 Good evening everyone and welcome to the continuation of our commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Arshad's here Which is also the finale of the heritage and history in South Asia Conference for those of you who have now just joined us We've come out of a panel of scholars poets and writers who highlighted a lot of interesting aspects of the significance of the legend of here and of Arshad's contribution Now it's with such pleasure that I stand here to introduce to you Madan Gopal Singh and Char Yar who will be performing renditions of here For those of you who are perhaps not aware of who Madan Gopal Singh is I'd like to share a few things about him which give a sense of what an extraordinary person he is He was born in Ambrose soon after the partition raised and educated in Delhi And his PhD in film and cultural studies has been a senior fellow at the narrow Memorial Museum and library and taught English literature Delhi University before embarking on his next incarnation and journey as a singer as An artist. He is a musician writer and composer He wrote the dialogues and lyrics for Kissa by Anup Singh He composed and sang on the soundtrack of Subhya Summers critically acclaimed film Khamo Spani and Has been a key figure in the development of India's dynamic art house an independent film scene More recently. He has become an icon of contemporary Sufi music as a means to explore critically the past That have shaped contemporary societies and cultures. I will have to admit something I am a bit of a fan and Since they arrived a few days ago Madan Gopal Singh and Char Yar I have become officially a Char Yar groupie Madan G. Has with him is ensemble of exceptional musicians Deepak Castellino on guitar and banjo Amjit Khan on tabla and Preetam Gosil on Sarod So without further ado, please welcome Madan Gopal Singh and Char Yar so here we are and We mostly we'll Try to stay as close as we could to hear Boris but We are doing other things as well Open with an invocation from Sultan Bahuu. We are given to starting with Invocation from Sultan Bahuu. So this is a bit like a kind of an amulet that we wear around and the second riff is created by This riff that you're hearing is created by Pandit Preetam Gosil the chords Mediba Castellino and a lot helps by Ustad Amjit Khan's heart a Hindu a Christian and a Muslim from Kolkata From the Konkan region. This is how they respond to hear Boris With an invocation of the mystical self the larger self For he conceived these multiverses in the image of love And he tried it himself first and his beloved was Nabi Rasool himself In our understanding of this legend of Irranja, Ishq is always placed above everything else Since the multiverses are conceived in the image of Ishq Ishq itself becomes a bigger entity than God That this was an hunt with which he barished Opens I Do not you know, I do not remember all the text especially that text which is a bit like What is known as Sagan poetry in in Hindi, so I will read this and this is sift Jigra Rasool But who'll Jaya Ashik Rabbe De Mard Dali Dohtar Vaan Habib Khuda De Ne Dohtar Vaan Suja Karma Dohtar Vaan Dohtar Vaan Dohtar Vaan Dohtar Vaan Dohtar Vaan Dohtar Vaan One of the many yonderos that have been used So this is to just give you an example But the major Qissa begins with the description of the village of the family of the brothers and the sisters-in-law And this is the beginning where we find that Raja is up to no good He does no work He does no work And he's completely sort of, you know, obsessed with his own image And he's permanently sort of, you know, into sort of, you know, this Into sort of, you know, doing his hair and sort of, you know, oiling his hair You know, putting Kajal into his eyes or things like that And he thinks that this is God Almighty's absolutely greatest gift to the humankind And that is when, and he's, of course, pampered by the sisters-in-law Who have a kind of a semi, let's say, erotic relationship with him They pamper him like a, like a, like a sister-in-law would But there is also, there is also, you know, touch of seduction They own this huge land And then one day the father passes away and things do change after that Land is divided And land is divided amongst brothers And he knows nothing about land He's given the worst piece of land So he has to go and tell that land And he finds to his great dismay that, A, he doesn't know how to tell the land And B, that the land given to him is full of rocky terrain And there is no way he can make any sense of that land So he returns home distraught And he is, and the sisters-in-law also sort of are not very friendly with him anymore So they ask him, what is it that he is sort of, you know, so upset about And he says, I can't tell the land He served food which is not cooked as well as it used to be When the father was around So he decides in a fit of anger to leave the family, to leave the land And despite great sort of, you know, distinct pleadings by the brothers And also the sisters-in-law He takes refuge in the mosque which he's never visited ever in his life So he doesn't know the etiquette of mosque And he sits in the mosque and he begins to play flute Flute sort of, you know, is a very attractive instrument And peasantry working in the fields They hear the flute and they come to the mosque for a change They too never come to the mosque And the Maulvi gets to know that there is a congregation in the mosque And he comes running very happy But then he finds that somebody is playing music And he gets very angry and he wants to throw him out of the mosque And there is a very strange dialogue between Ranjha and the Maulvi And it actually becomes very abusive And all that cannot be produced here Because in that Ranjha is accusing the Maulvis of all kinds of things Including unnatural things with animals So one is not actually going into that here And then he leaves the mosque in a half and he comes to the riverbank And he thinks that the world actually moves according to his will But obviously the river doesn't listen to him So what happens is that he goes to the boatman and the boatman Obviously will not take him without money And he doesn't understand the meaning of money For the first time he realizes that there is something called money That runs this world But he is still quite obsessed with himself And he thinks that he can actually walk like Moses through the river And it will part into two parts But it doesn't And he is about to be drawn and dragged out of this thing And he is now distraught He is left only with his flute and begins to play a flute The flute is heard again by the four wives of the boatman And they come running to Ranjha Now this is a sign of the danger signal for the boatman And he comes running also and he says Okay, okay, I'll take you across Now you stop playing flute to my wives So he is taken across On the other side there are these beautiful boats Amongst those boats there is one which belongs to Here is the finest boat with a very beautiful bed And he is given to a certain lifestyle And he says that I will now sleep on this bed And much to the sort of concern of people there Because here has a certain repetition Of being really very violent When it comes to her personal sort of, you know, property But he sleeps there Initially he talks to people who are just passing by And then he goes off to sleep And somebody goes running to that part of the river Where women take bath And she is there with 60 friends And I said, hey, here somebody has solid your boat Some boy is sleeping there And she sort of emerges from the river Unmindful of where all the saree Or the kurta is sticking In a Rajaravi Verma kind of painting She comes out of the boat And she walks in a procession, you know, with a whiplash And for some strange reason she carries a whiplash And she is now ascending the boat Now it's very cinematic She is ascending the boat Raja is in deep sleep Dreaming of a girl And this girl obviously is here So this encounter is now going to happen And she raises her hand And here Raja opens his eyes So you can understand this low-angle, high-angle kind of sort of alignment As in cinema And he looks at the woman and he says, wow, Sajan But soon enough he realizes that he was going to be whiplashed So he gets a little upset So this is the piece of advice that he offers Maan Matthi Roop Ghaumaan Pari Hey girl, you're so full of your own self You think you are the ultimate in beauty Hattakhe liye chhaile Chha bhi liye haaj mantaro Oh silly girl, you're so full of yourself You think that you will be able to control me with a whiplash You must remember that Ashik and his lovers And especially the mendicant, the awara lovers like me Nag, the black cobra Ashik, Nag, Pahor, Pahor is what, B You know the drone B, Te, Nag, Kale, Ashik, Pahor, Fakir Te, Nag, Kale, Ashik, Pahor, Fakir, Te, Nag, Kale They cannot be controlled without a mantra So you must go and learn your mantras Before you just raise your hand And by then she's fallen in love And she says, well, I want to keep you here She said, nobody can keep me I mean, how can you keep me? Who are you? He said, no, I have fallen in love Asa tu saan o dekh ke mast hoe There is no question, I'll let you go So initially he's not at all sort of, you know, interested But Punjabi women have their ways with men And they are very good when it comes to emotional blackmail Any Punjabi women around? Oh my God, Punjabi boys Okay, so now she begins to say something which is, I mean, unthinkable Just see how pro-men, this is really patriarchy This is what she says Om Minubabhule Di Saum Aur Ranjana Bhe Mare Maa Ja Tud Thee Mukh Moa Dekh Kodi Hoe Ke Naan Paran Ja Van Tere Baaj Ja Kant Men I swear by my father, may my mother die Now this is a strange kind of a resolve I swear by my father, may my mother die I mean, why should the mother die? Kodi Hoe Ke May I be stricken with the leprosy Naan, then I lose my eyes, then I lose my breath I mean, that's a very sort of gory, very painful death And without you I will not set my eyes on another man Then she goes further, because khaja khizr ke baayar toh koi baat poori hoti nahi hain Dekh khaja khizr thee baayathe ke Khasam Khadi Theema Sur Ja Prith De Rith Toh Toh Da So much of blackmail, no man can actually sort of be on the point, sort of, you know, resist So he said, chalo chheega hain Now I'll stay here Now you will regret the day you, now you, this is your resolve, so I'll stay here And then this thing continues for 12 years 12 years is a long period, I really don't understand how But 12 years is what is mentioned My text, it says 12 years, but there may be some other texts where it is less than 12 So 12 years they meet at the river bank, they have this very idyllic sort of arrangement Where she brings sort of fancy foods like soaked in ghee, churis and all that And there are cows and there are buffaloes and there are women And there is Ranja playing flute Why is Vama, Ranja always surrounded by women? That's another thing, you know, earlier he was surrounded by his sister's law Now there are these 60s Ailes So he is, what is it called, ladies man So, but I must not do injustice Punjabi orath, the girl, you know, she is really the epitome of beauty, isn't she? He is from the Konkan region and he sort of says, yes, that's true I have no choice So I mean, how does the poet begin to actually praise Gheer? Her crown is like, the beauty of the crown is like the shining mahtab moon Murderous Hoonichundian They are like the night around the moon Now there is a divergence of opinion There is one version which says But I think that's a kind of two Punjabi So we'll stick to She comes swaying with her, you know, these friends These are, Sanya is, you know, a girl, not girl friends, but girl friends You know, like the lazy sort of, you know, flap of an eagle's wing My God, what an image Like the lazy flap of an eagle's wing I mean, that kind of poetry, even in Shakespeare I have not come across Par chul da jime ukab da ji, the simile Then Nan Nargasi mirg mamol de de Her eyes are sort of, you know, the little deer The little deer is convinced of its beauty And he stands sort of, you know, in amazement of his own beauty And his eyes are like Nargasi, totally narcissistic Nan Nargasi mirg mamol de de Galla takia pul gulab da ji So it's like, gulab is what? Dimples Gulab is not dimples Close Close And then he becomes an imperialist He says This is There is no way, you know, that I can sort of, you know, stop here And say, well, this is what it was And then he says Now, this can be interpreted in two ways Abra, of course, has also the clouds But Abra is It's like the whole Lashkar of Punjab has overrun India That you understand Here is my friend from Kolkata You know, once he started doing he He resolved to marry a Punjabi girl It's another matter that no Punjabi girl would want to marry him He had a similar fate Only the tabla player managed to marry a Punjabi girl So, a big hand for Amjad Khata So it goes like this He says Problem with Varis Here Varis is that this isn't one bear The melody is the same So we have to now depart from that melody So how do we do that? So there is a lot of, you know, folk idiom in which Here Varis has been sung I hope it is here Varis, but I'm not sure Okay Two singers who have influenced me a great deal And I must mention the names As far as here Varis is concerned One is Tufail Niazi Sahib The other is Sharif Ghaznavi The Sharif Ghaznavi had a very profound impact on me Though Sharif Ghaznavi is relatively sort of unsung This is the, because he has to now introduce himself to here And this is how the introduction happens A little before that is this And look at the minuteness of detail that Varis Shah goes into This is the description of the The day breaking in a Punjabi village You put this, you put something It has changed a little First rays of sunlight graze the earth And the birds begin to chirp And the wayfarers then are on their way After that women get up They are looking for the churners They put the churners into the milk And the others are looking for the churners And the whole world is now getting into a working mode And women are now looking, you know They need to spin the spinning wheels But the men are still asleep They don't wake up So that's what they are What a long time we considered That we will sort of use it at some kind of a poem against partition It's a bit slow So we go on to something a little faster So we are jumping a lot of detail We are not talking about the love We are talking about Heeranjah's dialogue with the Khazi And the only thing that I want to mention is That Heeranjah gets married to this man It was not really worth remembering So I mean she's married off Ranjah is distraught She wants to be lower when Ranjah says But I can't run physically Not made that way So the marriage happens And there is this popular sautier joker Heer, doli, chardya, heer, ne Ovan, kitaya, chika, mariya, vagara So we are skipping all that Then by way of dowry A lot of cattle is given The cattle refuse to move Because they're used to Ranjah's flute So they come running to Ranjah And said, please see the cattle off So this is a golden opportunity Because for 12 years They have not even consummated their relationship So Ranjah is also in addition to Just changing the idea of love He's a bad lover, like Heer So they are now going to Again, cinema, they're walking And doli, cattle, Ranjah And they're going in The night evening descends And they are in a forest Men go off to hunt in the night And women are sitting in a huddle Because they're jealous of Heer's beauty Only Punjabi men know how to hunt in the night So, I mean I've not been able to sort of, you know, Decide how hunting is possible in the night So, and that is when they decide to Actually on the eve of a marriage to another man They decide that this is the time To consummate their relationship But they don't know how to make love So there is a lot of commotion inside the doli And people get suspicious And what's happening She says, my necklace snapped And he's trying to thread the beads And this is very sort of, you know, suggestive So he just run away But he's thrown out Okay So, the crux of the matter is that This man is very tall The husband So after drinking that proverbial Almond, honey, turmeric milk He comes into the room To finally have his Now Heer is very beautiful She lifts her veil And she becomes even more beautiful And the result of absolute beauty Is absolute impotence So Well, it happens I mean, you can't afford to be too beautiful Because that can be potentially dangerous So that's when she sends an SMS to Ranjha And she tells Ranjha to now come Disguise of the Jogi So, this is what Ranjha does So this is not Heer Baris Ranjha Ranmashito Tureya Khabar Vichrulya Turda Jave Ranja Turda We cut the long story short How he walked We are not going to go into that It's a very beautiful poem though Taari Jo Heer Ranjha Jo Gida Heer Ranjha Jo Gida Heer Ranjha Jo Gida Heer Ranjha Jo Parna Heer Ranjha Jo So that is how Ranjha Unfortunately in Ranjha, Heer Ranjha There are not very many sort of fast passages of this kind So, we will try to Shaushen When I first met Tupel Niaz He said And one of the songs that I had sung for him Like this Obviously There was no tonal quality anywhere Near to Tupel Niaz And he said That is why I never ever try Tupel Niaz's composition from stage But there is a demand that I must do something fast So, let me Our faster numbers If you sing along You must sing Can we sing something non-ranjha Teer Okay, we have Okay Okay, in this song We need all of you to sing along with us please This is a very difficult song It has one word And the only one word you have to sing is Anand And you know where to sing it I mean, that's a warning Don't sing everywhere Together That's louder The walls of Saras must shake Okay, so Now that we are on to faster numbers And we don't have to sing heeranjha Let's have one more Sing along You must understand that there are two components One is obsessive return to the same word Same phrase Which is known as taqrar And the other is The other is Tying a knot Gire lagana So we go out of the poem And we go into another poem If I'm singing Pawabullisha I can actually bring in Faiz Ahmad Faiz So It's as simple as that And then I have to get back So, gire lagana And taqrar These are two components of Sufi music You don't see that in Bollywood much But in fact not at all After 1960 None whatsoever Let's do some gire here Incidentally, all these compositions That you're hearing Are compositions Are our compositions Except one Tufail Nezab Composition that we sang And of course traditional here Chandan Sahib is sitting here So I'm going to sing One Chandan Sahib poem as well To your love I dance in a trance Come quickly my saviour Or else I'm going I'm gone The sun is set And there is a little streak Of red in the sky This is a political reference In the early 18th century And I'll be beholden to you Permanently If you showed up again And filled the sky with red Once again Comrade on Islam, my Maharaj Dayyadeyya Dayyadeyya Dayyadeyya Dayyadeyya Dayyadeyya Tayyadeyya Dayyadeyya Dayyakarse Dayyadeyya Dayyadeyya Dayiak And I want to live life And I want to live life And I want to live life This is a poem That was not written by Gulzar Sahib This is a poem that was Not sung by Savendur This is a poem that was not composed by A. R. M. An. So, this is not a poem to which you can dance all of you a little better than maybe. One thing that Sufi music must do is to construct, is to constitute a community which can be done by either you joining in, so we are not singers and you are not listeners. Or you dance, or you become just stone. Getting stoned is a bit difficult, but still. Mawla, Mawla is the Gireh. So, it's the, it's the Takhrar, Nabi, Nandak. Baba Bulesha, the quintessential Sufi poet of Punjabi, suddenly begins to write in Hindi and he begins to celebrate the festival of Hindu, the Hindu festival of colors. And a night from Quran Sharif, a question which is posed by the God Almighty before giving flesh to the souls. Thank you. A poem from 16th century about women, they have been completely denied. So, this question of empowerment goes back to the 16th century. So, when God Almighty created this very useless universe, he forgot all about women. So, the women are now saying, look, we demand 16th century. Talk about this outside the auditorium because we might be then subjected to laws of blasphemy. Shao Zen, she says, this woman says, we have a few desires and you must listen to these desires. We have a long list, so we can't go through the list here because it's rather long. But three desires, one in which she's demanding a pounder and a vessel in which to pound and she wants an attic full of cannabis. The second desire is she wants red hot chilies, she wants saffi to cleanse her system, saffi, not this, it used to exist in the 16th century and she wants measureless colors in her life. The third demand is that she wants poppies and she wants a vessel in which to make a paste, another vessel full of sugar. God Almighty is not very pleased and he said, which country have you come from or girl? I warn you, you will lose all your credit with me and then don't blame me. So she says, okay, I'm very scared, all my demands are canceled, I have only one demand and that demand you will know very soon. This is the last demand. I demand knowledge and I demand the ability to reflect and I want to be given to me the status of sainthood. I demand knowledge and I want to be given to me the status of sainthood. I demand knowledge and I want to be given the status of sainthood. I demand knowledge and I want to be given the status of sainthood. Time up or shall we sing one more? Okay. So this is another one that Amariji Chandan sitting here, we must honor him. We are honoring the authors, tall and stately the Rosewood trees through them meanders the river deep silently. I sit by the riverside washing clothes. Come home, come home somehow. Arise like the sun in the courtyard of my heart each morning. Arise like the moon on the rooftop of my heart each evening. Come home, come home somehow. This is his, he was associated with a play and that play is Bethold Breaks Caucasian Chalk Circle. This is in Punjabi. This is Grusha Waiting for Simon. This honor is known as the dance of the intoxicated old. So I mean literally the dance of the intoxicated old when only the upper part. Okay. I don't know why he looks at me when he says that. So you've been a wonderful audience. We had to do some here Anja. How do you with the legend? It's important. I mean if you want faster numbers we can therefore we have to come to an end. All good things like bad things must come to an end. So we were not bad. Okay. So this you can maybe dance if you feel like. The calendar must must must calendar must calendar. Hindus venerate Julelal as Lord Krishna like Pajakhism. Okay. I'll be back. Alija Baaz Kalandar, Pajhulelal Kalandar, Alija Baaz Kalandar