My muse and I

Published February 15, 2011

Faiz on the radio in Pakistan. - Photo on file

He was my muse, he really was. But before composing Faiz, I had the opportunity to compose other big poets for PTV programmes Akkar Bakkar and Sach Gap in 1972-3. During the rehearsals at Shoaib Hashmi’s place, Faiz Saheb would also be present on occasions and we would ask him to compose short poems for children for Akkar Bakkar.

Among the other poets I was composing were Sufi Tabassum, Meeraji, Nasir Kazmi, Ibne Insha, M D Taseer Saheb and others. I was only 23 then, and in two years (these two weekly programmes gave me quite a handful to work on), I got to learn the ropes. With this also came the realisation that there was so much to learn. I attended the sitar recitals by Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, and that was one place where only classical music was discussed so that helped a lot. I also learnt the nomenclature of music there, and went on to read more and more.    How Faiz Saheb took to me in those formative years, you can only blame him for that.

He was interested in what I was doing, he probably heard the music I composed for PTV.

He was all praise for my rendering of Meeraji’s Premi kaise baat kare preetam se. He also liked Ibne Insha’s poem a lot which contained the line ab woh ujaala sanvlaaya. He loved the word sanvlaya. I used to sing these to him all the time; he never asked me to sing any of his own poems though. There used to be always a harmonium or a guitar around, or the instrument was promptly sent for.     He was the one who had suggested my name to Anwar Maqsood for EMI’s album Nayyara Sings Faiz, Vol 1, which was a tribute to him on his birthday in 1976. I had composed Aaj bazaar mein pa bajolaan chalo especially for the LP. Earlier, when Faiz Saheb asked me how far I had composed the poem, I said, ‘Only as far as Aaj bazaar mein’. Then I said that I did not know what pa bajolaan meant, and he explained, ‘Bhai, paaon mein zajeerain waghaira pehen kar’.    He really liked the LP which I presented to him on the Eid day. He said, ‘I’ve written a ghazal in the old style but there’s not a difficult word in it. Why don’t you compose it and get Nayyara to sing it?’ Thus he handed over the ghazal Tumhen pukara hai be-irada (my upcoming new release, Nayyara sings Faiz, Vol 2, opens with this number).     It was very fulfilling to feel so loved by Faiz Saheb and it lent me much confidence to compose more of his work. But all the while fear also gripped me: that I didn’t know much; but he liked what I did. I think this set me to work harder on my music, with more diligence, and definitely much more effort. I didn’t want to go wrong. I think that’s when I decided on my career as a musician; that this was all I would do now and I’d do it right, and would learn music formally, I promised myself.     Subsequently, for the Vol 2, I’ve gone back and rerecorded Uttho ab maati se uttho and zard patton ka ban jo mera des hai, with a bigger, more robust orchestra, to be more worthy of the message contained in these poems. I’ve retained the original melody but given a new musical interpretation to everything in the accompanying orchestra.     Generally, while composing Faiz, I am extremely careful, because the vocals are not ordinary lyrics. My utmost effort goes into conveying the intent of the poet while composing his words, his lines; luckily, with the benefit of hindsight, I am privy to the poet’s intent for many of the poems. In composing Faiz’s poems, for me there was no harking back to the compositions done in the past; they just all had to be something new, contemporary and modern, like his verse. I took a lot of time doing it. Retrieving the composition from my mind and putting it in a tangible form required a lot of picking and shovelling, as Shaoib Hashmi rightly calls it. At the end of the day a composition must keep its musicality while also clearly conveying the lyrics and the intent of the poet. To me this was the essence of putting Faiz’s verse to music.    Then, there’s always a rush of memories of the time spent with Faiz Saheb. He was delightful company. Despite his quiet and calm demeanour, he was never averse to humour, although in his presence one never crossed the line of respect. I remember once Abid Ali Shahji asked him what the saying in Arabic, Tawwabana wajada aana tarrabana meant. He listened with great attention, and then asked for it to be repeated.

After a pause, he said with a smile, Bhai, yeh arabi warabi nahin hai’ (this is no Arabic, my friend). Then he asked what it was. Shahji smiled and recited the Punjabi folk song: Toomba wajda ee na pyaar bina; everyone present, including Faiz Saheb, had a good laugh.     Indeed, he was very kind to people much younger to him, and always willing to help. I even got him to write a jingle for a masala commercial. I requested him, but he said, Bhai, hamain yeh kaam nahin aata (I don’t know how to do this). I kept insisting, and he declined again. Then he said, ‘have vodka’; we did, and still he wouldn’t yield. I was quite upset and left in a huff for Shoaib Hashmi’s where we were to rehearse that evening. I left banging the door so he knew I was upset. A bit later he called at Shoaib Saheb’s and gave me the lines: adrak, dhanya, mirch aur haldi/ national ne sab ki kaya palat di/ kaun kare mirchon ki pissaee/ haldi, adrak ki ragrraee/ pal mein masala hai tayyar/ khaalis, umda, khushbudaar. This was eloquent and completely fitted the brief for the four masalas packaged description. However, the client refused to believe that Faiz Saheb had written it, and that was their loss. But that’s how loving and considerate he was.     I am reminded of another anecdote here. Once he recommended a gentleman to the then minister, Hafeez Peerzada, for translating his speech into Urdu from the original English, because the minister wanted to make the speech in parliament in Urdu. The man went and came back, declining the assignment. When the minister called Faiz Saheb, he politely said he would arrange for someone else and hung up. Then the translator in question showed up and narrated the whole incident: that had had an argument with the minister over the contents of the speech and said he would not tell lies. “I only speak the truth, truth and truth alone,” he said to Faiz Saheb emphatically. After a pause Faiz Saheb told him very mildly, “Look, speaking the truth is no virtue, sometimes staying quiet is.”     While he was kind to his juniors, he showed utmost respect to his elders. As for his Punjabi poetry that I composed, he wrote specifically Kidre na payediaan dassaan for Sach Gap, for a special programme dedicated to the POWs of the 1971 war. Those were the days when Ustad Daman had been arrested by the Bhutto regime for writing the poem Ki kari jareha ain. Faiz Saheb was very upset and used his clout to get him released.

Ustad Daman was brought from the prison to Faiz’s house, but to everyone’s surprise, no word was uttered about the episode between the two and they got straight into discussing poetry and literature. Such were their personalities. In that very conversation that evening the Ustad asked Faiz to write poetry in Punjabi also; Faiz readily accepted. Then, later, he wrote and recited to the Ustad, Lammi raat si dard firaaq wali. The Ustad showered his praises on him but ended with the compliment: ‘What beautiful Punjabi in Urdu!’ Theh he cited words like, dard and firaaq.    Once I asked Faiz why I was not as good as he. I was a jaat like he; I went to Government College like he had done; I studied in the same classrooms where he had; I did my master’s like he had done, I complained to him. ‘So what is so different between us that makes you a great man and me just me?’ A pause followed and then Faiz Saheb replied, ‘My friend, my teacher was Patras Bokhari and yours, Shoaib Hashmi.’ Such was his humour. When I narrated the incident to Hashmi Saheb, he ran after me with a stick, yelling, “Looking for your own greatness you got my father-in-law to insult me, you rascal!    Such are the fond memories that I have with the family, and such was the old world Government College humour that teachers and students shared.

-- Arshad Mehmud spoke to Murtaza Razvi   

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