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Pashto Music
by Amjad Shahzad
(The original text has been written in Pashto)
It is said that Alexander the Great had a genius musician with him who had the special quality of telling about the life style, culture, attitudes and outlook of a nation just by listening to its music. The music of a nation is a living image of the social life, attitudes, culture and the way of life of that nation. The folk music of every nation has its distinct colors and charms. It usually has very simple and easy notes so that all can understand and appreciate them alike and it appeals to the taste of all. However, if the folk singers and musician have some degree of understanding of the classical Indian music, it adds to the charm and quality of their songs and music. It is because the classical Shastariya Music has more or less affected the music of almost all the nations of the Indian Sub-continent. All the singers and musicians of all the nations living in the Sub-continent take inspiration, color and light from the classical Indian music, in one way or another.
Music can play an active role in the rise of a nation. And if music is used in a negative way, it can also become one of the reasons of the downfall of a nation. History is replete with instances of this fact. A music that is music of Life and lead people towards Life is a healthy and positive music, the kind of music about which great poet of the East, Dr Iqbal says,
That whose charm cleans Adam
From all sorrows and fears,
And turns every Ayaz (a slave)
Into a Mehmood (a great king)
And what is negative and evil music? the kind of music that we hear now a days, full of vulgarity and obscenities or the the kind of Jihadi music, that promotes violence and terrorism and leads youth in those directions, the Jihadi and Taliban anthems and songs etc, …these are the negative and destructive side of music. Dr Iqbal had this to say about such kind of music,
If in their music is hidden,
The message of decadence and death,
All those flutes and lyres and rabaabs,
Are Haram (evil, forbidden) in my view!
In the last three decades of the first half of the last century, influences of western music gradually permeated Indian music and with the passage of time, those western musical influences became a permanent part of Indian music. But those influences were mostly limited to the theatres and Film music of India. Through Indian film music, those western influences gradually entered into the music of neighboring nations too. But as far as Pukhto music is concerned, experiments with western music were done, some good, others bad, in Afghanistan. These experiments were successful there where they were based on a sound understanding of the traditional local and classical Indian music. But where western music was simply copied or cut and pasted in Pukhto music, those experiments failed badly and the result was a kind of music which was very superficial and low-standard, often ridiculous.
In Afghanistan, successful experiments with western music and European musical instruments were made, along with others, by Ustaz Nashanas. Here in Pukhtoonkhwa, Sardar Ali Takkar was the first Pukhtoon artiste to experiment successfully with western beats and pop music in some of his songs. After Takkar, many young Pukhtoon singers, especially Rahim Shah, Fiza Fayyaz, Fay Khan etc did a little work of some worth in this regard. But when this trend reached the music of ATV Khyber, things got worse. In the mentioned TV channel, all those who could afford the expenses of recording their songs in studios and making videos for their songs overnight became singers. It was a marriage of convenience between AVT Khyber and those new singers. In AVT Khyber, these new and novice singers found an easy way of exposure and popularity and in these singers, ATV Khyber found singers and readymade video songs without having to pay them anything apart from telecasting their songs and videos. The consequences were not good for Pukhto music, which was already passing through hard times and whose creative springs were already drying. These negative trends of the music of Khyber TV had a very bad influence on Pukhto music. One positive aspect of this phenomenon was that those young Pukhtoon boys and girls who were acquainted with and accustomed to the pop music trends of other languages now started listening to their own Pukhto music. But from the technical perspective, this trend was not fruitful or good for Pukhto music. The immature and tasteless experiments that these young guys are doing on Khyber TV are nothing new. Afghan singers had done these things decades ago on Kabul TV which had utterly failed and had reached their logical end.
What these good guys did was simply to pick some popular and melodious old Pukhto compositions and then to replace the traditional Tabla with Drums and a few other western musical instruments and then smugly rejoiced that they had done something marvelous. All songs of Zeek Afridi and Bakhtyaar Khattak are good examples of this trend. Some singers and musicians, who understood music as well as the requisites of modern music, too came under the influence of this trend. Among such singers, Fay Khan came up with beautiful compositions which are not only new and modern but also have the sweetness of creativity. From his compositions, it is obvious that Fay Khan has a good taste and some understanding of both Indian music as well as contemporary western music. Among other Pukhto singers who have made a good use of western beats and instruments in Pukhto music, the names of Humayun Khan, Rahim Shah and Fiza Fayaaz are worth mentioning. These talented singers added to the beauty and variety of Pukhto music. But still the number of the former kind of singers and composers is higher. They are producing low standard and vulgar music in large quantity and are doing a great deal of damage to Pukhto music.
If we look at the Pukhto music in the last century, we see that a good deal of work had been started on both sides of the Durrand Line, good and high standard music was being produced in Pukhto. And although Pukhtoonkhwa, unlike in Afghanistan, enjoyed no official governmental support and encouragement, still this land had produced good and genuine singers and musicians like Sabz Ali Khan, Khanzada, Mohabbat Ustaz, Abdullah Jan Ustaz, Gohar Jan, Gulnar Begum, Kishawar Sultan, Bacha Zareen Jan and others.
In Afghanistan, many a kings had have love and good taste for music and have supported and promoted this art. This story goes back for centuries but I will keep my discussion limited to the twentieth century only. Amir Habibullah khan, the king of Afghanistan and son of Amir Abdur Rahman, was a good player of Piano. He invited expert musicians from India and paved the way for Afghans to be introduced to and to learn Shastariya Sangeet or Indian music. The famous Amir Ghazi Amanullah Khan himself could play Piano and Harmonium well. It was he who, for the first time in Afghanistan started music learning classes in schools and appointed good teachers and expert musicians for teaching music to the Afghan children. He gave them official patronage and benefits. More known among them were Ustaz Qurban Ali of the Amani school, Ustaz Pir Bakhsh of the Dar-ul-muallimeen and Natu Khan (son of Ustaz Qurban Ali) of the famous Habibia school. Ghazi Amanullah Khan also established a radio station for the first time in Afghanistan and thus provided a good platform to the Pukhtoon singers of Afghanistan. Then came the dark and violent but fortunately very short reign of the notorious Bacha Saqao and all those gains in arts and culture were lost. But after him came Nadir Khan who again encouraged and promoted music in Afghanistan. He gave lands and houses to singers and musicians and fixed government salaries for them. Similarly other Afghan kings and rulers like Wazir Mohammad Gul Khan Momand, King Zahir Shah and Sardar Dawood also did a lot to support and promote music and singing. In those times female singers too came forward and sang for Radio Kabul. It was no mean achievement in a conservative country like Afghanistan. The first lady that came to Radio Kabul was Miss Zeba. After her came a host of female Afghan singers among whom the more famous were Shehla, Parveen, Saudi, Rakhshali, Pataani, Qamar Gulla, Bakht Zamina and Naghma etc.
In those good old times, great music masters of the world were officially invited to Afghanistan to teach music in the Kabul Music Academy. They included Freeman from America, Mohan Lal from India and Yarove from USSR. Music classes were also introduced in the boys as well as girls’ schools and colleges. This trend of official patronage and promotion of music in educational institutions of Afghanistan increased many folds during the revolutionary and democratic governments of the Marxist parties.
In the second half of the past century, this process got momentum and Pukhto music experienced speedy development. The prominent singers of those days included Ustaz Awal Mir, Ahmad Khan, Nashanas, Khyaal Mohammad, Hidayatullah, Shah Wali Ustaz, Sardar Ali Takkar and others who sang the lofty poetry of Khushal Khan Baba, Rahman Baba, Ali Khan Baba, Hamid Baba, Gulistan, and among the contemporary poets, they sang the poems and Ghazals of such well known and favourite Pukhto poets as Hamza Baba, Ghani Khan Baba, Qalandar Momand, Ikramullah Graan, Andesh Shamsul Qamar, Saif-ur-Rahman Saleem, Rahmat Shah Sayel, Abdul Bari Jahani etc. They sang with charming compositions and enchanting music the sublime poetry of these great poets and gifted it to the Pukhtoon public. Among those singers, Sardar Ali Takkar won special recognition and distinction for doing justice to Ghani Khan’s poetry while Gulzar Alam won reputation for his singing of Saayel’s poetry. Poetry of Abdul Bari Jahani reached the ears of Pukhtoons through the bewitching voice of Ustaz Nashanas. The prominent female singers of this era include Gohar Jan, Qamar Gulla, Gulnar Begum, Kishwar Sultan, Bacha Zareen Jan, Zar Saanga, Farzana, Shakeela Naaz, Aqal Meena, Maah Jabeen etc. they did a great deal to popularize and develop Pukhto music. In the last decade of the previous century, Haroon Bacha, Sarfaraaz, Wagma and Nazia Iqbal too made a good beginning but now it seems that they too have changed or are gradually changing their way and style. With the exception of a few, most of these singers mentioned above are still alive and many of them are still doing singing and music. But the standard of their music and their selection of poetry is very low and vulgar. Why is it so? Many reasons can be cited for this. First of all, let us take the case of Pakistan TV. They don’t encourage Pukhto singers and musicians as they deserve. They have assigned a ridiculously short time for Pukhto music. PTV has just two short programs for Pukhto music in a week and it is not possible to give opportunity to all these singers in just those two short programs a week. And in those two programs too they often repeat old programs again and again and don’t bother to do fresh recordings with the newly budding Pukhto singers. The same is the case with Radio Pakistan.
The system and centers for the distribution of Pukhto music cassettes and CDs is not satisfactory. And the few shops or music centers too prefer to sell cassettes and CDs with the above-mentioned cheap, third rate and vulgar sort of music and poetry. They say that this is the demand of the market and they sell what sells. As most of the Pukhtoon singers are usually poor so their financial needs force them to record what these distributors and music shop keepers demand them to record.
A third reason is the fact that there are some poets who stoop so much as to offer, instead of demanding it, money to popular singers for singing their poetry. They seek cheap popularity and thus lower the standard of music.
The previous MMA government of Pukhtoonkhwa had done all they could to damage and destroy arts and music and history will remember it as a dark age for art and culture in Pukhtoonkhwa. In that period, singers and musicians were forced to leave their “ Bala Khanas” (places for playing and learning or listening to music) and homes in Dabgari ( a neighborhood in Pekhawar which is abode of most of the professional Pukhtoon singers and musicians) through harassment and threats. The Abasin Arts Council was closed down. Its music teachers started teaching music in the Nishtar Hall but this solo center of Pukhtoonkhwa too was closed by the government for all musical activities. Thus they did all they could to perform the funeral rites of singers and music.
On the other side of Durrand line, in Afghanistan, the decades-long and unending civil war, anarchy and turbulence has caused the decline of all fine arts. The reigns of Jihadi war-lords and Taliban were especially suppressing and destructive for all arts and artistes in Afghanistan. In past, Kabul and Kandahaar were big centers of music. Singers and musicians in those two cities were either murdered or forced to quit music under threats of death. Many were forced to leave their country and migrated to strange lands. The consequences of all this for music were, to say the least, destructive.
A great teacher of classical music from Kandahar, Rahmani Sahib is teaching music at a university in Denmark. Nashanas Ustaz lives in London. Other Afghan singers and musicians are scattered in the United States, Germany, India and other countries.
The circumstances under which Pukhto music is surviving since the last few years have inflicted a loss and damage to Pukhto music that can not be easily compensated. In these years, many a singers and artistes were murdered. Shabana of Swat and Anwar Gul of Pekhawar are two recent instances in front of us. A number of leading Pukhto singers and musicians like Sardar Ali Takkar, Haroon Bacha and Sahib Gul Ustaz were forced to leave the country and leave in exile. Those who couldn’t make it to free lands had no option but to quit music altogether and are now leading miserable lives. And those remaining Pukhto singers and musicians who refused to end their attachment to music are living under a continuous sense of insecurity and fear.
Many music centers and CD shops have been blown with bombs all over Pukhtoonkhwa. This barbarism that had started with the MMA government of Mullas is still going on. Hardly a week passes without a school or music center being bombed or scorched to ashes. This ongoing wave of extremism and terrorism has most of all damaged Pukhtoon culture and arts. And all this was made to happen under deliberate planning by certain forces. The present government of Pukhtoonkhwa is taking measures in this regard to make things better. A number of non-governmental organizations too have realized the fact that unless the culture of these people is not preserved and promoted, the monster of terrorism can’t be defeated. A lively and exuberant culture and arts are the weapons that can stop war and violence. It seems that in such deadly and suffocating environment, their culture and arts are the last hopes of keeping these people alive.
“Protect my white pigeon from the gun fire,
Believe me,
The music of Rabaab will bring back peace.”
by Amjad Shahzad
(The original text has been written in Pashto)
It is said that Alexander the Great had a genius musician with him who had the special quality of telling about the life style, culture, attitudes and outlook of a nation just by listening to its music. The music of a nation is a living image of the social life, attitudes, culture and the way of life of that nation. The folk music of every nation has its distinct colors and charms. It usually has very simple and easy notes so that all can understand and appreciate them alike and it appeals to the taste of all. However, if the folk singers and musician have some degree of understanding of the classical Indian music, it adds to the charm and quality of their songs and music. It is because the classical Shastariya Music has more or less affected the music of almost all the nations of the Indian Sub-continent. All the singers and musicians of all the nations living in the Sub-continent take inspiration, color and light from the classical Indian music, in one way or another.
Music can play an active role in the rise of a nation. And if music is used in a negative way, it can also become one of the reasons of the downfall of a nation. History is replete with instances of this fact. A music that is music of Life and lead people towards Life is a healthy and positive music, the kind of music about which great poet of the East, Dr Iqbal says,
That whose charm cleans Adam
From all sorrows and fears,
And turns every Ayaz (a slave)
Into a Mehmood (a great king)
And what is negative and evil music? the kind of music that we hear now a days, full of vulgarity and obscenities or the the kind of Jihadi music, that promotes violence and terrorism and leads youth in those directions, the Jihadi and Taliban anthems and songs etc, …these are the negative and destructive side of music. Dr Iqbal had this to say about such kind of music,
If in their music is hidden,
The message of decadence and death,
All those flutes and lyres and rabaabs,
Are Haram (evil, forbidden) in my view!
In the last three decades of the first half of the last century, influences of western music gradually permeated Indian music and with the passage of time, those western musical influences became a permanent part of Indian music. But those influences were mostly limited to the theatres and Film music of India. Through Indian film music, those western influences gradually entered into the music of neighboring nations too. But as far as Pukhto music is concerned, experiments with western music were done, some good, others bad, in Afghanistan. These experiments were successful there where they were based on a sound understanding of the traditional local and classical Indian music. But where western music was simply copied or cut and pasted in Pukhto music, those experiments failed badly and the result was a kind of music which was very superficial and low-standard, often ridiculous.
In Afghanistan, successful experiments with western music and European musical instruments were made, along with others, by Ustaz Nashanas. Here in Pukhtoonkhwa, Sardar Ali Takkar was the first Pukhtoon artiste to experiment successfully with western beats and pop music in some of his songs. After Takkar, many young Pukhtoon singers, especially Rahim Shah, Fiza Fayyaz, Fay Khan etc did a little work of some worth in this regard. But when this trend reached the music of ATV Khyber, things got worse. In the mentioned TV channel, all those who could afford the expenses of recording their songs in studios and making videos for their songs overnight became singers. It was a marriage of convenience between AVT Khyber and those new singers. In AVT Khyber, these new and novice singers found an easy way of exposure and popularity and in these singers, ATV Khyber found singers and readymade video songs without having to pay them anything apart from telecasting their songs and videos. The consequences were not good for Pukhto music, which was already passing through hard times and whose creative springs were already drying. These negative trends of the music of Khyber TV had a very bad influence on Pukhto music. One positive aspect of this phenomenon was that those young Pukhtoon boys and girls who were acquainted with and accustomed to the pop music trends of other languages now started listening to their own Pukhto music. But from the technical perspective, this trend was not fruitful or good for Pukhto music. The immature and tasteless experiments that these young guys are doing on Khyber TV are nothing new. Afghan singers had done these things decades ago on Kabul TV which had utterly failed and had reached their logical end.
What these good guys did was simply to pick some popular and melodious old Pukhto compositions and then to replace the traditional Tabla with Drums and a few other western musical instruments and then smugly rejoiced that they had done something marvelous. All songs of Zeek Afridi and Bakhtyaar Khattak are good examples of this trend. Some singers and musicians, who understood music as well as the requisites of modern music, too came under the influence of this trend. Among such singers, Fay Khan came up with beautiful compositions which are not only new and modern but also have the sweetness of creativity. From his compositions, it is obvious that Fay Khan has a good taste and some understanding of both Indian music as well as contemporary western music. Among other Pukhto singers who have made a good use of western beats and instruments in Pukhto music, the names of Humayun Khan, Rahim Shah and Fiza Fayaaz are worth mentioning. These talented singers added to the beauty and variety of Pukhto music. But still the number of the former kind of singers and composers is higher. They are producing low standard and vulgar music in large quantity and are doing a great deal of damage to Pukhto music.
If we look at the Pukhto music in the last century, we see that a good deal of work had been started on both sides of the Durrand Line, good and high standard music was being produced in Pukhto. And although Pukhtoonkhwa, unlike in Afghanistan, enjoyed no official governmental support and encouragement, still this land had produced good and genuine singers and musicians like Sabz Ali Khan, Khanzada, Mohabbat Ustaz, Abdullah Jan Ustaz, Gohar Jan, Gulnar Begum, Kishawar Sultan, Bacha Zareen Jan and others.
In Afghanistan, many a kings had have love and good taste for music and have supported and promoted this art. This story goes back for centuries but I will keep my discussion limited to the twentieth century only. Amir Habibullah khan, the king of Afghanistan and son of Amir Abdur Rahman, was a good player of Piano. He invited expert musicians from India and paved the way for Afghans to be introduced to and to learn Shastariya Sangeet or Indian music. The famous Amir Ghazi Amanullah Khan himself could play Piano and Harmonium well. It was he who, for the first time in Afghanistan started music learning classes in schools and appointed good teachers and expert musicians for teaching music to the Afghan children. He gave them official patronage and benefits. More known among them were Ustaz Qurban Ali of the Amani school, Ustaz Pir Bakhsh of the Dar-ul-muallimeen and Natu Khan (son of Ustaz Qurban Ali) of the famous Habibia school. Ghazi Amanullah Khan also established a radio station for the first time in Afghanistan and thus provided a good platform to the Pukhtoon singers of Afghanistan. Then came the dark and violent but fortunately very short reign of the notorious Bacha Saqao and all those gains in arts and culture were lost. But after him came Nadir Khan who again encouraged and promoted music in Afghanistan. He gave lands and houses to singers and musicians and fixed government salaries for them. Similarly other Afghan kings and rulers like Wazir Mohammad Gul Khan Momand, King Zahir Shah and Sardar Dawood also did a lot to support and promote music and singing. In those times female singers too came forward and sang for Radio Kabul. It was no mean achievement in a conservative country like Afghanistan. The first lady that came to Radio Kabul was Miss Zeba. After her came a host of female Afghan singers among whom the more famous were Shehla, Parveen, Saudi, Rakhshali, Pataani, Qamar Gulla, Bakht Zamina and Naghma etc.
In those good old times, great music masters of the world were officially invited to Afghanistan to teach music in the Kabul Music Academy. They included Freeman from America, Mohan Lal from India and Yarove from USSR. Music classes were also introduced in the boys as well as girls’ schools and colleges. This trend of official patronage and promotion of music in educational institutions of Afghanistan increased many folds during the revolutionary and democratic governments of the Marxist parties.
In the second half of the past century, this process got momentum and Pukhto music experienced speedy development. The prominent singers of those days included Ustaz Awal Mir, Ahmad Khan, Nashanas, Khyaal Mohammad, Hidayatullah, Shah Wali Ustaz, Sardar Ali Takkar and others who sang the lofty poetry of Khushal Khan Baba, Rahman Baba, Ali Khan Baba, Hamid Baba, Gulistan, and among the contemporary poets, they sang the poems and Ghazals of such well known and favourite Pukhto poets as Hamza Baba, Ghani Khan Baba, Qalandar Momand, Ikramullah Graan, Andesh Shamsul Qamar, Saif-ur-Rahman Saleem, Rahmat Shah Sayel, Abdul Bari Jahani etc. They sang with charming compositions and enchanting music the sublime poetry of these great poets and gifted it to the Pukhtoon public. Among those singers, Sardar Ali Takkar won special recognition and distinction for doing justice to Ghani Khan’s poetry while Gulzar Alam won reputation for his singing of Saayel’s poetry. Poetry of Abdul Bari Jahani reached the ears of Pukhtoons through the bewitching voice of Ustaz Nashanas. The prominent female singers of this era include Gohar Jan, Qamar Gulla, Gulnar Begum, Kishwar Sultan, Bacha Zareen Jan, Zar Saanga, Farzana, Shakeela Naaz, Aqal Meena, Maah Jabeen etc. they did a great deal to popularize and develop Pukhto music. In the last decade of the previous century, Haroon Bacha, Sarfaraaz, Wagma and Nazia Iqbal too made a good beginning but now it seems that they too have changed or are gradually changing their way and style. With the exception of a few, most of these singers mentioned above are still alive and many of them are still doing singing and music. But the standard of their music and their selection of poetry is very low and vulgar. Why is it so? Many reasons can be cited for this. First of all, let us take the case of Pakistan TV. They don’t encourage Pukhto singers and musicians as they deserve. They have assigned a ridiculously short time for Pukhto music. PTV has just two short programs for Pukhto music in a week and it is not possible to give opportunity to all these singers in just those two short programs a week. And in those two programs too they often repeat old programs again and again and don’t bother to do fresh recordings with the newly budding Pukhto singers. The same is the case with Radio Pakistan.
The system and centers for the distribution of Pukhto music cassettes and CDs is not satisfactory. And the few shops or music centers too prefer to sell cassettes and CDs with the above-mentioned cheap, third rate and vulgar sort of music and poetry. They say that this is the demand of the market and they sell what sells. As most of the Pukhtoon singers are usually poor so their financial needs force them to record what these distributors and music shop keepers demand them to record.
A third reason is the fact that there are some poets who stoop so much as to offer, instead of demanding it, money to popular singers for singing their poetry. They seek cheap popularity and thus lower the standard of music.
The previous MMA government of Pukhtoonkhwa had done all they could to damage and destroy arts and music and history will remember it as a dark age for art and culture in Pukhtoonkhwa. In that period, singers and musicians were forced to leave their “ Bala Khanas” (places for playing and learning or listening to music) and homes in Dabgari ( a neighborhood in Pekhawar which is abode of most of the professional Pukhtoon singers and musicians) through harassment and threats. The Abasin Arts Council was closed down. Its music teachers started teaching music in the Nishtar Hall but this solo center of Pukhtoonkhwa too was closed by the government for all musical activities. Thus they did all they could to perform the funeral rites of singers and music.
On the other side of Durrand line, in Afghanistan, the decades-long and unending civil war, anarchy and turbulence has caused the decline of all fine arts. The reigns of Jihadi war-lords and Taliban were especially suppressing and destructive for all arts and artistes in Afghanistan. In past, Kabul and Kandahaar were big centers of music. Singers and musicians in those two cities were either murdered or forced to quit music under threats of death. Many were forced to leave their country and migrated to strange lands. The consequences of all this for music were, to say the least, destructive.
A great teacher of classical music from Kandahar, Rahmani Sahib is teaching music at a university in Denmark. Nashanas Ustaz lives in London. Other Afghan singers and musicians are scattered in the United States, Germany, India and other countries.
The circumstances under which Pukhto music is surviving since the last few years have inflicted a loss and damage to Pukhto music that can not be easily compensated. In these years, many a singers and artistes were murdered. Shabana of Swat and Anwar Gul of Pekhawar are two recent instances in front of us. A number of leading Pukhto singers and musicians like Sardar Ali Takkar, Haroon Bacha and Sahib Gul Ustaz were forced to leave the country and leave in exile. Those who couldn’t make it to free lands had no option but to quit music altogether and are now leading miserable lives. And those remaining Pukhto singers and musicians who refused to end their attachment to music are living under a continuous sense of insecurity and fear.
Many music centers and CD shops have been blown with bombs all over Pukhtoonkhwa. This barbarism that had started with the MMA government of Mullas is still going on. Hardly a week passes without a school or music center being bombed or scorched to ashes. This ongoing wave of extremism and terrorism has most of all damaged Pukhtoon culture and arts. And all this was made to happen under deliberate planning by certain forces. The present government of Pukhtoonkhwa is taking measures in this regard to make things better. A number of non-governmental organizations too have realized the fact that unless the culture of these people is not preserved and promoted, the monster of terrorism can’t be defeated. A lively and exuberant culture and arts are the weapons that can stop war and violence. It seems that in such deadly and suffocating environment, their culture and arts are the last hopes of keeping these people alive.
“Protect my white pigeon from the gun fire,
Believe me,
The music of Rabaab will bring back peace.”
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