'Sur Sohini' by Mitha Khan Jat & Sumar Kada Jat

If one were to imagine a form that might best capture a conversation between seeker and God, this might be it. No weary preliminaries, no pretty embellishments. The waai is a kind of a visceral cry, a weeping, a lament.

Waai uses two kinds of voices – the heavy (gauro) and the thin (sanho). The ‘heavy’ is the normal male pitch of singing, but it is this falsetto sanho that strikes the chord of separation – for it is a kind of shriek, or 'loolaat' – a baby’s howl for its mother. Full-grown men weeping in the voice of a child…

In this waai, the poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai calls out in the voice of the love-lorn Sohini seeking her beloved Mehar. This famous love legend from the Sindh region comes viscerally alive in the voices of Mitha Khan and Sumar Kada Jat.

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Perhaps the only remaining proponents of this rarest of rare music genres in India, Mitha and Sumar belong to the village of Bhagadia in Kutch, Gujarat, and are descendants of the Jat Muslims from Baluchistan who traversed the rugged terrain and colossal distances through Sindh and brought this invaluable genre to Kutch in Gujarat. Contact Mitha Khan Jat at +91-94269-69447 and Sumar Kada Jat at +91-94293-41481

This waai was shared as part of a festival celebrating the poetry of Shah Latif, organized jointly by the Sindhi Culture Foundation & the Kabir Project, Srishti in Bangalore in November, 2010.

The poems projected in the backdrop of the singers are other Latif poems on the theme of Sohini-Mehar, beautifully translated by Anju Makhija and Hari Dilgir, drawn from their book ‘Seeking the Beloved’ published by Katha, New Delhi. Anju can be contacted at anjumakhija17@gmail.com.

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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:
Vocals & Dhambooro: Mitha Khan Jat & Sumar Kadu Jat

Script & Narration: Shabnam Virmani
Projected Poetry Translations: Anju Makhija & Hari Dilgir
Song (Waai & Beyt) Translation: Shabnam Virmani & Vipul Rikhi
Poetry Insights: Abdullah Hussain Turk

Video Credits:
Cameras: Aarthi Parthasarathy & Rebana John
Editing: Aarthi Parthasarathy, Radha Mahendru & Shabnam Virmani
Editing Support: Dinto Joseph
Sound: Sohan K P
Graphics & Animation: Shilo Shiv Suleiman
Research & Production Support: Namrata Karthik
Sub-Titling: Shruti Kulkarni & Shabnam Virmani
Collection: The Kabir Project

Place: Bangalore, India
Date of Recording: 21 November, 2010