Adil Najam
The 249th annual urs of the great sage Bulleh Shah’s begins in Kasur today.
We here at ATP have paid tribute to the sage in two earlier posts (here and here). And even though I have been itching to write about the poetry of other greats such as Waris Shah, Khawaja Farid, Sultan Bahoo, Shah Hussain and others, the moment befits more mention of a sage who can never be mentioned enough.
On this wonderful occasion, I thought I would share with you the audio recordings of some of my favourite renditions of Bulleh Shah’s poignant kalaam. Including what is, at least for me, the single best rendition of a Bulleh Shah work ever!
Yes, I know that is a tall claim, and you are certainly more than welcome to your own opinions, but let me try to substantiate my view. For me Pathanay Khan singing this rendition of ‘Mera Ranjhan koi hor’ is the perfect voice, singing the perfect selection, with the perfect pathos, for the perfect depiction of the essence of a perfect Bulleh Shah experience. In case you missed the emphasis, I REALLY love this rendition. I have, quite literally, been pacing my study for the last hour and a half listening to this in a state of semi trance, physically unable to just sit still and type.
After having said all that, I hope you will give it at least one listen (here). If you do and if you have never heard it before, give it your full attention, give it time to seep in, and listen deeply to the passion in that voice as well as the power of those words. If you are one of the impatient types and can’t sit through the momentum building up, just push forward to around to minute 13 and see him getting into:
jaiN dil wich pyar di ramz nahiN
bass ouou dil kouN weeran samajh
jadouN pyar di jaan sujhaan nahiN
ouou banday kouN nadaan samajh
ee-o pyar aye dars waleeaN da
aye maslak paak nabeeaN da
anmool pyar di daulat aye
ee-koun uqba da samaan samajh
eee pyar di khatir arsh banney
eee pyar di khatir farsh banney
khoud pyar khudda wich wassda aye
meiN sach ahdaa, Quran samajh
Like all of the greatest poets – Faiz, for example – the beauty of Bulleh Shah is that in some ways it does not matter who is singing those words and how, the power of the words will carry through. At one level, I think that is the real power even behind the Shergill and Junoon versions. But as with Faiz (for example, Noor Jahan singing ‘mujh say pehli si muhabbat…‘ or Mehdi Hasan singing ‘gulouN meiN rang bharray…‘) there are some renditions that just perfectly blend music, voice and words. To me, this is one such renditions.
But I do understand this is a personal taste thing. I would love to hear what other folk’s favorite renditions are. There are many other renditions that are also tremendously powerful. For example:
Jumman Khan singing “Assan Ishq Namaz JadooN Neeti aye” (listen here). Its not the best recording, but note the opening verses:
Abida Parveen (listen here) brings a different sensibility to her rendition of the same song (here) but opens rather differently; by making fun of (as Bulleh Shah often did) of my profession:
paRh paRh ilm hazaar kitaabaN
qaddi apnay aap nou paRhiya naee
jaaN jaaN waRhday mandir maseedi
qaddi mann apnay wich waRhiya naee
aa-vaiN laRda aye shaitan de naal bandeaa
qaddi nafss apnay naal laRiya naee[yes, yes, you have read thousands of books
but you have never tried to read your own self
you rush in, into your Mandirs, into your Mosques
but you have never tried to enter your own heart
futile are all your battles with Satan
for you have never tried to fight your own desires]
Note how she also weaves in that other immortal verse about:
… kuttay, taiN touN uttay
mulla kanouN kuKKar changaaN
jehRa yaar jagaway suttay
taiN kan uttay…
[dogs are higher than you
and the rooster is better than the Mullah
for at least they wake friends who are asleep]
ATP had earlier written about how contemporary artists (Rabbi Shergill and Junoon) were rediscovering the work of this immortal poet and discovering — as so many earlier generations have — the vibrancy, political and social poignancy, and amazing musicality of the Bulleh Shah’s work.
For those who search for more contemporary renditions, here is another one. This one by Noori, based on Bullay Shah’s ‘Kuttey terray uttay’. I am a 
huge fan of Noori, but do not think this is their best work. Nor is it a good rendition of Bullay’s ‘Kuttey.’ But the social and political message is intense and the video, especially the first minute or so, is amazingly poignant. For those reason’s alone – and as an exhibit of the versatility and timelessness of Bullay Shah’s idiom – its worth watching.
Click on arrow at center, or view it directly here
The website DesiPundit had picked up on that post and, writing there, Neha mentioned something that has had me thinking ever since:
If others also paid Bulleh Shah more attention, they might find that in terms of his themes Bulleh Shah may be the most contemporary poet in South Asia today. Try looking at ‘Bass kar ji’ (Enough is enough) or ‘Moun aayee baat na rehndi hai’ (I must utter what comes to my lips) and you will find them resonating with your most contemporary political and social preoccupations.
I think Neha is exactly right. And much as I loved Rabbi’s version, and even as I have learnt to enjoy Junoon’s, I hope some of these audio selections will stand testimony that you don’t really need a guy totting a guitar and a fast-paced video to prove the eternal relevance and the deep ethos that is the poetry of Bulleh Shah.
P.S. My gratitude to APNA from where the audio is linked. The website is a tremendous public service and truly worth a visit; many visits.
Must confess that on the issue of keeping this poetic tradition alive I am an optimist. I am convinced that things are actually BETTER today on this count than when I was a college student in Pakistan and first got interested in this and I suspect they are also better than what they were, say, say 50 years ago.
This was always an oral tradition and its vitality comes partly from being an oral tradition. Note, for example, how the Juman Khan and Abida Parveen versions of the same poem is so different – not only in rendition and the other selections they bring in, but also in the selections that are common. In some written precise traditions that might be sacrilege; here it is not only accepted and expected but encouraged. Which also keeps the kalaam contemporary. The inspiration behind these three posts is really the fact that the oral tradition has not only been kept alive (Rabbi, Junoon, Noori and others) but has been contemporized. Indeed, the more ‘traditional’ renditions are also alive and the vitality of the poetry just beats all odds. Indeed, the vitality of the oral tradition and the simplicity of the poetry itself means that this kalaam is well known and appreciated well beyond Punjabi speakers only. In fact, the same is true for Saraiki and Sindhi sufi poetry too.
But beyond that, I think other things have happened. The resurgence of quality book publications happened in general in the 1990s (mostly thanks to Amina at OUP). Within this there was a rather striking resurgence of quality publications of Punjabi sufiana kalaam (Syed Akmal Hussain and others had at least something to do with this, I think). There is now a larger and better quality variety of publications available. I used to find reading Punjabi in Urdu was difficult (mostly because the experience was unfamiliar), I now find it less difficult. MY guess, however, is that for me and those like me reading it in Urdu script is still less of a task than trying to learn a new script. I think that the internet has also played a role in evangelizing the writing in Roman script. One did it out of necessity but over the years I can now read that fairly proficiently. Finally, great sites like http://www.apnaorg.com and the collections they have in all scripts proves that this is not a barrier to propagation.
Arvind is right. Punjabi literature in Pakistan is handicapped by a lack of an apporpriate script. Reading or writing Punjabi in Urdu script is not easy. You lose certain sounds. Gurmukhi has solved this problem in Indian Punjab. Sindhis and Pashtoons in Pakistan have solved this problem by having their respctive scripts. I guess Baloch, too, have their own script.
On a different note, a young Canadian poet of Pakistan origin, Rasheed Nadeem, perhaps inspired by Bulleh Shah, has written an interesting poem. I remember only the first four lines:
Dunya saadhay hath na aayee,
Assi charrh gaye deen day mathay
Dunya mang, mang, tay dunya mang, mang
Mang, mang ghis gaye saadhay mathay
My knowledge of Bulleh Shah is limited to what Abida has sung from his works. Once I heard somewhere on the web Shazia Manzoor sing “kee jaanaa’n..” and the notes were more than perfect; the best I ever heard any one sing.. different and effortless singing..
Arvind, your points can very well be applied to Baloch and Pakhtoons.
Bulleh Shah is a remarkable poet. His poems have been translated into Gurmukhi script, used for Punjabi language in India. If Punjabi gained as a literary language in Pakistan, I believe people would be more familar with works of great poets like Bulleh Shah.
The use of Urdu for official purposes literary and official purposes creates certain disadvantage for speakers whose mother tongue is Punjabi in Pakistan, which is about half of Pakistan’s population. It relegates Punjabi to the home sphere, individuals have to gain proficiency in another language if they hope to advance in government and other positions. Most importantly, since Punjabi Muslims have been unable to promote their own language like Sindhis, they have largely kept the impressive literature of Sufi poets like Bulleh Shah to largely an oral tradition.
Has the development of Shahmukhi helped in making this literature more accessible
now?
Arvind Singh
http://nexusnovel.wordpress.com/
He is a well known personality all around the world. I like his kalam too much. he was a true person & his poetry is been liked every where even punjabi or english translation. Many singers have sung his kalam in their own style.
Bhula ke jana main kon i like most.