SIMPLY RAHAT…….
6 April 2017 Blog
Birds, rivers, breeze . . . across frontiers
Neelima Islam
Music and travelling are my passions. Music rejuvenates my spirit to sail smooth against all odds in life and travelling adds to the treasure of experience that strengthens my being. I love going around places, meeting people, making new friends, learning about different cultures and faith and enjoy the wonders that the Creator has so generously blessed this earth with. One has to realise that such pleasures are ‘sans’ borders and that is when the universal facet comes in.
The latest ‘priceless’ gem that I have collected for my treasure trove was from my trip to London last month. I was fortunate to conclude my work-related tour through the amazing musical performance by Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre.
The organisers, Saregama, very rightly named the concert “Simply Rahat” because this humble, talented and brilliant performer mesmerised the audience with his magical voice and left no space to even think for a moment how time just flew past and the musical journey ended with a yearning for more ‘Ye dil mange more!’
Rahat was born in 1974 in Faisalabad of Punjab in Pakistan into the renowned Fateh Ali Khan family of traditional musicians that has been carrying the legacy of Qawwalis for nearly 600 years. The son of Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat was trained by his uncle [late] Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the art of classical music and Qawwali a devotional music of the Sufis (mystical tradition with Islam). And, hence, music lovers were privileged to see Rahat perform from the age of three years. Who knew then that this prodigy would lead the Fateh Ali Khan group after the passing away of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan?
Rahat’s musical foundation was laid with traditional Qawwali but his popularity grew stronger in South Asia with a string of hit geets and ghazals from Bollywood movies starting from ‘Jiya dharak dhara’ from the movie Kalyug to the latest hit ‘Main rahoon na rahoon’ from My Name is Khan. And, of course, many more in the pipeline.
Like his uncle Nusrat, Rahat has also expanded the horizon of his appeal to an international audience through collaborating with an eclectic range of talents from the musical world like Eddie Vedder of the American rock band Pearl Jam and also contributing to the soundtrack of some major Hollywood productions Dead Man Walking and Four Feathers in collaboration with the American composer of orchestral and film music James Horner. Also, in 2002, Rahat teamed up with The Derek Truck Bands on the song “Maki Madni” for Truck’s album Joyful Noise. More recently, Rahat’s vocals were featured on the soundtrack of Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto.
Coming back to my breathtaking experience……. I still enjoy revisiting those moments moments of magic, Rahat in his enchanting role. It was a cold, rainy evening of 20 March in London and my friend Roshni came to pick me up from the hotel at
6 pm a bit early, because the last sentence of the ticket highlighted ‘entry for late comers cannot be guaranteed’. No way, we just could not afford taking the risk!! Roshni was the ‘golden heart’ that went out of the way to gift me this unforgettable experience, giving due regards to my craze for Rahat’s musical fervour. While Roshni was enjoying my excitement, I was feeling deep down my heart a sense of gratitude for being blessed with such unique love of a dear friend.
We reached the Royal Festival Hall at 6:40 pm and the show was to begin at 7:30 pm. Gosh, how will the 50 minutes pass? I was thrilled to bits unable to fathom the reality of seeing my favourite singer performing live. I love all of Rahat’s recitals whether Qawwali or Bollywood hits but the one – ‘O re piya’ from the movie A Ja Nachle is just out of the world for me. I could listen to this number for days and nights and still not get tired. I kept on asking Roshni, ‘Do you think he would sing this’? I really don’t know how Roshni was so sure that Rahat would listen to my heart.
Just as the clock struck 7:20 pm, the anchor appeared on the stage and requested all to take their seats. Then one by one members of Rahat’s group were invited on stage and introduced to the audience. At 7:25 pm came the fascinating moment and entered the maestro Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. I couldn’t believe my eyes……there he stood, my idol of music with his humility and matchless posture. The audience’s standing ovation and cheerful applaud made it obvious how popular he was. The show kicked off at 7:30 pm with a Qawwali “Ya Ali mawla..” and then one after the other Rahat swayed our hearts with 17 unforgettables – mix of Qawwalis: “A ja teno ankhiya umeed diya”, “Ranjha aya jogi re”, “Tere bajoun mein, tere mun mein”, “Tumhe dil lagi bhool jani paregi” and “Ye jo halka halka sa suroor hai” and Bollywood hits like “ Lagi tum se man ki lagan”, “Jiya dharak dharak”, “Naino ki mat suniyo re”, “Mein jahan rahoon”, “Teri oar, teri oar” and of course, “O re piya”. I felt like my heart would stop beating…..he was brilliant!!
After he sang “Dum mast qalander”, the anchor came in to announce the closing but he audience chanted “more, more” and the very modest Rahat obliged us with “Afreen Afreen” originally sung by his uncle Nusrat. With this number, Rahat ended the 120-minute show that the spell bound audience would love to re collect again and again. This was the second of his series of show in the UK the first was in Manchester on 19 March and the others were scheduled for 21, 22 and 23 March in Birmingham, Leicester and Scotland. Rahat had toured the UK several times in the past the first time was in July 1985 at the age of eleven, with his uncle Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at a concert in Birmingham.
Words would never suffice to express how moved I was not only by Rahat’s sparkling performance but by the loyalty of this great artist towards the audience, the sincerity with which he had rendered each number giving variation to the delivery of words and the fine fibres of tone with equal skill at high and low scales. Other members of Rahat’s group were excellent particularly Amir Ali on tabla and Rashed Ali Khan on saxophone. My friend Roshni and I were not the only ones most of the audience felt that every penny was worth spending
Saregama more popularly known as HMV, (His Master’s Voice) in association with Habib Bank UK deserves huge plaudits for organising such an outstanding concert with perfection in every aspect – from administrative to technical details. I just cannot let it go unsaid that I was quite impressed by the audience they knew when to applaud, when to inspire, when to sing along with the performer. As Rahat said in his thanks note at the end, “I am honoured to be able to perform for such a lovely audience of London. I have no words to express my gratitude to the audience specifically for singing along with me”.
I saw the concert as a unique example of communal/regional harmony. Indian audience lauding a Pakistani singer, Pakistanis, Indians and British music lovers dancing and singing with joy proving again that music has no boundary. In fact it is only human beings that make the boundaries and yet crave for global peace and harmony. How true was the famous Indian lyricist Javed Akhter when he wrote for the movie ‘Refugee’ “Panchi, nadiya, pawan ke jhonke….koi sarhad na inhe roakey…sarhad insano ke liye hai, bolo main ne aur tum ne kiya paya insaan hoake…?” (no boundaries can block/obstruct the birds, river and airstream. Boundaries are for human beings; tell me, what did we get as human beings?).
Neelima Islam travels, sings and writes.
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