A young artist once expressed that ‘books make us hostages’. Likewise certain songs also occupy our mind, memory, and soul. Often you hear an am
A young artist once expressed that ‘books make us hostages’. Likewise certain songs also occupy our mind, memory, and soul. Often you hear an amazing piece of music in the morning, and the tune/voice keeps reverberating in your head, in spite of your immediate task, important engagement, busy environment. Some vocal or instrumental pieces – regardless of their genres, are so powerful, that for a moment they transcend the listeners away/above from their immediate surroundings.
In addition to musical compositions, some voices appear perfect, almost divine, and hold such a power that these have captivated huge populations across political, ethnic, regional, religious, social divides – of generations too. Hence the death of Lata Mangeshkar was mourned to the same level of grief and loss, both in India and Pakistan; two countries with a perpetual and painful history of tense political ties. Yet it was the voice of Mangeshkar which bound people on both sides of the border; otherwise a difficult, almost impossible feat.
Another such voice is of Mohammed Rafi, who is still alive even after the famous Indian playback singer died in 1980. His film songs, and other compositions are documented through mechanical recordings, but these are also preserved in human beings, who can replicate his songs with such accomplishment as if one is listening to the original piece.
Probably the love, admiration, and adoration the performing artists (actors, singers) receive in the subcontinent is unmatchable to the practitioners of other forms of art. One witnesses these celebrities’ pictures in public places, their attires imitated, their styles copied, their dialogues and lines memorized and repeated ad infinitum. These artists are invited to weddings, family functions, state dinners, and are still present through their photographs or recordings even if physically away (or departed).
These individuals play a great part in making us realize the political, ethnic, linguistic constructs that we take so seriously that often the majority of battles in the world are fought on the basis of these edifices – they are so fragile that they could crumple with the voice of one mortal. Imagine the war of 1971 between India and Pakistan, which caused huge number of deaths, destruction and displacement, yet one is sure that the soldiers of two opposing armies – regardless of their faith, birth places, or dialects may have enjoyed the music of Ustad Barde Ghulam Ali Khan, K. L. Saigol, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Noor Jehan, Mehdi Hassan, and Mohammed Rafi in their leisure hours, with family and friends.
In the families of South Asia, one usually comes across the history of certain characters who had devoted their lives, energy and resources to preserve the memory of their favourite stars. Nihaal Faizal, a contemporary artist (film maker, and publisher) based in Bangalore, produced a movie about a song sung by Mohammed Rafi, and an archive of his music. His project was created during the ‘Homebound Residency Program’, of 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi’. Nihaal Faizal’s single channel video titled Mohammed Rafi Fan Blog (2017), is being shown at the 421 Arts Campus (from 11th February 2014 to 28th April 2024) as part at the exhibition ‘Network Cultures’, which also includes works by Yara Asmar, Mona Ayyash, BaRiya, Raghvi Bhatia, Kimia Collective (Chahine Fellahi and Kaïs Aïouch), Batool Desouky and Zain Mahjoub, Engy Mohsen, Roger Mokbel, Fatma Belkıs and Onur Gökmen, Mahshid Rafiei, Ayesha Singh, and Salem Al Suwaidi: “Projects by 13 participating artists and creative practitioners whose practices have evolved and extended beyond the parameters of the program”.
The exhibition, besides marking the inauguration of the 421 Arts Campus’s on-site residency program, represents works produced between Spring 2020 to Fall 2023. “The 2021/2022 cohort of the residency was supported by curator Reem Shadid” and the “2022/2023 cohort was supported by curator Sara Bin Safwan”.
Nihaal Faizal’s work which also comprises a (12×16 cm) Book, ‘Hamara Forums > Legends > Mohd Rafi > Members’ (2024), completes his research on Mohammed Rafi. The entire project – the video and the book, is rooted in the artist’s personal history. Faizal’s family originates from Gujrat, and speaks Kutchi and Urdu; later migrating to South India. His grandmother was fond of reading Urdu magazines, thus hearing Urdu, in conversation, or poetry and songs was not unusual for a family who eventually got settled in Kerala. The great singer Rafi sang a matrimonial song in 1958 at the wedding of Faizal’s grandparents in Kochi. Both the grandparents were fond of Hindi cinema, hence their preference for Rafi, but that particular song was not found anywhere after.
The story of the song continues, as their son Mohammed Pervaiz, born after two years of marriage, turned out to be a Rafi enthusiast. Listening, recording, collecting, and archiving Rafi’s singing. Resulting into Rafi Fan Blog.com created by Uncle Pervaiz, with songs, pictures, newspaper items, and all other material connected to the maestro. Other fans of Rafi sb, from all over India, Pakistan and rest of the world followed the blog, which eventually became an immense source of information on the great Bollywood singer. However, the end of the story is not dissimilar to Bollywood narrative line, because in 2014, the uncle Pervaiz deleted the blog, and with it the entire valuable data, for the sole reason that his involvement in the blog, stopped him from attending his personal life. Time for himself, his family, his kids etc.
Intriguingly the twist in the story waited for another 3 years, when the nephew Nihaal Faizal decided to retrieve the lost archive in the form of a movie, subsequently his project for the Homebound Residency Program. “Originally conceived as an onsite initiative, the Homebound Residency Program emerged as a response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The program, which was created to support the work of artists and creative practitioners across the MENASA (Middle-East-North-Africa-South-Asia) region, was reconfigured to address the needs of artists during the global crisis. Facing isolation from their communities, the 6-month-long online program provided a platform for artists to explore digital modes of connection and engagement”.
Taking initiative from this opportunity, Faizal reconnected the fans of Mohammed Rafi, a task – and medium, more manageable in the days of isolation during the pandemic. Followed by the 800 pages long book, and restoring the lost material with 768 member. Each page of the book contains details of the members along with his/her picture and comments.
The work is a celebration of the memory, a homage to the great singer and a testimony of how the language – of music, poetry, art – is spoken, understood and shared beyond borders, barriers and boundaries. Affirming the way an artist becomes a bridge between the past and present, as well as between regions.
Nihaal Faizal’s movie, in a sense is the largest, the most ambitious, and the more reliable connection between the Gulf States and South Asia, and between different cities of the globe. More complex than an airline’s routes one reads on board during a domestic/international flight; because with all the development in technology, still the sound travels faster than an aeroplane.
Quddus Mirza
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