Adil Najam
Let me repeat something I wrote last year: Rohail Hyatt’s Coke Studio is one of the best things that has happened to Pakistan music in a long time. Needless to say, I remain a big fan. Arieb Azhar’s Husn-i-Haqiqi is something that still mesmerizes me every time I listen to it: and I listen to it every time I can. The big hit from this year’s (Season 3) Coke Studio is Arif Lohar’s (with Meesha Shafi) singing Jugni: “Alif Allah Chambay di Booti“
This is an absolutely captivating song from Coke Studio. In many ways this may be the ultimate Coke Studio song. Like so many other Coke Studio productions, but maybe more than most others this song would just not have happened this way were it not for Rohail Hyatt and Coke Studio. The fusion is not just in the instrumentation, the composition and the set, it is in every sound and every placement of emphasis of the song. It remains Arif Lohar’s song to its core, but it would just not have been the same without Meesha Shafi. For all of this one has to thank Arif, Meesha, and of course Rohail.
But in some ways, we must also thank – and remember – Alam Lohar with this song. I have been meaning to write about Alam Lohar for a long time (and let me say, that I still owe him that post). In essence, Alam Lohar was the ultimate showman. A giant in a generation of great folk artists (here, here, here). And the Jugni was one of his signature songs.
I must confess that I have never ever heard anyone sing the Jungni without Alam Lohar’s (Arif’s father, for those who may bot have guessed) sound track playing at the back of my head. For those who are unfamiliar with the great showmanship of that soundtrack, here is a dusty glimpse. The quality is not that good – one just wonders what Alam Lohar could have done in Coke Studio! – but the mastery is all too evident.
If Alam Lohar was alive today, I am sure he would agree that his son has done him proud!
This is awesomeness par excellence. :-)
I came across this only yesterday and have been listening to this over and over. Wonderful work Coke Studio team… especially the lead Arif Lohar and Meesha Shafi.
Finally I got the translation:
http://salvi.newsvine.com/_news/2010/06/10/4491395-coke-studio
Alif allah chambay di booti, tey meray murshid mann vich lai hoo
My master has planted the fragrant seed of love in my heart
Ho nafi uss baat da paani dey kay
Which flourished with modesty, piety and acceptance of his existence
Har ragaay harjai hoo
My God is present in every throbbing pulse
Ho joog joog jeevay mera murshid sohna
My spiritual guide is ever-present
Hathay jissay booti lai ho
The one who blew life into me
(chorus # 1)
Pir meraya jugni ji
I have the spirit of my guide
Ae way allah waliyan di jugni ji
The spirit of all the messengers who brought His message to this Earth
Ae way nabbi pak di jugni ji
The spirit of Holy Prophet
Ae way maula ali wali jugni ji
The spirit of Ali and his followers
Ae way meray pir di jugni ji
The spirit of my saint
Ae way saaray sabaz di jugni ji
The spirit of all his words
Dum gutkoon, dum gutkoon, dum gutkoon, dum gutkun… karay Saeein
Everytime I think of you God, my heart flutters
Parhay tay kalma nabi da parhay saeein pir merya
So recite the kalma whenever I think of God
(chrous #1 repeat)
Jugni taar khaeein vich thaal
O my creation, share whatever you have
Chad duniya dey janjaal
Remove yourself from worldly concerns
Kuch nai nibna bandiya naal
There is nothing that you can get from other human beings that you can take to the after-life
(repeat)
Rakhi saabat sidh amaal
Just keep your actions and intentions pure
(chorus # 1 repeat)
Jugni dig payee vich roi
So absorbed was the creation that she stumbled into a ditch
Othay ro ro kamli hoi
There she wailed relentlessly
Oddi vaath naye lainda koi
But there was no one who enquired about her
(repeat)
Tey kalmay binna nai mildi toi
Remember, there is no salvation for anyone without remembering your creator
(chorus #1 repeat)
(chorus # 2)
Ho wanga charha lo kuriyon
Put on your bangles, girls
Meray daata dey darbaar diyan
Those that you get at your Master’s shrine
(chorus # 2 repeat)
Ho naa kar teeya khair piyari
Daughter, don’t be proud of your youth
Maan daindiya galaryaan
Your mother scoffs and scolds you
Din din talhi juwani jaandi
That with each passing day, your youth slips by
Joon sohna puthia lariyaan
Even gold when put in the furnance moulds itself, there is absolutely no permanence
Aurat marad, shehzaday sohney
Women, men are so beautiful
O moti, O laa lariyaan
Like pearls, like gems
Sir da sarfa kar naa jairey
Those who are not self-absorbed
Peen prem pya lariyan
They are the ones who truly love the humanity
O daatay day darbaan chaa akho
Whenever you visit the darbar of any saint
Pawan khair sawa lariyan
God fulfils all your wishes and showers you with his blessings
(chorus # 2 repeat)
O wanga charha lo kuriyon meray daata tey darbar diyan
Put on your bangles, girls … Those that you get at your Master’s shrines
O wangha charha lo kuriyon meray daata tey darbar diyan
Put on your bangles, girls … Those that you get at your Master’s shrines
(chorus # 2 repeat)
(chorus # 1 repeat)
Jugni ji
Jugni ji
Jugni ji…
I suggest we leave religion alone… and let it stay pure…as defined, practised and instructed by the Holy Prophet (saws)…because Deen is only as much as can be traced back to him (saws). Let’s not adulterate the pristine purity of Islam with our personal interpretations, interpolations, precepts and practices. There is no music, no singing and no female performers.
We also tend to wrongly associate Sufis with music. The real Sufis never played or listened to music. Even the Samaa’ in Sufi assemblies was governed by strict principles, some of them being: no music, no singing, no female performer, the recitation to comprise decent/ reverential poetry and be delivered by an adult, male, practising Sufi.
Sidhas, Adab O Adaab are swiftly relegated to the backburner when Dukhtaran-e-Islam gyrate before the eyes and infiltrate and beguile the soul, mind and psyche…
It is a Yahoodi conspiracy, I tell you… Gumby the drummer and Zoe Viccaji, one of the backing vocalists are both Christian, and Jaffer Zaidi the keyboard player is Shia… coincidence? No! Put two and two together! Also Zaidi is the son of Nayyara Noor, known to gyrate all over the stage in her day… I repeat, all this is no coincidence…
For the first minute or so, I thought it was going to be the standard Arif Lohar performance, but the mood, the rhythm and everything changes the moment the girl in bright lipstick (Meesha?) and the girls in the background join in with the chorus: Jugni ji. Te eh vay Allah waliyan di, te eh vay Nabi Pak di. Jugni ji…
It’s a delightful song and wonderful performance.
yaar Nostalgic & Nihari kamal ka response hai. parh kar maaza agaya.
lekin aik durkhuwast mein karoon ga wo ye kay, kuch Adab o Aadab ko bhi malhooz rakhnay chaheye.
Wow Nihari, you dropped the H-bomb (no, H is not for hydrogen) on a family forum… tip of the hat in your direction, Sir (or Ma’am)…
I think a change of name for our country is in order: The Thoroughly Unislamic Republic of Pakistan… you see, we are a Kaafir-majority country… Ahmadis are de jurre non-Muslim, Shias de facto, there are whispers in pious Saudi-funded circles about Brelvis and Sufis, and the less said about Sindhis, liberals, leftists, Jiyalas and Meesha Shafi (that fine Dukhtar-e-Islam gone astray) the better… I think together all of us Infidels are a majority still, the Saudi-funded mid-faith crisis among the Fidels (not Castro, fidels as in the opposite of infidel) notwithstanding…
Can I apply for a liquor permit now?
@Dr. Haq
Aapkay comments say aankhon ko thandak aur klaeejay ko sakoon mila
Thanks God after centuries, our ummah discovered the fine methods of inquisition that only Christian history was proud off for so many years. We are proud of not only inventing various ingenious ways of defining who is muslim and who is not but also to send the other haramis to the place they belong i.e either jahannum or to a political asylum to the place of kaana dajjal that is the western world. Music, respect and self and others, common sense and making life good for others have no place in the land of the pure. They are tools of Shaitan and every good Muslim should try to save him and his family from it…Ameen.