A bit of a digression from the lovely, lovely mood on this thread. These songs that celebrate simple values and ideals, and India itself, especially democracy and the vote, always make me so happy. They're always set in villages, and are quite similar to each other. I go to these invariably every time something disheartening takes place politically, and in their simplicity they are very powerful and uplifting. Make me feel hopeful again. They're patriotic in a very rare way - quiet and thoughtful and actually constructive.
Sharing a playlist here. If anyone knows any more like this please let me know :)
“So what good is farming? American seeds, American fertilizers. Pay for it, then pray for rain. They are shoving farming up our arse”, says a friend to Budhia clearly frustrated with the plight of farmers like him. Peepli live is a mirror. It tells you the way things are. As the curtain unveils, we see Nattha trying to run away. It turns out that it was a dream. Nattha and Budhia, are on their way back from a Bank. Budhia can’t pay his loan back and the bank is resolute to recover their money. As Budhia doesn’t sell diamonds, we know the bank will have their way. They are going to sell his land, the land that his forefathers had passed on to him, the land that was his only source of livelihood. The song that runs in the background is “" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition: all 0.15s linear 0s; color: rgb(200, 13, 63); text-decoration: underline;">Des Mera Rangrez ye babu”. We are not told if it was a dry season because it doesn’t matter. If it had rained and Nattha had a bumper crop, the prices would have plummeted and so would have Nattha’s income. In India, you don’t sow what you reap. O, my dear India, you indeed are an artist!
“Des mera rang rez yeh babu
Ghaat ghaat yahan ghat ta jadoo
Gai bahad hai kankar shankar
Baat hai chhoti bada patangad
Arrey India sir yeh cheez durandar
Rang rangeela parja tantar”
Excerpts from Love & Revolution, a biography by Faiz Ahmed Faiz by his grandson.
In order to understand the impact of a great poet on his era, it is necessary to also understand the age in which the poet lives. According to Faiz’s friend and literary scholar Ludmila Vasilieva:
A truly great poet is the product of his circumstances, the need of the times. What makes a great poet is not exactly something which can be quantified or categorized. It is like Iqbal says,
‘Bari mushkil se hota hai chaman mein deedawer paida’ [With great difficulty is a discerning eye born6].
A great poet, a true seer, is a representative of his times. He is born when the time is exactly ripe for him to come forward and stand in for his era through his poetry. Faiz was a poet of few words. He has not written a lot but just the same, there is not a single chapter in the history of the subcontinent that has not been reflected in Faiz’s poetry. Before the turmoil surrounding 1947, his poetry spoke of love, of romance.
Then came his famous
‘Mujh se pehli se muhabbat merey mehboob na maang’ [Do not ask of me, my darling, that love of old].
After 1947, he wrote of his country, of the world and everything he wrote clicked instantly with the masses. He was sparing in his words, but how well he spoke them! The “Inqilaab” chanting, thundering firebrands departed with Josh (Malihabadi). Faiz’s call for the truth is much more dulcet and soothing and has transcended far greater boundaries…The appeal of Faiz’s words was such that even his staunch enemies used to recite his verses and sway to the rhythm of his words in the privacy of their own houses. I believe that is the truest test of a great poet.
All the truly great poets rise from the troubles that embroil their people and their times. Take the Soviet Union. The atrocities of the Tsarist regime produced the likes of Pushkin and Lermontov. In Pakistan, you had Faiz. Going back further in history, even Ghalib was the product of his circumstances, since that was a time when the old world order was crumbling in on itself to usher in a new world.
@nerdfighter have you heard the original version by Junaid Jamshed and Mehndi ki Raat and Sanwali Saloni Mehbooba by him
Bhai, listened to it after reading this. Thanks :)
It's like a lullaby for us, restless & anxious adults. I just love it.
--
Excerpts from an Article:
When Poland achieved independence, in 1918, the site (Chopin's heart; When Chopin died in France at the early age of thirty-nine his famous deathbed wish was that his heart should be cut out from his body and sent to Poland) became an open shrine. “All our past sings in him, all our slavery cries in him, the beating heart of the nation, the great king of sorrows,” the cleric Antoni Szlagowski intoned, in 1926. While Chopin believed strongly in the idea of a Polish nation, such sentiments might have made him uncomfortable; in one of his letters, he dismissed as “nonsense” the idea that Poles would one day be as proud of him as Germans are of Mozart.
During the German occupation of Poland, the heart was nearly lost. Conscious of Chopin’s symbolic power, the Nazis prevented performances of his music and destroyed a statue that had been erected in his honor in 1926. (Hans Frank, the Governor General of Poland, later allowed Chopin to be played as long as his name was given as “Schopping.”)
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/chopins-heart
" target="_blank" style="user-select: auto;">
ngl found it better than CS version
I love both songs equally. Can't choose one over other. Bachho jaise hai mere. :)
And then i listen to this
This is one of the rarest songs. It is very much a song sung in the praise of the beloved, very "afreen"-esque & rarely such songs make you want to dance. But this does. And while it does that, it also manages to infuse in the song one of the most beautiful poetry you'll ever come across in Bollywood. I guess, that is what you get when you have Rahman and Gulzar working together. There is also this Sufi tinge to the lyrics and maybe that is why song is the way it is. In Sufism, if I am not totally wrong, Sama is the practise where you dance as you sing the praise of the Lord. And that's what the song is attempting to do.
Anyway, thanks for attending my TED talk. :D
Will leave you with some of my favourite lines from the song.
Voh yaar hai jo khushboo ki tarah
Voh jiski zubaan urdu ki tarah
Meri shaam raat, meri kaayanat
Voh yaar mera sainya sainya
Chal chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya
---
There is this cover of the song I often listen to.
@nerdfighter this is one of the most underrated master piece and add RANGREZ MERE from the same movie.
True!
