• Home
  • Contact Me
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Rana Safvi
  • Home
  • About
  • Book & Publication
  • Culture & Heritage
    • Our Cultural Heritage
    • Sufi saints
  • Food
  • Hazrat-E-Dilli
  • Rana’s Space
    • Walks & Talks
    • Rana’s Space
    • Sher o Sukhan
  • Travel
    Samode Palace near Jaipur

    Samode Palace near Jaipur

    Char Bangla Temple, Azimganj, West Bengal

    Char Bangla Temple, Azimganj, West Bengal

    Was BNR House in Garden Reach Kolkata Wajid Ali Shah’s Sultan Mahal?

    Was BNR House in Garden Reach Kolkata Wajid Ali Shah’s Sultan Mahal?

    Sarai Nur Mahal in Punjab

    Sarai Nur Mahal in Punjab

    The Moorish Mosque in Kapurthala, Punjab

    The Moorish Mosque in Kapurthala, Punjab

    Tomb of Haji Jamal in Nakodar, Punjab

    Tomb of Haji Jamal in Nakodar, Punjab

    The Tomb of Ustad Muhammad Mumin Hussain in Nakodar, Punjab

    The Tomb of Ustad Muhammad Mumin Hussain in Nakodar, Punjab

    The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

    The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

    The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

    The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

    The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

    The Hathikh ana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

    The Gajantak incarnation of Lord Shiva on the Outer Walls of Kalinjar Fort

    Amravati Ashram in Chitrakoot

    Mrigdhara in Kalinjar Fort, Bundelkhand

    Mrigdhara in Kalinjar Fort, Bundelkhand

    Kal Bhairava in Sati Ansuyya ghat in Chitrakoot

    Kal Bhairava in Sati Ansuyya ghat in Chitrakoot

    Kal Bhairava in Kalinjar Fort

    Kal Bhairava in Kalinjar Fort

    Chaturbhuj Temple, Orchha

    Chaturbhuj Temple, Orchha

    Dandeshwar group of Temples near Almora

    Dandeshwar group of Temples near Almora

    Moti Bagh Mosque, Agra

    Moti Bagh Mosque, Agra

    The art of khatamband or decorative ceilings of Kashmir

    The art of khatamband or decorative ceilings of Kashmir

    Rozabal in Srinagar, Kashmir

    Rozabal in Srinagar, Kashmir

    Trending Tags

    • Contact Me
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • About
    • Book & Publication
    • Culture & Heritage
      • Our Cultural Heritage
      • Sufi saints
    • Food
    • Hazrat-E-Dilli
    • Rana’s Space
      • Walks & Talks
      • Rana’s Space
      • Sher o Sukhan
    • Travel
      Samode Palace near Jaipur

      Samode Palace near Jaipur

      Char Bangla Temple, Azimganj, West Bengal

      Char Bangla Temple, Azimganj, West Bengal

      Was BNR House in Garden Reach Kolkata Wajid Ali Shah’s Sultan Mahal?

      Was BNR House in Garden Reach Kolkata Wajid Ali Shah’s Sultan Mahal?

      Sarai Nur Mahal in Punjab

      Sarai Nur Mahal in Punjab

      The Moorish Mosque in Kapurthala, Punjab

      The Moorish Mosque in Kapurthala, Punjab

      Tomb of Haji Jamal in Nakodar, Punjab

      Tomb of Haji Jamal in Nakodar, Punjab

      The Tomb of Ustad Muhammad Mumin Hussain in Nakodar, Punjab

      The Tomb of Ustad Muhammad Mumin Hussain in Nakodar, Punjab

      The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

      The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

      The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

      The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

      The Hathikhana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

      The Hathikh ana or Khan e Dauran’s estate in Agra

      The Gajantak incarnation of Lord Shiva on the Outer Walls of Kalinjar Fort

      Amravati Ashram in Chitrakoot

      Mrigdhara in Kalinjar Fort, Bundelkhand

      Mrigdhara in Kalinjar Fort, Bundelkhand

      Kal Bhairava in Sati Ansuyya ghat in Chitrakoot

      Kal Bhairava in Sati Ansuyya ghat in Chitrakoot

      Kal Bhairava in Kalinjar Fort

      Kal Bhairava in Kalinjar Fort

      Chaturbhuj Temple, Orchha

      Chaturbhuj Temple, Orchha

      Dandeshwar group of Temples near Almora

      Dandeshwar group of Temples near Almora

      Moti Bagh Mosque, Agra

      Moti Bagh Mosque, Agra

      The art of khatamband or decorative ceilings of Kashmir

      The art of khatamband or decorative ceilings of Kashmir

      Rozabal in Srinagar, Kashmir

      Rozabal in Srinagar, Kashmir

      Trending Tags

      • Contact Me
      No Result
      View All Result
      Rana Safvi
      No Result
      View All Result

      Rediscovering chahar-bait, a dying folk music form that travelled from Afghanistan

      It has roots in the war poetry of Arabia.

      inBook and Publication
      0

      Musical traditions in India are so varied that one keeps discovering new aspects to them every day. At the recently concluded weeklong Jashn e Wirasat e Urdu (Urdu heritage festival) organised by the Urdu Academy, I chanced upon a new and now endangered genre.

      In the beautiful setting of Central Park, at the heart of Delhi’s Connaught Place, we all settled down to listen to ghazals, qawwalis and sufi kalams sung by artists, most of whom were known to me. And then, a group walked in and put up a performance unlike any other. They were to perform the little-known form of chahar-bait. The lead singer was a frail old, bearded man, but when he started his piece, the entire area was filled with the liveliest music — the vocals were accompanied by the daf (a bass tambourine without cymbals) and two men made precise moves to its beat.

      The words were sweet, innocent and yet zestful:

      “Dekho na yun meri jaan mujhe tirchi nazar se

      Yeh barchiyan hone lagi hain paar jigar se”

      Don’t send coquettish glances at me, my love

      They pierce like spears through my heart.”

      I had never heard of chahar-bait and was curious to find out. Urdu Academy have invited the group for chahar bait performances in the earlier editions of the heritage festival. It is an endangered genre as, for long, it didn’t have many takers — only eight groups perform it today, mostly in and around Tonk, Amroha, Rampur, Bhopal and Moradabad.

      The group I saw perform was helmed by veteran artist Iqbaluddin saheb from UP’s Bachrau town.

      My curiosity was finally quelled by journalist Faiyaz Ahmed Wajeeh’s explanation. He has written the most exhaustive piece about chahar-bait on his blog and generously gave me the permission toquotefrom it.

      Chahar (four) bait (verse), as its name suggests, is a musical composition in which verses of four lines each are sung. The popular folk music form originated in Afghanistan. Wajeeh writes that it has deep connections with the khayal form of classical Hindustani music. Called dedh phadakka, chahar bait was popularised in India by Afghani soldiers who used it as an interlude during war.

      That was the reason why I found the moves of the singers so precise, as if set to a military rythm. It has roots in the war poetry of Arabia, where it was read out in battlefields to motivate soldiers.

      chahar-bait-690_030118042512.jpg
      Chahar Bait at Saadat Bagh Kothi in Tonk. Photo: YouTube screengrab

      When Nawab Faizullah Khan established his rule in the princely state of Rohilkhand and made Rampur its capital, many Afghan soldiers settled there. Among them was Abdul Karim Khan, son of one Mustaqeem Khan Ghaznavi, who was proficient in chahar-bait — such is the form’s Indian legacy.

      Chahar-bait, despite its connection to classical music, was never considered quite at par with shayri and so it always languished on the sidelines says Wajeeh. Famous rekhti poet Sadat Yaar Khan Rangeen was the first to include 27 types of chahar bait in shayri.

      Typically, there are two-line verses in the ghazal: the first verse is called matla where both lines (misra e oola – first line and misra e sani – second line) rhyme with each other. The rhyming word, the last in the verse, is called radeef. The matla must also have a qafiya and it is the rhyming pattern of words that must directly precede the Ghazal’s radeef.

      Thereafter, till the last verse called maqta, which contains the poet’s pen name, the second line of each verse will rhyme with the misra e saani of the matla.

      Koi umeed bar nahin aati

      Koi surat nazar nahin aati

      There seems no hope in sight

      No face [of a saviour] comes to light

      — Mirza Ghalib

      In this first verse (matla) above, “nahin” is the qafiya or the refrain and aati the radeef.

      At times, ghazal competitions are also held and a misra e tarah — the line of a given couplet on whose prosody other poets have to compose poems — is given. Every poet must write on that metre.

      The reason chahar bait was never accepted as part of classical shayri was that it did not restrict itself to rules of the metre and was sung as an interlude in war, and not as part of high society. The people singing it were rough and ready soldiers, not poets patronised by kings. The setting was also far more down to earth and often the earth itself, not elaborate sitting rooms covered with while covers, brocade cushions for poets to recline against and a lamp to be lit and placed before poets to signal it was their turn to recite.

      The chahar bait was a way of enthusing soldiers and providing them with light entertainment at the end of a tough day. Here there was poetic refrain called teep, which is more or less like the chorus in a song. This teep ka misra is used as the misra e tarah at competitions.

      The names of the poets were not famous, and even when popular figures wrote chahar bait verses, they did so anonymously.Wajeeh tells me that not many people know that the classical number “Chaa rahi kaali ghata jiyara mora lahraaye hai” was written by famous Urdu poet Muztar Khairabadi from Tonk as a teep for a chahar bait.

      However, Wajeeh says that chahar bait became famous not for its poetry but for its singing style, which is unique.

      The vocalists sit in a formation similar to that of qawwali and repeat the misra e tarah, which is rendered by the lead singer. The difference is there are a few singers who will go around the other singers, to the beat of the daf — also called tambul — in very precise moves.

      This seemed to invigorate not just the singers but also the viewers. It fascinated not just me, but everyone in the audience that day.

      Kudos to the Urdu Academy for consistently giving chahar bait’s custodians a platform. I just hope it lives on.

      Published on DailyO.in

      Share this:

      • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
      • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

      Related Posts

      Siri the second city of Delhi
      Book and Publication

      Siri the second city of Delhi

      by ranasafvi
      January 23, 2022
      How Bahadur Shah Kept His Hindu And Muslim Subjects United [Book Excerpt]
      Book and Publication

      How Bahadur Shah Kept His Hindu And Muslim Subjects United [Book Excerpt]

      by ranasafvi
      November 24, 2020
      The Shah Burj in Red Fort, Delhi : Then and Now
      Book and Publication

      The Shah Burj in Red Fort, Delhi : Then and Now

      by ranasafvi
      November 9, 2020
      Leave Comment
      Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube
      Rana Safvi

      Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi

      I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.

      Browse by Category

      Currently Playing

      © 2018 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • About
      • Book & Publication
      • Culture & Heritage
        • Our Cultural Heritage
        • Sufi saints
      • Food
      • Hazrat-E-Dilli
      • Rana’s Space
        • Walks & Talks
        • Rana’s Space
        • Sher o Sukhan
      • Travel
      • Contact Me

      © 2018 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.