It’s one thing to re-release recordings of traditional music so that new generations can hear and appreciate them. It’s quite another to create fresh recordings of such music for the same purpose. All sorts of traditional and folk sounds from the world over have been unearthed in this modern age; sometimes to the benefit of the original artists, sometimes not.
Musicians everywhere, particularly those who relied largely on performing before audiences, had their livelihoods threatened (or worse) by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Pakistan, as in many another country, there are both successful pop stars who achieve fame and wealth, as well as singers and players who make non-mainstream music more for love than money. It was, of course, those in the latter category who were hardest hit. And they were the ones that Mekaal Hasan, a noted Pakistani rock guitarist and producer, decided to spotlight.
What resulted from Hasan’s endeavors can be heard in Rivayat (“Tradition”), a series of singles released over the past few months. Songs from earlier times that they were, and chosen by the artists at that, the tracks were given a revived verve by being recorded in one take in a Lahore studio. Some overdubs came courtesy of players outside Pakistan and modern recording technology was employed, but the finished songs have a freshness that needs no unnecessary gloss.
The songs are a choice lot, primarily crafted around the kind of melodic buildup associated with the devotional Qawwali style but taking their own paths and each becoming its own kind of masterpiece.
There were some that particularly enthralled me, including a tabla and clarinet duet featuring the jaw-dropping reed mastery of Jaffer Hussain; the beautifully interlocked voices of the Manwa Sisters on the yearning love lament “Chambra Kitni Dur”; a rocking jam called “Tobah” by Shazad Ali Khan in which the zesty tones of the harmonium successfully meet the crunch of electric guitar and bass; and Shujat Ali Khan’s “Ranjha,” which sounds closer to what would be thought traditional while still tastefully working in touches of the rockier instruments and building to a bullseye of a climax.
Hasan’s healthy respect for Pakistani traditional music, which has played a role in his own artistry, is amply saluted through this series.
Buy Rivayat
Author: Tom Orr
Tom Orr is a California-based writer whose talent and mental stability are of an equally questionable nature. His hobbies include ignoring trends, striking dramatic poses in front of his ever-tolerant wife and watching helplessly as his kids surpass him in all desirable traits.