Remembering a master sculptor of words….

I was first introduced to this maestro’s awesome wordcraft at my oldest uncle’s place when I had just entered my teens. My uncle was an entrepreneur and rose to great heights with his impressive business acumen. He was also a great aficionado of good music and had a tape recorder at the heart of his home music system, and this is in the era before compact cassettes were even conceived. The tape spools were quite large and cumbersome to handle. But the music quality was, I daresay better in those analogue music recording days.

The first ghazal I heard from the amazing poet and rendered by the greatest Ghazal singer of my time, Khansaheb Mehdi Hassan sahab. The ghazal bears the stamp of the singer and the signature of the poet, Ahmad Faraz, Ranjish hi sahi, dil hi dukhane ke liye aa…

The man would have been 91 years old 4 days ago, on 12th January. His given names were Syed Ahmad Shah Ali. But he achieved much fame and immortality through his work using his nom de plume, Faraz. He became the second most popular ghazal writer and poet from his country (after Faiz Ahmed Faiz) . He considered Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ali Sardar Jafri as his role models.

Listen to one ghazal written by Ahmad “Faraz” and rendered by (to me, definitely) the greatest ghazal singer of my lifetime, in his unique sublime manner, Mehdi Hassan. https://youtu.be/CMg7AFo_etQ

शो’ला था जल-बुझा हूँ हवाएँ मुझे न दो

………… अहमद फ़राज़

शो’ला था जल-बुझा हूँ हवाएँ मुझे न दो

मैं कब का जा चुका हूँ सदाएँ मुझे न दो

जो ज़हर पी चुका हूँ तुम्हीं ने मुझे दिया

अब तुम तो ज़िंदगी की दुआएँ मुझे न दो

ये भी बड़ा करम है सलामत है जिस्म अभी

ऐ ख़ुसरवान-ए-शहर क़बाएँ मुझे न दो

ऐसा न हो कभी कि पलट कर न आ सकूँ

हर बार दूर जा के सदाएँ मुझे न दो

कब मुझ को ए’तिराफ़-ए-मोहब्बत न था ‘फ़राज़’

कब मैं ने ये कहा है सज़ाएँ मुझे न दो

He has narrated the unbelievable story of how he thought of the composition. Almost as a brainwave. https://youtu.be/I9aRFj-opzg

शो’ला था जल-बुझा हूँ हवाएँ मुझे न दो
मैं कब का जा चुका हूँ सदाएँ मुझे न दो

For those who may not understand the language even as poorly as me (I am taking my baby steps in understanding it) I will try to give the meanings of some of the words you might have difficulty comprehending. The more learned ones can definitely feel free to comment and correct me.

शो’ला: अंगारा, सदा: प्रतिध्वनि, ध्वनि,

जो ज़हर पी चुका हूँ तुम्हीं ने मुझे दिया
अब तुम तो ज़िंदगी की दुआएँ मुझे न दो

ये भी बड़ा करम है सलामत है जिस्म अभी
ऐ ख़ुसरवान-ए-शहर क़बाएँ मुझे न दो

करम: कृपा, मेहरबानी, ख़ुसरवान-ए-शहर: शहर पर राज करनेवाले, राजा, क़बाएँ: कपड़े, लिबास

ऐसा न हो कभी कि पलट कर न आ सकूँ
हर बार दूर जा के सदाएँ मुझे न दो

कब मुझ को ए’तिराफ़-ए-मोहब्बत न था ‘फ़राज़’
कब मैं ने ये कहा है सज़ाएँ मुझे न दो

ए’तिराफ़-ए-मोहब्बत: प्यार का कबूलनामा

The third ash’aar (in bold italics above) is part of the original ghazal but rarely, if at all, included in the vocal renditions. I have not offered any meanings or explanations for the two I think are.

A wonderful ghazal in the raag Kirwani. One absolutely endearing creation by the combined efforts of the two masters. Kirwani is said to be adopted in Hindustani Classical Music from Carnatic Music . A sampoorna raag, it lends itself ideally to instrumental rendition, and is usually performed at or around midnight. Can anyone ever forget the wonderful bhajan by Laxmi Shankar, Nata nagara ati sundara? https://youtu.be/8vkGEhKUYr8