BANGALORE: At a time when religious fundamentalists are gaining ground in their effort to split the nation into a maddening number of factions, Ustad Ghulam Fariduddin Ayaz Al- Hussaini — renowned Pakistani Qawwal — surely managed to send across a highly secular statement, at least to some of the ones who had gathered to witness the last performance of the three-day Kabir fest held at Sophia High School on Sunday.
The performance which began with a song praising Allah and later moved on to Krishna and Ram, was surely a secular statement through folk music. When he said `Tu ek bhi hai, do bhi hai…tu ram hai, tu hi rahim hai,’ (You are one yet you are two... you are Ram...and you are Rahim too), he sure must have disappointed a few fundamentalists.
Midway during the performance, he sang the popular Rajasthani folk song ‘Padharo Maro Des…’ To avoid confusion, he interjected, saying that when they sang this song in Pakistan people thought they were from Delhi, but they actually sing for the undivided country. “Come home to where your heart lies,’’ he sang.
Dhrupad, khayal, tarana and thumri which Ayazji blended with Qawwali, delved into the depths of singular nature of things including ‘god’, ‘colour’ and ‘you’ and ‘me’. He questioned the traditional understanding of things and the philosophy of duality. “The fervour of these young men and women, today, shows that, come what may, we will do things the way we want to,” he said.
He ended the performance with popular songs like, Mera Piya Ghar Aaya, `Duma Dum Mast Kalandar’ and the already ecstatic crowd danced with the kind of fervour that can only be brought on by music. Kabir’s thoughts, united with Ayazji’s songs turned out to be a celebration of freedom.
Fareed Ayaz Qawwal belongs to the best-known gharana of Qawwali, Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana of Delhi. Fareed Ayaz started his training in classical music at a tender age under the rigorous and critical tutelage of his late father, Ustad Munshi Raziuddin Ahmed Khan, who himself was an outstanding Qawwal and classical musician and a recipient of the Pride of Performance medal.
Fareed Ayaz is well-versed and can perform in several languages: Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Hindi, Poorbi, Bengali, Marathi, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish in addition to Japanese.