aaj bazaar mein
This weekend I listened to all manner of music while out and about, but when at home, writing and reading, just one song on repeat: Nayyara Nour's rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Aaj bazaar mein pa-bajolan chalo. I owe my acquaintance with it to the denizens of Chapati Mystery--it was Sepoy who first sent me the CD a year ago (as recompense for illicit smuggling of certain Urdu items from the public library) and the artist-occasionally-known-as-bulleyah who shared this Youtube link last week, ensuring its return to the top of my playlist.
The clip is from a documentary about Faiz, and opens with a wonderful scene of his recitation of the poem and explanation of its origins, before juxtaposing Nour's rendition with documentary images of atrocities during the Zia ul-Haq dictatorship (warning: some graphic scenes) and more recent footage from Lahore.
For a translation, see this CM post and comments. As a result, I can date precisely my initial encounter with this piece: to November 4, 2004, and the memory of dissolving into bitter tears (not for the first time, that day) upon reading it. Later that evening, I logged onto idealist.org's job search for the first time and started the long process that has borne me to Brooklyn and my current métier--having decided that it was finally time to go home and fight.
It goes without saying that recent events in Pakistan have been on my mind lately, as have those dear to me who hail from that piece of the world (S. writes to me, in response to the first iteration of this post, with such a rich cascade of images and memories: I wish I could share, but dear readers, I am sure you will find them in the pages of a book some day.) In the meantime I suggest CM and 3QuarksDaily for thoughtful blog coverage, and Ahmed Rashid on NPR (via Baraka). Mohsin Hamid has written some excellent short pieces lately as well, and I'll go look for links later.
There's also a lovely version of Aaj bazaar mein on the soundtrack of Ismail Merchant's film Muhafiz (In Custody)--from the last scene, of the poet Nur's funeral procession. I have a recording, but blogger does not seem to allow one to post mp3 files. If anyone knows a hack, please share.
[I started writing this post, strangely enough, before discovering that yesterday was in fact the vertiginous chapati's third birthday! Fitting timing. This blog would probably not exist without CM: it and Kitabkhana--and of course the more proximate influence of my dear Buchu and Contrapuntal--are what coaxed me onto the internets in the first place. Much love to all.]
The clip is from a documentary about Faiz, and opens with a wonderful scene of his recitation of the poem and explanation of its origins, before juxtaposing Nour's rendition with documentary images of atrocities during the Zia ul-Haq dictatorship (warning: some graphic scenes) and more recent footage from Lahore.
For a translation, see this CM post and comments. As a result, I can date precisely my initial encounter with this piece: to November 4, 2004, and the memory of dissolving into bitter tears (not for the first time, that day) upon reading it. Later that evening, I logged onto idealist.org's job search for the first time and started the long process that has borne me to Brooklyn and my current métier--having decided that it was finally time to go home and fight.
It goes without saying that recent events in Pakistan have been on my mind lately, as have those dear to me who hail from that piece of the world (S. writes to me, in response to the first iteration of this post, with such a rich cascade of images and memories: I wish I could share, but dear readers, I am sure you will find them in the pages of a book some day.) In the meantime I suggest CM and 3QuarksDaily for thoughtful blog coverage, and Ahmed Rashid on NPR (via Baraka). Mohsin Hamid has written some excellent short pieces lately as well, and I'll go look for links later.
There's also a lovely version of Aaj bazaar mein on the soundtrack of Ismail Merchant's film Muhafiz (In Custody)--from the last scene, of the poet Nur's funeral procession. I have a recording, but blogger does not seem to allow one to post mp3 files. If anyone knows a hack, please share.
[I started writing this post, strangely enough, before discovering that yesterday was in fact the vertiginous chapati's third birthday! Fitting timing. This blog would probably not exist without CM: it and Kitabkhana--and of course the more proximate influence of my dear Buchu and Contrapuntal--are what coaxed me onto the internets in the first place. Much love to all.]
posted by kitabet at 8:51 PM
1 Comments:
Indeed that is one of the best of Faiz's nazms, isn't it? For an alternative translation, see http://urdustuff.blogspot.com
Do you still have that recording of it from 'In Custody' sung by Hariharan? It would be great if you could upload it. While you can't do it directly on Blogger, you can upload it to a site like www.twango.com (you need to open a free account, and upload to your 'public' channel), which would allow you to 'embed' the audio within your blogger post.
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