Insha Mushtaq Dar
The music of Jammu Kashmir has been, since ages, reflecting not only of the rich heritage and cultural legacy of the region, but also the emotions and the moods of the populace.
With time Kashmir has witnessed the advent of different musical traditions, be it the time of Kashmiri Hindus who played music similar to Indian classical music such as the sitar and sarangi or the Sufiana Kalam which was introduced after the influx of Sufis in Kashmir, when Sufism was introduced in Kashmir. This type of music introduced the new instruments of music, such as santoor, and Saz.
The new generation of musicians in Kashmir has successfully blended Kashmiri music with western instruments. Famous musical artists like Mohammad Muneem, Ali Saffudin, Ishfaq Kawa, Rahul Wanchoo, and others have conferred new directions to musical tradition in the contemporary music in Kashmir.
To rejuvenate the old traditional music in Kashmir with a new style, one of the most prominent faces of contemporary musicians in Kashmir, Ali Saffudin has come up with an innovative idea and brought up a project ‘Sounds of Kashmir’ which was commissioned by the organisation ‘Teamwork Arts’.
‘Sounds of Kashmir’ is an art project which syndicates at bringing together two generations of Kashmiri musical tradition – the Kashmiri folk and the contemporary. It aimed at blending the sounds of Rabab with the guitar to relive the traditional music of Kashmir. This project has assumed a significant role in generating new narratives about Kashmiri music modernity.
The team aimed at reworking on a popular and familiar Kashmiri song to bring out new sounds of Kashmir. Re-working on the popular and familiar Kashmiri song is an innovative approach to music, sound, language, and form as well. It not only brings a piece of diverse music out but also ensures the continuation and preservation of our cultural memory and national narratives.
It aims at reconnecting the audience with the music they didn’t pay much attention to, connecting the old world with the new.
The ‘Sounds of Kashmir’ released its song ‘Aye Subhik waav’, a Kashmiri folk song. The song has been re-worked upon and the collaboration of Noor Mohammad Shah and Ali Saiffudin has breathed a new life in the song.
Noor Mohammad Shah is a popular Kashmiri folk (sufiana) singer who rose to online fame with his song ‘Ride Home’ in collaboration with Mohammad Muneem popularly known as ‘Alif’. His powerful voice and the melody of his rabab gained him popularity among the young and older generation of Kashmir.
Ali Saffudin is a popular Kashmiri singer and songwriter, from Srinagar, Kashmir. His music has contributed in keeping the language and cultural heritage of Kashmir alive. His songs are popular among Kashmiris which include the symbolic representation of the current situation of Kashmir as well.
The duo collaborated and performed live in the studio masterfully to accentuate the old folk song ‘Aye Subhik waav’. The luminous singing of both Noor Mohammad and Ali Saffudin along with a fusion of traditional Kashmiri musical instruments Rabab, Kashmiri Sarang, and noet along with the western arrangement including the drums, the guitar seems like it was naturally meant to accompany and accentuate the old folk song. The new blend of traditional and contemporary music has breathed new life into the rich cultural song.
In Conversation with Ali Saffudin:
Talking about the magnum opus ‘Sounds of Kashmir,’ to The Kashmiriyat, Ali said that he pitched the idea about this project to ‘Teamwork Arts’. “I also wanted ‘Sounds of Kashmir’ to be a totally independent project, I pitched the idea to project the original sounds of Kashmir,” he added.
Ali also talked about the dynamic traditional Kashmiri singer, Noor Mohammad Shah, and said, “Noor Shahab comes from a Sufiana background. Lately his music has been acknowledged but he has been produced by new musicians in a contemporary manner. Like his songs ‘Janan’ and ‘Wafadar Mouji’ were more of western pop music. No one recorded Noor Sahab in a proper Kashmiri sufiana setup.”
Ali said that he has known Noor Sahab for years now, and that he comes from a Sufiana background. “He has told me stories about his journey. He was about 5 to 6 years old when a sufiana singer had visited his native place and randomly asked him to sync his vocals with the sound and that is how his journey began. His career began with an apprenticeship with the legendary Sufi saint Ahad Bab Sahab,” Ali added.
Throwing light upon Noor Shah’s discipleship of Ahad Bab Sahab, Ali said that he remembers that Noor Sahab “once told me that he went to watch a Bollywood movie. When Ahad Bab found this out he hit him with the stick, he did it because he wanted to keep him away from the music of Bollywood.”
“This inspired me to capture the purity of Noor Sahab’s music and at the same time, I wanted a new age group who could play the sufiana music of Kashmir which is called the ‘Chakker Mausiqi’ or ‘Sufiana traditional Mausiqi’ which include the mystical qalam like naats, sufiana poetry. Spirituality is the main element I wanted to bring out with the sound of Kashmir,” he added.
Talking about the creative team behind this project Ali Saffudin told The Kashmiriyat, “I got the right team behind it to execute my idea which includes our young generation Sarangi player Iqbal Shah, Faisal Ahad, a percussion player, our neot player who has been groomed and brought up the traditional sufiana musicians of Kashmir and also Noor Mohammad Sahab has played rabab for this song.”
Ali told The Kashmiriyat that the production team added the beats of drums by Furqan Baba, bass player Danish Illahi and guitar played by Saiffudin himself, to give it a final touch.
“The main idea behind this project was to record Noor Sahab as he is – the old traditional folk music, in his purest form. I wanted it to be more of an original version,” Ali told The Kashmiriyat.
Talking about the revival of Kashmiri cultural traditional music, Saffudin said, “The music produced by the new generation of musicians in Kashmir is more of like Kashmiri contemporary pop revival. When it comes to the revival of Kashmiri traditional music nothing much has been done. No one has revived and matched or reached the level of legendary Abdul Rashid Hafiz Sahab, who has been an epitome of typical traditional music in Kashmir. Noor Sahab is also a traditional musician but he has been used by different labels and artists in a contemporary way.”
Ali Saffudin who has always been open about his political opinions believes that it was a very neutral and rare opportunity for him as it is very difficult to get a platform where he can show his art in Kashmir which doesn’t push forward a political agenda.
“I made sure to keep this project away from any political agenda. I particularly made sure that the title of the project should be ‘Sounds of Kashmir’ and not ‘Sounds of New Kashmir’ because the word ‘New’ in itself is a political connotation,” Ali Saffudin told The Kashmiriyat.
Ali Saffudin further added, “The organisation is involved with the JLF (Jaipur Literature Festival) and these are among the last few organisations which stand with the freedom of speech and expressions and that is the reason they provided us some liberty to reject any political agenda and amalgamation of Kashmir with the idea of India and we were successful in creating a segregate and independent sound of Kashmir. The ‘Teamwork Arts’ not only commissioned us but they provided us the platform with the liberty.”
Talking about the traditional and contemporary music in Kashmir Ali Saffudin told The Kashmiriyat, “Spirituality is the main element of our traditional music but I think music in current times has only been restricted to means of entertainment and showbiz. The Kashmiri music has its deep roots in spirituality, it is more of religious practice in Kashmir. That connection with music has been lost, music is more perceived as a form of entertainment.”
“The purity and chastity of what Kashmiri music could do has been branded useless. The only thing Kashmiri about the contemporary music of Kashmir is the language which includes my songs as well but this song is the sonic representation of Kashmiri sufiana music into a contemporary chapter,” said Ali.