PESHAWAR: ‘Ya Qurban’ singing competition organised by the provincial culture department and taking place in seven divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not only encouraged talented folk singers to show their mettle, but also encouraged people to tweet their inner feelings.

Celebrities like Reham Khan, former wife of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, perhaps aware of the unique competition taking place in “Naya Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” also couldn’t help tweeting her feelings, “Ma de Topai pa Sar Ganrala.. Da Jeenako pa War Paida Wraka ( sic. Dooba) de Karma”.

Those who are familiar with the Pakhtun culture could read between these lines what she was hinting at. This ‘tappa’ or folklore conveys well the feeling of disappointment when one misunderstands someone from their gentlemanly appearance. Such a tweet after a much-talked about divorce is loaded with deep meanings and feelings.

Since it is a tradition that one can sing along and respond a ‘tappa’ with another meaningful ‘tappa’, Dr Salma Shaheen, a Pashto poetess specialising in ‘tappa’, couldn’t help speak for Imran Khan – as he himself might not even be aware what a ‘tappa’ is and most probably he can’t read Pashto.

“Yaari de Zor Khabara Na Da, Janan ta Waya Khula Sama Khwazavina”, Dr Salma Shaheen, tweeted a ‘tappa’ which fits any embittered relation well since it implied that one can’t force others to love, ‘so my beloved you better stop blaming me’.

In just two-liner ‘tappa’ one can convey the meanings, says Dr Salma Shaheen

“The interesting thing about the Pashto folklore (tappa) is that in just two simple-worded lines one can convey the meanings,” says Dr Salma Shaheen, former director of Pashto Academy at the University of Peshawar who is a known poetess and has compiled some 35,000 written and unwritten folklores (tappay) into two volumes.

Singing ‘tappay’ is in the very nature of Pakhtun rural life and as old as Pakhtuns which according to researchers is some 5,000 years old nation. Some 85 per cent of ‘tappay’ were sung by rural women while they sang of their life’s hardships, their romance and lost love as they grinded wheat or watched men working in the fields. In the serene village life, men while harvesting or irrigating fields sang ‘tappay’.

A ‘tappa’ starting with syllables ‘Ya Qurban’ not only balances the verses, but also brings a melody which could be heard far and wide when folks sang in open fields. This was like live entertainment in rural life and in fact the only entertainment during weddings in villages. Women sang of romance and love by singing and even creating ‘tappay’ according to the occasion. When they felt suppressed they sang folklore of tragic end of innocent Maimoona on how she was killed on just a suspicion like women who are still being killed in the name of honour.

“Maimoona Shna Shwa pe Khanda Shwa, De Mama Zoye de Ma Ba Na Halalaweena”. (Maimoona thought it was a joke. She laughed hard and said how could her cousin with whom she was in love, could slaughter her on just a suspicion).

Just two lines, having symbols of rural life, were enough to convey very deep meaning about misery or experience of a lifetime. It depicts customs and traditions, social life and history of the Pakhtuns, says Dr Salma Shaheen.

Dr Slama Shaheen undertook a project back in 80s to compile written and unwritten folklores. She searched for folklores in old books being sold on footpaths and went to weddings to record what folklores women sang and even wrote down those she remembered herself from her childhood in a village of Mardan. Even nationalist leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan and many others donated their collection of ‘tappay’ to her.

Romance, stories about heroic deeds of warriors, historic events and anything that happened in Pakhtun life was topic of such folklores. Earlier, some singers like Haroon Bacha sang ‘tappay’ with the latest instruments and different tunes which made it popular among listeners. There were bad attempts to sell ‘tappay’ for commercial purpose like those sung by Nazia Iqbal, but they never were any match to the folklores originating from the rural areas even today.

The ‘Ya Qurban’ competition taking place these days at various districts to discover such original voices and ‘tappay’ and recognise them is another initiative to revive the folklores. Those singers who were masters of folklores like Ustad Fazl-i-Rabbi, Ahmad Khan and the like are also being honoured by naming the awards after famous Pashto folk singers from the seven regions.

The final ‘Tappay Idol’ is yet to be selected in the competition, but young and old alike have also started tweeting ‘tappay’, especially at night time.

While the rest of the world keep sharing views and news on Twitter, Pakhtun users have set a new trend of tweeting ‘tappay’.

Some of the politicians like Afrasiab Khattak often tweets ‘tappay’ befitting a situation and a big number of his followers reply with ‘tappay’ too.

Twitter has proved to be an effective medium in reviving and promoting ‘tappay’ among the Pakhtun youth living abroad and in cities. Since many Pakhtuns have studied in English or Urdu medium schools so often they are either not aware of Pashto folklores or they can’t write in Pashto, but Roman Pashto has solved this problem for them.

This has proved that hundreds of years old ‘tappa’ can still touch the hearts and help Pakhtuns express their spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2015