A background in Hindustani classical and Western music teams up with the rich tradition of Sufiana Kalam to bring forth a unique sound – a contemporary take on the mystical notes of Sufi. The Shah Hussain Project, which draws inspiration from 16th century Sufi poet Shah Hussain, is a collaboration between singers Vasundhara Das and Mir Mukhtiyar Ali (from the Mirasi community in Rajasthan).
Poems and more
“Shah Hussain wrote in Punjabi, Saraiki and Sindhi. His poetry is rich with beautiful poetic metaphors and is written to rhythmic meter, therefore lending itself to music quite naturally. He was a very important social commentator of his time. His poetry, although written 500 years ago, still talks about us, in our time, in the 21st century,” says Das, adding, “All this made it relevant and attracted me to work on his poetry. And Mukhtiyar also felt that a new musical interpretation would bring the poetry to a whole new generation of listeners.’’ Old does seem to be gold for the singer, for whom recollections of her “grandmothers, aunts and grand aunts and grand uncles singing at just about every family occasion,” are her earliest memory of music. “And of course, LPs of Hindustani music that my dad used to play every day,” we’re told.
Same direction
The project came about after a discussion between Das and Ali about “life, music and Sufi poetry”. Elaborating further on the collaboration, she tells us that the two constantly “surprised each other, by the way (their) varied influences were steering the music.” She cites John Lennon, Whitney Houston, Estrelle Morente and Richard Bona as few of her influences. It’s not just restricted to the talent of this duo, though – Roberto Narain, Das’ partner at The Active Studio (her recording studio) is the percussionist, while Rajan Tisge, Hemanth Diwakaran, Anish Nadh and Shalini Mohan take over the keyboard and guitars, respectively.
“The team that came into place was also very organic to the process and the music was flowing down a course of its own,” she tells us, adding that the response has been ‘‘overwhelming’’.