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!
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?