‘A fitting tribute to one of the greatest shayars’

Songdew, a network of Indian indie artists, has paid tribute to one of the greatest poets of this generation — Dr Rahat Indori.
Judaai, one of the artworks created on Dr Rahat Indori’s writings 
Judaai, one of the artworks created on Dr Rahat Indori’s writings 

Songdew, a network of Indian indie artists, has paid tribute to one of the greatest poets of this generation — Dr Rahat Indori. Called, Dr Rahat Indori, Ek Alag Pehchaan, it features nine musicians and their compositions of nine celebrated ghazals/poems written by Dr Rahat Indori. Parallely, nine Indian artists created paintings inspired by these ghazals.

The musician line-up consists of Osho Jain, Fiddlecraft, Bawari Basanti, Mansimran-Harshit, The Tapi Project, Harpreet Singh, Rupam Bhuyan, Prateek Gandhi & Aashran Mahajan. The artists include Gogi Saroj Pal, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Asit Patnaik, Jagannath Paul, Laxman Aelay, Partha Bhattacharjee, Soni Khanna, and Sidharth & Mukesh Sah.

Sunil Khanna, Founder of songdew.com and Songdew TV, gives a low down on the initiative, while regarding Dr Indori “for his fearlessness with words and the many treasures that he left behind.”

Why did you launch this initiative?
Dr Rahat Indori is a legend. Though he wrote many Bollywood hit songs, he left that industry at the peak of his career as he wanted to write what he felt like expressing, and not what others wanted him to write. He has left a treasure of ghazals and nazms. We at Songdew thought that we owe it to him to compose his writings and take it across the world. We are overwhelmed by the response. A fitting tribute indeed to one of the greatest shayars of all time!

How did you select the ghazals and the musicians for this initiative?
Indie music industry has a large number of very talented musicians. So, we looked for a unique sound and approach to composing. As the lyrics are very meaningful, it was important to collaborate with musicians who have been doing the work where the music creates an ambience which supports the emotions expressed by lyrics. I must say that all the musicians did an outstanding job. You will be amazed to hear the different flavours of music in these tracks.

How did you select the ghazals?
It was one of the most difficult parts as there are hundreds of ghazals written by Dr Rahat Indori, and it is impossible to say one is better than the other. However, we tried to bring out the different facets of relationships and styles of writing of Dr Rahat Indori. For example, there is the traditional style of ghazal like Mere Apne and then there is also Jogi which is written in a very different manner.

Are you also planning any tribute in future for other recognised names such as Dr Indori?
Well, we have plans to work on different projects to not only showcase the best of indie music but also facilitate collaborations with different forms of arts.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com