid as
interpreters from a government or some other agency, all of us continuously Probably, due to this ambiguity, everybody uses language but does not attempt to create art as a means of communication. Utilising that potential, humans have created a range of works, which satisfy their impulse to express their ideas, imagination, fears, fantasies etc. At the same time these works are examples of how a material -- wood, clay, stone, fabric, pigment, plaster, bronze, steel, glass and paper -- is transformed into a new object or entity. This act of transformation works to such an alluring level that spectators gathered around the painting of Mona Lisa admiring her smile ignore that it is not more than a few colours glued on a surface by Leonardo da Vinci. Actually art is not merely about translation or transformation; it operates as a vehicle for transmigration. At its zenith, it takes the audience (whether reading a novel, listening to music, watching a movie or viewing a painting) away from their surroundings and provides them an illusion of being in another world. This momentarily experience of transmigration (not necessarily achieved through every art piece) is the ultimate point of interaction with the art works. In order to attain that level of transmigration, one has to surpass many stages. One has to learn how to look at the world and depict it in words or pictures. Educational institutions, that coach in creative writing or visual arts, impart skills that help them achieve the means, methods and strategies of translating both the real and the imaginary world. At all these places, students try to master the craft of rendering the real, yet they do not restrict themselves to this task only. They aim something more than just the act of depiction; since a police report of an accident, a journal of one's activity, a camera or a video recorder, can easily, quickly and accurately record reality. A majority of students pursuing a creative career are keen to mark the reality with their individual styles. In the process, a few of them manage to produce works that can contribute towards transposing a viewer from his routine existence to a realm of ideas and ideals. In fact the three levels of creative act -- translation, transformation and transmigration -- do not take place separately or necessarily in a sequence. In more than one instances, all three are blended in a seamless scheme. The mystery and attraction behind the process of art-making is that the maker does not always plan beforehand the execution of all three stages. In an unbelievable manner, these phenomena emerge out of nowhere and astonish the artist, before impressing the audience. A synthesis of translation, transformation and transmigration is thus the ideal quest for an artist. Presumably the ability to attain this is the hallmark of an artist, a yardstick of his/her worth. Though a majority of artists are quite satisfied after having attained the first stage -- translating. They are happy documenting the world around them in images, one that is easily understood by common viewers. An ordinary visitor tends to appreciate the faithful rendering of nature and meticulous depiction of man-made structures. The current group show being held at Coopera Art Gallery in Lahore belongs to this category. Although there is a variety in terms of academic background and choice of mediums among the works of 12 artists on display, it seems that most of the participants do not have the urge or courage to move beyond the act of translation. Majority of works on display are landscapes executed in oil and water colours, along with scenes of historic buildings and old sections of Lahore. The artists seek to present a reality that is immediate, alluring and attractive. The emphasis on the depiction of city and rural areas does not come as a surprise because many painters in our art world are following this familiar and rewarding course. However, one feels that the role of an artist demands to take risks, to venture into the unknown, a path that might make or break an artist. Only the vision to take that direction can make a creative person operate beyond the illusions of this world and concentrate on other 'realities'. A difficult endeavour that involves many obscurities, misunderstandings and misrepresentations. Yet art is about the act of transforming and even transmigration of an idea, imagery and individual, because if it was merely about translating (or reducing) a three dimensional space into two dimensional surface, then a Nikon, Canon or Olympus are more dependable and desirable than a P. Najam, M. Shafique or Nazir Ahmed. (The group show of paintings is being held from May 12-28, 2008). In his biography, the great Alladiya Khan reveals how he made transition from dhrupad to khayal during the course of his life By Sarwat Ali The world of music that
retained the mystery and fable-like quality lasted till the end of the 19th The last days of the Mughal Empire till the emerging independent princely states, has been encapsulated in oral narratives, tales, anecdotes, incidents and events which tell us about the time, the modes of perception of the artists and other people who were associated with the world of art and culture. What has come down to us in the 21st century has been the fund of oral knowledge. It was thought that there was no written record of the musical happenings of that golden period of classical music, as everything was based on hearsay. But now an account on the life of Alladiya Khan has been published which recalls that golden era. This biography of the great maestro, "My Life", which he had dictated to his grandson Azizuddin Khan in the last years of his life around the 1940s was published in full a few years ago. Alladiya Khan was born in the middle of the 19th century, and though it is difficult to put an exact date of birth because such meticulous records were not maintained then, he lived to be almost a hundred and died in the middle of the 20th century, 1946 to be precise. He experienced the rise of the khayal, its total dominance and then the transition, which eventually led to political independence in 1947, with all the adjustment that the new realities of change and technological advancements entailed. Alladiya Khan was thus ideally located to recreate the golden period of our classical music .He himself was a major and active member of that elite group of maestros, being one of the greatest khayal singers the subcontinent has produced. In the process of his long and productive life, he made immense contribution to the art of singing while some of the innovations and stylistic peculiarities were transferred on to the next generations, some of whom went on to become great musicians and vocalists of the succeeding generations. Kesar bai Kairker, Maggobai, Malik Arjun Mansoor and Kishori Amonkar are some of the names that can be taken in one breath and who cannot but be proud of such an outstanding brood. He was born in Uniyara, a small state in the Jaipur region, in a family of dhrupad singers. After the early death of his father Ahmad Khansahab, his uncle Jahangir Khansahab, supervised his training in the rigorous style that was the norm. The family hailed from Atrauli but moved to Uniyara, a small state near Jaipur. He spoke very highly of Jahangir Khansahab's musical knowledge and recounted how a raag that he sang, pulling one bandish after another from his repertoire which was huge with the treasure trove of about 25,000 compositions, could not be recognised. The ability to compose bandishes that omitted certain basic phrases of the raag, or even notes was not just a matter of superior technique; it was an act of supreme musical intelligence. The notion that the essence of the raag could be maintained even when notes were omitted was difficult to reconcile with conception of raags based on the order of ascent and descent. Thus, a number of bandishes could demonstrate significantly different images of the raag. The elaboration of the raag would have to conform to the laid out in the bandish and this called for a musical imagination of a very high order. The profundity of the insight into the structure of the raag allowed him to improvise within the limits defined for the bandish, often resulting in the bewilderment of the accompanist and the connoisseurs in the audience. In the account, it is not very clear how Alladiya Khan made this transition from dhrupad to khayal during the course of his life. He had learnt dhrupad from Jahangir Khansahab and Chimman Khansahab, who was also his uncle and later father in law, though both had learnt khayal from Ghulam Ghaus Khansahab of Bundi. Then it was not very clear as to why he decided to sing in the madh lai (medium tempo). He was a contemporary of Tanras Khan, Haddo Khan and Mubarak Khan and called them "the gods of music" and it could be that their dominance might have influenced him to change his genre from the dhrupad to the khayal. Travel formed the chronotope, as the professional artist was evidently an itinerant one. There were two phases in the life of the maestro. The first, when after training he became a vocalist, and sang a lot with great deal of energy, vigour and 'taseer' and the second phase when this voice quality deteriorated and he had to rely more on technique, virtuosity and craftsmanship which followed his stay at the Amleta court. There are no commercial records nor did he sing for the radio. As Malik Arjun Mansoor had said, it was very difficult to reconstruct the style of Alladiya Khan, from the sum of his disciples. He constructed styles for his students keeping in mind their respective abilities and strengths, no commercial recordings survived of any of his early disciples like Haider Khansahab, his sons Manji Khansahab and Bhurji Khansahab. As a very well-known singer, he was sought by the various courts but then there are also palpable periods of uncertainty and want. As he moved from Jaipur court to Shahu Maharaj court, there is dissociation from a certain type of musical community and an attempt to face up to the new demands made on the singer. A profoundly important shift took place in the second half of the 19th century, essentially westward towards the outposts of the Maratha Empire. The incorporation of the North Indian classical music into the cultural life of Maharashrata had far-reaching implications for the fundamental character of music. Side by side with the forms of courtly patronage were the opportunities offered by the cities of Calcutta and Bombay, centres of consumption of cultural products but yet to become a permanent home to gharanedaar artistes. The period of Khansahab's life which is not described is the period from 1921 until his death, when he moved to Bombay.
The Citizens Foundation's presentation of the Hashmis' cult show, 'Such Gup', brought the packed house down By Usman Ghafoor Trust the Hashmis to make a
virtue of a dramatic performance. A special presentation, held under Directed and scripted by the inimitable Shoaib Hashmi (Gosh! This man can stay on the stage through an entire hour-and-half without ever losing his comic touch for a sec!), TCF's 'Such Gup' recreated its stock characters that had acquired cult status in the show's (black-and-white) TV days. Whether it's the uncouth class teacher who must discipline her students, or a red fur-scarf wearing bureaucrat's Begum whose greatest achievement in life is a "foren ka trip", a lady nurse who is clumsy with anaesthetics, a moronic film director and his twit of an "ashishtent", the smug Captain Samina who gushes about how the women could play hockey sporting burqas, and so on. Most of the characters were portrayed by actors that had played them originally as well. They included veterans such as the never-say-die Irfan Khoosat, a visibly frail Arshad Mehmood, an ever-green Salima Hashmi and, last but not the least, Samina Ahmed who proved yet again that she could keep a poker face and yet make an audience laugh. Her one-liner, "Mehram woh hota hai jo grade 18 sey bada afsar ho!" had the audience in splits. From among the younger lot, Mira Hashmi lent solid support to papa Shoaib, in a character that was earlier, famously played by Salima. Jawad Bashir as the male nurse who would kill anyone who called him "sister" was flawless, though Zain Ahmed could have done with a better comic timing. True to its tradition, 'Such Gup' made minimal use of set and props. Perhaps, the only change that the audience witnessed was the change in the wardrobe (if any) of characters. Culled variously from their golden oldies like 'Taal Matol' and 'Such Gup' -- and a skit or two from their earlier street performances -- the Hashmis' selection of skits turned out to be a fair composite and also seemed as relevant (in today's times) as they would have at the time when they were performed the first time. To quote Salima Hashmi, "A lot of people have come to me and said, 'Waqt bilkul nahin badla!' But, I think, time has changed in the sense that we aren't now used to laughing at ourselves. We've become far more sensitive and less able to laugh at ourselves. "The 70s were the times when you could make fun of everything and anything," she said, talking to TNS. She also revealed that since TV and theatre were two different mediums, it was imperative that the selection should have been made on the basis of which things would work on stage. The actors took their bow, but Shoaib's irrepressible wit wouldn't let him go without unleashing his parting shot. "Those of you who liked our show, we thank you; and those of you who didn't, unko gunah ho ga!" he quipped, evoking instant guffaws from the audience. The curtains fell.
Dear
all, After a week away from
London I returned to find the place somewhat transformed. I had left a May is an interesting sort of month not least because it is usually the time that it suddenly dawns on you that the year, which seemed to have 'just begun' has actually sped by and is almost half over. It is also the time the seasons in many places change and life becomes lighter and brighter (and hotter and slower) or when the school year ends, and there is a sense of the completion of one more phase of education. But this May also marks the 20th anniversary of a rather black day in Pakistan's history: May 29, 1988, the day when the Chief of Army Staff cum President General Zia dismissed the country's Prime Minister, Mohammad Khan Junejo. The dismissal came out of the blue: Mr Junejo was told he had been fired, and the assemblies were dissolved. As a prime minister, Junejo had proved to be surprisingly clear about the direction in which he tried to take the country. The man who General Zia had thought would prove a compliant prime minister had quietly tried to steer the country towards a more progressive democratic course than the one Zia had chosen, and he had tried to wrest control from the army and put it into the hands of parliament. Junejo took an independent line on Afghan policy despite much opposition from Zia. He involved the various political parties in a consultation on the subject and he pushed for the signing of the Geneva Accords that ended the fighting in Afghanistan. Junejo was also surprisingly outspoken after the Ojhri Camp blast of April 1988 in Rawalpindi. Hundreds of people were killed in explosions at the ammunition depot which was used to supply arms and ammo to Afghan Mujahedeen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. The government ordered an enquiry and Junejo himself made a statement in the National Assembly saying that he would place the enquiry report's findings before the House rather than burying the report by terming it a matter of 'national security'. Most political analysts regard the Ojhri issue as the having been the final straw for Zia, who feared it might open a can of worms for the military regime. Revelations about the dollars, arms,and drugs linked to the Afghan mujahideen and fighting the Soviets would have proved detrimental not just to Zia, but to a whole stratum of powerful officials including many top generals. But apart from Ojhri and the Geneva Accords, Junejo was proving to be a dangerous man to Zia in other ways as well. He had begun to preach a doctrine of austerity and modesty that Zia, despite his public piousness, did not want to practise in the glittering presidential palace. As prime minister of a poor country, Junejo attempted to instill a sense of prudence and modesty in officialdom and to downgrade the extravagant and expensive trimmings of political and administrative office. He advised that not just ministers but also high ranking military officers should refrain from exporting expensive luxury mercedes cars, and make use of the small, locally produced Suzuki FX 800 cc cars instead. He himself set an example by not just using a small Suzuki, but actually driving it himself. How subversive MK Junejo must have seemed to the shady, Pakistani establishment of the 1980s! But he remains one of our unsung political heroes, and he is an icon of the ongoing tussle between a deeply entrenched, murky civil military establishment and the elected politicians who try to move towards progressive political structures and systems. This is a continuing battle as alive now, as in 1988: elections have taken place and there is a semblance of an elected government, but every day the elected government survives in office is a victory in the face of system that still allows a president to dismiss a government -- and to get away with it. Best
Wishes Umber
Khairi
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coalition government took oath, has happened. The failure by the two parties
to reach accord on the restoration of judges has led to the PML-N quitting
the federal cabinet. Its desire to ensure its government in the Punjab is not
jolted appears to be its primary motive in opting not to quit the coalition
and remain in partnership with the PPP. In return, the PPP will continue to
support the PML-N in the Punjab.
work as translators. We are constantly converting the world around them into
sounds and shapes and gestures. Along with language (perhaps man's greatest
invention), art is also a means to transcribe reality. While language is
easily understood by most people living in a society, the visuals may not
reveal definite meanings or agreed-upon definitions. These are open to
multiple de-coding and diverse, often contradictory, interpretations.
century. This was the time when khayal gaiki was being accepted as the major
form of classical music, and some of the legendary names associated with this
genre dominated the field. This was the era of Tanras Khan, Haddo Khan,
Mubarak Ali Khan and Abdul Karim Khan -- all considered giants in their own
respective fields of vocal music.
the auspices of the charity organisation, The Citizens Foundation (TCF),
'Such Gup' recently brought back -- on Alhamra stage -- the illustrious team
of the skit-based TV show that was a laugh riot in the early 70s and, later,
in a slightly modified form as a street theatre. The purpose was -- decidedly
-- to expose the ills of the society, to question its established,
hypocritical norms, in a light-hearted but satirical manner, so that nothing
that became the butt of a joke or a wisecrack would look like it had been
downgraded.
landscape just beginning to come out of the chill of winter, but I came back
to a hot, sunny place with a profusion of flowers in bloom... It was quite
beautiful except perhaps for the sudden exposure of flesh, as most people of
these grey chilly climes reacted to the sunshine by wandering around with as
little clothing on as possible -- often shirtless and barefoot...