PTV celebrates its 40th anniversary

from the black and white images that sought to carve out our national conscience and cultural psyche since its inception, PTV's contribution to national building is a controversial subject like all other state-owned institutions that have solidified the iron hand of the army and the mullah, it is probably the only channel to feel at ease with....and maybe there is such as a thing which is inherently "pakistani" hence our personal contradictions of being able to relate to PTV despite our intense dislike for its propagandist past and present ......i am amazed at the wealth of video library that PTV has...which we get an occasional peek of....

yesterday there was a clip showing the late ashfaq ahmed speaking with ustad salamat ali khan .... a black and white tele-cast .... and the good ustad sings a kafi that i did not know belonged to him...i always thought it was abida parveen who has covered this kafi quite brilliantly as well....this being one of her earliest recordings from her sedated phase than the present one that i do not particularly enjoy...

like the bulley shah kafi that i wrote about previously....this kafi by ghulam farid has a mesmerizing effect...and the same old feeling of getting a lump in my throat listening to this one...the way that the singer/poet begs and pleads and looks for any sign for love to appear....

to forgive past unkindesses and become a reason for hope, the start of a new season ... the many splendours of spring and appearance and presence of a cool breeze over what was previously wilderness (on account of love having left in the middle of the night...the kafi inspired by sassui-punno)...the breeze that is a sign ...a manifestation of prayers for God's mercy answered in the form of the prophet looking at wretched sinners with his limitless kindness and his presence becoming a source of comfort for all....

tetti ro ro main vaat neharran
kadi sanval mor muharan....

what simplicity of language and what a loss that we are losing simple expression..what economy of words to express the singlemindedness in search of love...

i have to dig up the entire kafi one of the these days...

we say in sindhi that when some one is burning up in fever then the word "tetti" (femine) or "tetto" (masculine) is used to describe that burning up sensation...someone who has been up all night praying and crying all the time...restless.."ro ro" is the emphatic emphasis on relentless tears "vaat" is the way...the path, the alleyway, the rah-guzar that love has taken (to leave hence this would, hopefully be the path of return) "neharran" is "i yearn...i look for....i lay my eyes on...i gaze upon"..."kadi" is the seraiki/punjabi measure of time..."when" or "atlast when"..infact close to kabhi in urdu

"sanval" is the love(r) and despite no religious leaning on my part, i love the sufi interpretation that this could very well be a reference to the prophet ....such an uplifting feeling...."mor" is the verb for "turning" ....as in turning the reins of the animals in a caravan...."muharran".....atleast "muhar" in Sindhi is the direction...and some thing tells me that this comes from urdu/sindhi/punjabi "muh" ....the face..."muhar" is also the string tied to a camel to force it to a specific direction.

but let me attempt a complete translation once i get my hands on the kafi....i meant to stop at a music store to get salaamat ali khan but due to heavy traffic decided against it....but i am looking forward to getting the cd tomorrow and will revert back with the entire translation for that one blogger who may still have a slight interest in all this....

i also need to do a write up on indian music....somehow i lost all energy after the pakistani music but yesterday i was watching an old guru dutt movie and listening to an all time geeta dutt favorite, i thought that i owe it to myself to ramble on about geeta dutt....

so shall i say "to be continued"