By Alokparna Das, "Different pitch" - Express India - IndiaSunday, December 14, 2008
Women qawwals have fought a long battle for recognition
At a recent India-Pakistan cultural programme, a traditional qawwali session saw the Pakistani all-male qawwali troupe perform face-to-face with the all-women qawwali troupe from Delhi, led by noted qawwal Chanchal Bharti.
As she concluded her concert to a rousing applause, a beaming Bharti was congratulated by her accompanying artistes as well as her ‘rival’ group. For Bharti, however, awards and accolades are but a reminder of what a long journey it has been.
“Preserving an age-old tradition like qawwali requires a lot of hard work and dedication and things become more difficult if you are a woman in a so-called man’s profession,” she says.
Traditionally, qawwali is deemed fit for only the male voice. Thus, finding acceptability has always been a daunting task for the women vocalists who choose to perform this genre. One of the first women qawwals, Prabha Bharti, had once told this correspondent that organisers were initially apprehensive and many saw the female qawwal as nothing more than a prop for the main programme.
Bharti, who has been performing for the last 22 years, shares late Prabha Bharti’s sentiments. “When I fought a conservative family to take up qawwali-singing as a profession, it was a battle half-won. After that initial hurdle there were many objections raised by even fellow male qawwals, some of whom doubted whether a female voice could have the energy and strength required for rendering a qawwali composition,” she says, adding that though she was already a trained classical vocalist, it was years before she could establish herself as a qawwal.
Now, of course, Bharti is a name and has travelled around the world performing at various programmes and festivals. “Gender bias is not limited to India,” she says recounting how an ICCR tour to Malaysia had to be cancelled as the hosts did not want female artistes to perform for them.
Performing at a programme last year, Naaz Warsi, another of Delhi’s noted women qawwals, had complained over how the audience would rather listen to the Bollywood version of qawwali and not the traditional one. “We cannot play to the gallery and change our music to suit popular taste,” she had said.
Hindi film music—particularly that of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s—has been instrumental in popularising qawwali. But in its traditional format, it is the music of the Sufis and meant to be sung at dargahs, beginning with the hamd (praising Allah) and naat (in praise of the Prophet). A qawwal is someone trained not only in the fine nuances of classical music but also well-versed in Persian, Urdu and Hindi, having mastered the literary works in these languages. Most importantly, the qawwal needs to be spiritually inclined.
Incidentally, qawwali was born in Delhi, conceived by medieval Sufi poet-musician Amir Khusrau, who improvised the existing classical music genres to create new styles such as khayal, tarana and qawwali. The qawwalis sung by the Sufis celebrated love and depended on the innovations and improvisations brought forth by those who rendered it.
As Rashmi Agarwal, who sings qawwali bandish or compositions such as aaj rang hai and chhaap tilak sab chheeni re in thumri style, says, “No one can stop me from singing qawwali compositions in the solo Sufiana style. After all, qawwali like other genres of Indian classical music is open to improvisation within a traditional format.”
She agrees that the traditional qawwali rendition, where the energy of a group of performers rubs on to one another, is unmatched for its sheer vigour and force, “a solo performance, on the other hand, brings forth the sublime serenity that the lyrics talk of,” she says, adding that there’s still a little hesitation in accepting women as qawwali singers but not as singers of the Sufiana style.
However, Bharti says that though only a few women vocalists took up qawwali, their perseverance is gradually bearing fruit and the next generation of female qawwals may not face the hurdles that Bharti and her generation of performers have faced.
Till the next generation of female qawwals is ready to enthrall the audience, artistes like Prabha Bharti, Chanchal Bharti will continue to inspire and play the role of torchbearers who fought gender bias in the art world even while continuing their spiritual quest through qawwali.
[Picture: Chanchal Barti. Photo from http://chanchalbharti.com/].
At a recent India-Pakistan cultural programme, a traditional qawwali session saw the Pakistani all-male qawwali troupe perform face-to-face with the all-women qawwali troupe from Delhi, led by noted qawwal Chanchal Bharti.
As she concluded her concert to a rousing applause, a beaming Bharti was congratulated by her accompanying artistes as well as her ‘rival’ group. For Bharti, however, awards and accolades are but a reminder of what a long journey it has been.
“Preserving an age-old tradition like qawwali requires a lot of hard work and dedication and things become more difficult if you are a woman in a so-called man’s profession,” she says.
Traditionally, qawwali is deemed fit for only the male voice. Thus, finding acceptability has always been a daunting task for the women vocalists who choose to perform this genre. One of the first women qawwals, Prabha Bharti, had once told this correspondent that organisers were initially apprehensive and many saw the female qawwal as nothing more than a prop for the main programme.
Bharti, who has been performing for the last 22 years, shares late Prabha Bharti’s sentiments. “When I fought a conservative family to take up qawwali-singing as a profession, it was a battle half-won. After that initial hurdle there were many objections raised by even fellow male qawwals, some of whom doubted whether a female voice could have the energy and strength required for rendering a qawwali composition,” she says, adding that though she was already a trained classical vocalist, it was years before she could establish herself as a qawwal.
Now, of course, Bharti is a name and has travelled around the world performing at various programmes and festivals. “Gender bias is not limited to India,” she says recounting how an ICCR tour to Malaysia had to be cancelled as the hosts did not want female artistes to perform for them.
Performing at a programme last year, Naaz Warsi, another of Delhi’s noted women qawwals, had complained over how the audience would rather listen to the Bollywood version of qawwali and not the traditional one. “We cannot play to the gallery and change our music to suit popular taste,” she had said.
Hindi film music—particularly that of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s—has been instrumental in popularising qawwali. But in its traditional format, it is the music of the Sufis and meant to be sung at dargahs, beginning with the hamd (praising Allah) and naat (in praise of the Prophet). A qawwal is someone trained not only in the fine nuances of classical music but also well-versed in Persian, Urdu and Hindi, having mastered the literary works in these languages. Most importantly, the qawwal needs to be spiritually inclined.
Incidentally, qawwali was born in Delhi, conceived by medieval Sufi poet-musician Amir Khusrau, who improvised the existing classical music genres to create new styles such as khayal, tarana and qawwali. The qawwalis sung by the Sufis celebrated love and depended on the innovations and improvisations brought forth by those who rendered it.
As Rashmi Agarwal, who sings qawwali bandish or compositions such as aaj rang hai and chhaap tilak sab chheeni re in thumri style, says, “No one can stop me from singing qawwali compositions in the solo Sufiana style. After all, qawwali like other genres of Indian classical music is open to improvisation within a traditional format.”
She agrees that the traditional qawwali rendition, where the energy of a group of performers rubs on to one another, is unmatched for its sheer vigour and force, “a solo performance, on the other hand, brings forth the sublime serenity that the lyrics talk of,” she says, adding that there’s still a little hesitation in accepting women as qawwali singers but not as singers of the Sufiana style.
However, Bharti says that though only a few women vocalists took up qawwali, their perseverance is gradually bearing fruit and the next generation of female qawwals may not face the hurdles that Bharti and her generation of performers have faced.
Till the next generation of female qawwals is ready to enthrall the audience, artistes like Prabha Bharti, Chanchal Bharti will continue to inspire and play the role of torchbearers who fought gender bias in the art world even while continuing their spiritual quest through qawwali.
[Picture: Chanchal Barti. Photo from http://chanchalbharti.com/].
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