'Kanhaiya, Yaad Hai Kuchh Bhi Hamaari' by Farid Ayaz & Abu Muhammed

How lovely to hear a song to Krishna in the qawwali form by artists from Pakistan performing in India! It seems doubly poignant when they sing, ‘O Krishna, do you remember us at all?’, seeming to say that we are also yours, and you are also ours. Boundaries of nation, or categories of religion, seem artificial and superficial in such a moment.

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This song is in the style of a loving complaint to the beloved, sung with great panache and yet loving delicacy by the immaculate performers that Farid Ayaz, Abu Muhammed and their party are.

The last verse evokes the Sufi idea of the stages of descent of God into form, the movement from One to many. The poetic image has the woman saying ruefully that she was better off single, instead of suffering the pain of separation, now that they are ‘two’. The signature line of the song has the pen-name 'Hilm', which may refer to Nawab Sadiq Jung Bahadur of Hyderabad Decan.

It was the last day of the Festival of Kabir in Bangalore, the final concert of qawwali by Fariduddin Ayaz & Abu Muhammed from Karachi, Pakistan and the 1350-seat auditorium was packed to the brim. Farid Sahab told the audience that his family was originally from Delhi and flung across the border by the Partition in 1947. "Here, I am called a Pakistan-wallah, and there they call me a Dilli-wallah!” he said laughingly.

(Click on Settings for subtitles in English & Hindi.)

Fariduddin Ayaz & Abu Muhammad are acclaimed qawwals from Karachi, Pakistan and belong to the 700-year-old 'Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana' of Delhi. They sing in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Hindi, Poorbi, Persian, Arabic and Turkish, intermingling with aplomb the voice of Kabir with a range of Sufi poets including Jalaluddin Rumi, Sachal Sarmast, Zaheen Shah and others.

Contact them at: +92-300-2105393, abupk@yahoo.com

The Festival of Kabir was organized by the Kabir Project, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology along with several other partner organizations in Bangalore in February 2009. It brought together singers from India and Pakistan in an immersive week-long event that included film screenings, live music concerts and talks.

Ajab Shahar is a digital archive of mystic poetry and music drawing from the rich Bhakti and Sufi oral traditions in India and beyond... Explore a world of sung and spoken wisdom at https://ajabshahar.com

Song Credits:
Lead Vocals & Harmonium: Fariduddin Ayaz & Abu Muhammad
Chorus & Clapping: Ghulam Akram, Ali Akbar, Gayoor Ahmed,
Moiz-uddin, Mubark Haris, Zarrar Ahmed, Shah Laeegh-uddin, Shehzad Hussain
Dholak: Muhammad Ashfa, Muhammad Nawab Kallan

Translation: Vipul Rikhi

Video Credits:
Cameras: Tahireh Lal & Vinay Dhodgeri
Editing: Piyush Kashyap
Sound: Dipanshu Mitra
Sub-Titling: Shruti Kulkarni & Vipul Rikhi
Collection: The Kabir Project

Place: Bangalore, India
Date of Recording: Mar 01, 2009