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In love with God.... and Guru
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With `Dum-a-dum Mast Kalandar' she got the devout swaying to her beat. With `Raqs-e-Bismil' she had the cognoscenti nodding in approval. And all along she has endeavoured to bridge the gap between Mortal Man and Supreme Being. ZIYA US SALAM reveals the music mantra of Abida Parveen who was in Delhi this past week as part of Jahan-e-Khusrau Festival....
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THE FACE OF DEVOTION: Abida Parveen feels that life is all about a prayer. Photo: R.V. Moorthy.
SHE TALKS of the Presence that does not come and go. And Enlightened Ones, who like stars spin around in bewildered love. She talks of Supreme Love as the Reality and uses Sufiana Kalam as the drum to call towards the Reality. Life for her is, as a medieval India king saw it, nothing but an hour: spend it in devotion, the rest is unseen. `Yeh duniya raen basera,' she says, now sitting in Hotel Maurya Sheraton in New Delhi without a trace of regret. Or hypocrisy.
Devotion, for her, is nothing but `raqs-e-bismil'. "Every human being is born with a sense of music. Khuda made man with music and dance. This is the truth. Music is a mode of congregation.'' If music is the life-breath of Abida Parveen, her devotion to God is the soul, the blood, the body of existence. Let the priests retreat to their tower for what she says about man and God will definitely not be music to their ears. "God and guru are the same. There is no difference. All enlightened souls -- Buzurgan-e-deen -- have the glow -- noor -- of Allah. They have envisioned God. They are torches by themselves. When the sun rises, it penetrates all barriers. Similarly, the `noor' of buzurgan-e-deen spreads far and wide, beyond the frontiers of nations and religions. Love for the Supreme Being is higher than any religion. Mazhab was made by man, `mohabbat' by God.''
Life for Abida -- meaning one who prays -- is nothing but a prayer. Expressed not through a rosary, a ritual, but through music, dance, poetry. Encapsulated in the words of sufis, entwined in the music of humankind. "To go away from God is `kufr'.'' In Delhi for Jahan-e-Khusrau, the three-day Sufi Music Festival, "the spiritual daughter of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai'', Abida is a veteran exponent of the great ghazal and kafi musical styles. Rooted in the intense encounter between sensitivity and spirituality that is Sufism, she sings ceaselessly of her fiery love for the Divine. "God's love is for all. That is Faizan-e- Mohabbat. But Irfan-e-Mohabbat -- Profound comprehension of love for the Almighty -- is for the chosen few,'' she says, firm in her conviction that the Calling strikes only the fortunate ones.
``I was invited by Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Hazrat Amir Khusrau commanded me to come over. When these luminaries order, the caravan moves. The whole ambience undergoes a transformation. Their writ runs. We all are like magnet to iron. And then I had never gone away from them. We had never separated.''
Like a mountain keeps an echo deep inside itself, Abida Parveen -- known across the subcontinent and beyond for her haunting voice which can pierce the silence of the desert and overpower the din of the metropolis -- keeps Sufiana Kalam inside her bosom, full of love for God and Guru. "Ilm -- knowledge -- and aql -- wisdom -- are inferior to ishq -- love. Unlike the other two, love cannot be imprisoned in theory. It has countless shades. Sur is a medium to reach God. One can find a link with God even through a film song. He has many facets.''
Always open to experimentation, she believes that Sufi songs are the therapy for today's youth, often going awry in most violent ways. "Everything which one does with the thought of Almighty is a prayer. Not just sufi songs but even looking after your mother is `ibadat'. Similarly, providing water to the thirsty is worship. God has not made any caste or creed. Everything in this universe is meant for peace. And at distrubed times, the dargahs of holy men teach you `sabr' -- patience.'' This modern-day devotee has not taken leave of contemporary times. She is computer literate and launches an album every other year. ''My last album `Raqs-e-Bismil' had the glow of Almighty in it. One can become a wali by listening to it,'' she says without a dash of arrogance. All matter of fact. All simple conviction expressed without fear. "It helps in interacting with oneself, to be one with the Self -- Ruh-ba-ruh.''
Born in the Valley of Mehran in Pakistan, she has been enveloped by Sufiana Kalam all through her childhood. Her first guru was her father, the late Ghulam Haider Khan before she learnt from Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. She initially gained popularity among the rural Sindhi people, who though uneducated, could comprehend kafis at the first rendition. Her first international concert was in London in 1985. She first came to India more than 10 years ago and on each of her subsequent visits she has found "similarities'' in the way people "respond to music here and Pakistan''.
Incidentally, `Pride of Performance' award by the Government of Pakistan has been given to her on several occasions. Besides winning this award she has also been bestowed with Sindh University Fellowship Award on Sufi music, Kalandar Shah Award and Latif Award among others.
Her first famous song was `Mahi yaar di ghadoli bhar de' but the numbers which really set her apart have been `Dum-a- dum Mast kalander' and Bulle Shah's `Tere ishq ne chaya ta ta thaiya', the song that was the inspiration for Mani Ratnam's film, ''Dil Se'''s popular number, `Chaiya, chaiya. Just this past year, she came up with "Raqs-e-Bismil'', an album of Sufi music that she claims can "heal, soothe and drive away all maladies if you listen to it with attention, the way it should be listened.''
Indeed, Sufiana Kalam for Abida Parveen, is like the relationship of granite with the wine glass, as so superbly put by Rumi in the 13th Century. "It is all about complete surrender.'' Just like the glass and the granite and the consequences when the twain met.
Part of her devotion translates into riyaz for at least four hours a day. And this riyas translates into a performance with mind, body and soul on the stage. "When one sings, one does not sing only with lips. It is from an inner calling. The whole body sways with emotion. That is the magic of the sufis.'' As she prepares to meet her Granite again, it is time to bid adieu to her. And hope that this surrender makes her music even more sublime.
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