A tryst with poetry and music

Mumbai: The words of Kabir may be found in Indian tradition in many different ways, like the folk music of Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, or the Marwari folk songs of the Mirasi and Meghual communities or the Sufi qawwali form in Pakistan.

Saint Kabir’s words inspired musicians, which led to the Kabir project and brought together a series of experiences exploring the 15th century north Indian mystic poet. Similarly, the Shah Hussain project is the musical interpretation of the 15th century poet Shah Hussain, whose poems are famously known in Pakistan as ‘Kafis’.

These poems, which are intellectual in content, are the subject of much debate at poetry readings. Musicians are now re-introducing the famous words of poets, like Kabir and Shah Hussain, through their music.

Popular singer Vasundhara Das, who has lent her voice to chartbusters in multiple languages, is also well known for her independent projects and collaborations with other artists. She wanted to join in when she heard Muktiyar Ali in the Kabir Project in 2012.

“I instantly knew that collaborating with Muktiyar would work, and we chose Shah Hussain’s poetry because it was something that we both liked. We found that the context of the poems still holds relevance today. Shah Hussain is not very well known in India, and through this project, we hoped to give him a presence here. The most important reason, however, is the way he has written his songs. Each carries a rhythm in itself that has made it a pleasure for us to work with,” she says.

Rendering a poem into a song, especially when the poet has something important to say, was not easy. “When we began our jamming sessions, we knew that we would have to do justice to the poet and his work. We had intense discussions about what the poem meant and how it should be interpreted,” says Vasundhara.

“Our band members would walk in and out of discussions. The interpretation is not by a literature specialist, but by us. Music,” she explains, “is not like usual work, where one clocks in and out at a particular time. As a team, we worked together for a long time on this project. We cocooned ourselves and focused on the music, everyone clear about what part each was playing.”

The musicians who have collaborated on the project are Vasundhara Das, Sufi singer Mir Muktiyar Ali (who also worked on the Kabir Project), Shalini Mohan, Roberto Narain, Rajan Tisge, Vishal J. Singh and Hemanth Diwakaran.