Although his fame hinges on his geets, or lyrics, noted poet Sabir Zafar is trying to shake off his image as a lyricist. He has as many as 22 collections of ghazals (lyric poems) to his credit and wants his name to be recognized with that genre. With three collections of geets in his pocket, he has stopped publishing more of his 1,000-plus geets he has written so far.

The fame he has earned through his sung ghazals and geets should, however, be the pride of any ambitious poet. He embarked on this journey with a ghazal sung by Ghulam Ali:

Dareecha bay sada koi nahin hai/Agar chih bolta koi nahin hai followed by Jitni aankhein achhi hongi, meri aankhein hongi…, sung by Mohammad Yousuf.

His geets and ghazals catapulted to fame not only the poet but many singers and groups that sang them. The list of his popular songs – sung by almost all known singers and groups of the day including Junoon, Awaz, Mizmaar, Reshma, Ghulam Ali, Nayyara Noor, Nazia and Zoheb Hasan, Gulshan Ara Syed, Munni Begum, Ajmal Hussain, Sajjad Ali, Shehzad Roy, Faakhir, Najam Shiraz, Ali Azmat, Hadiqa Kiyani, Mohammad Ali Shyhakhi and Afshan Ahmed – is impressive.

Hai jazba junoon tau himmat na har/Justujoo jo karay woh chhooae aasman, sung by Junoon’s Ali Azmat, became an instant hit before the 1996 cricket World Cup and generated a frenzy among cricket lovers. But when the singing and dancing fans were let down by the poor performance of the Pakistan team in the tournament, the song lost its lustre.Sabir Zafar, however, says the people’s frenzy was justified as they anticipated a victory by their compatriots. As if to defend himself in the matter, he says: “The team’s abysmal performance in the tournament had nothing to do with the poet and group’s effort. Our job was to encourage them. It was their job to use proper techniques with the required level of junoon – intense passion – to win the grand event. But one should not be discouraged by a defeat and instead should learn a lesson for future events. Every defeated army or nation has its brave men also.”

Sufism and politics

Asked how he came to be associated with the Sufi music of Junoon, he says: “Sufism and politics have the same goals. Sufism mellows a person and makes him tolerant of others’ views to promote affinity among communities for collective welfare. Politics’ aim is also to serve people. But, unfortunately, politics here doesn’t play such a role. Our politicians promote only their own interests rather than doing public service.”

He says it was he who brought the group to Sufi music. “I asked them to do this type of music and they agreed to it. Playing guitar has nothing to do with Sufism; it is the poetry that makes it Sufi music. It’s, however, teamwork that makes a song click.”

Sabir Zafar was born as Muzaffar Ahmed at Kahuta in Rawalpindi district on September 12, 1949. His father, a schoolteacher, was transferred from place to place and so young Sabir also changed schools before doing his intermediate from Rabwah College. He began writing poetry in 1968, but he was a political activist before he became a poet. He is associated with the press information department of the Sindh government.

Sabir Zafar’s poetry – both the pieces sung by renowned singers and groups and otherwise – has won him high acclaim by serious readers of poetry and those interested in music.

When asked if it was necessary for a poet to live in a world of fantasies as is generally perceived, he says: “There exists no such world. The only world we have is this real world, or the hereafter. People who live in the world of fantasies, in fact live in a fool’s paradise. I am very much in touch with reality and highlight the problems and issues of daily life in my poetry too,” he says, adding: “A genuine poet cannot close his eyes to what is happening around him. Some poets react to these happenings immediately, others take time to record their sentiments. I have been writing for the last 40 years and my poetry has a reflection of the political situations during this period.”

To establish his own credentials, he says his contribution to Urdu ghazal in quantum surpasses any of his contemporaries, except for a couple of names whose poetry is purely for commercial purposes and has little literary worth. “Besides, each of my books has a particular theme. For instance, one of my books is on Sufism, one is on the concept of death. This also sets me apart from my contemporaries.”

The poetry of grief

He further says: “All great poetry is poetry of grief. You may also see me painting grief in my poetry. That grief may be of my person inflicted by society. Or that of the suppressed voices of the people, exploited by successive governments that promise a lot but do nothing for their welfare. These people are also the victims of injustices, maltreatment of landlords and industrialists and how the pathetic life they live should be a matter of concern for everyone who cares.”

He, however, insists that “poetry should remain poetry and should not become sloganeering.”

He says he is the only poet who can be called a ‘Pakistani poet’. “In my poetry words of all major languages of the country are used and the culture of every region is depicted. Besides, my book Lahu Tarang is a collection of folktales of all the four provinces rendered in Urdu.”

He does not bemoan the non-payment of royalty on his books. “One could complain if there was such a system in place here. A few publishers do pay the poet a paltry amount in the beginning. Then they say ‘your books are not selling any longer’, and you have no reason to suspect their intention.”

Naresh Nadeem, a CPI(M) member and editor of the New Delhi-based monthly Shab Tab, who was here recently, said he was not happy with what he termed corporate hijack of the media and accused it of not focusing on bread and butter issues of the poor segment of society.

He was also critical of the Manmohan Singh government’s nuclear deal with the United States and said the people of India were being kept in the dark.

Mr Nadeem had presented his paper in the two-day international conference on the role of the media in the freedom struggle of 1857.

Talking to Dawn, he also spoke on bilateral relations between Pakistan and India and called for a more liberal visa regime, and if possible, doing away with it in due course to promote mutual amity and cooperation at all levels. He said the continuing conflict was not in the interest of the two nations and that when Egypt and Israel could come closer, why couldn’t India and Pakistan.

He said the media was not so aggressively pushing on the bilateral trade and visa regime issue. He said bilateral trade could help either side break the cartels and keep in check the soaring prices of essential commodities, by supplementing each other’s shortfalls.

The CPI(M) member from Utar Paradesh claimed that the present generation had given up ideological approach to the issues affecting the common man and had fallen prey to the ‘corporatisation’ of the media, which was having a telling effect on professional journalism. He said the corporate agenda of the media had obliterated the common man’s issues and there seemed to be a structural shutout on those issues.

He noted that as a result of ‘corporatisation’ of the media, the share of entertainment on the electronic news channels and in newspapers had gone up manifold. As compared entertainment reporting, reporting on agricultural issues, education health and environment had gone down. In fact, he said, despite being an agricultural economy, most TV channels and newspapers did not have reporters assigned to agricultural beats.

But he noted that some of the regional media were focusing on the common man’s issues. “People go for them because they identify this segment of the media with themselves.” In this context, he referred to the Hindi and Marathi press.

Naresh Nadeem was critical of the electronic media for not giving enough space and consideration to the issues concerning the peasants and working class. This was accentuating the sense of alienation. He said there was no representation of the Dalits on the Indian media. On the other hand, the BJP was getting its likeminded media men in different organisations. For this purpose, he said the party had set up a cell.

He also termed the Indian Premier League as a rude demonstration of corporate influence in every walk of life. He noted that some newspapers had resorted to having private client treaties with any company. By this method, these newspapers acquired stake into a certain company and marketing of its products was sold as news. This he said was a very dangerous and unethical trend.

The soft-spoken Naresh Nadeem was also critical of the Indian government’s nuclear deal with the US, (over which the CPI (M) has left the ruling coalition and has asked Manmohan Singh to prove his majority in the Lok Sabha) and said the deal was not in the interest of India.

He also accused the Congress of not respecting the views of coalition partners. Reiterating the party line on the issue, Naresh Nadeem claimed that it would not only lead to nuclear proliferation in the region but would also be a burden on the exchequer, as for the cost of one nuke plant, there can be at least three thermal power stations.