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Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Vo Kahan
Hai
Jagmohan Singh
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Enamoured by the heart
full pouring by Rabbi Shergil in his latest album, Avengi Ja
Nahin, Jagmohan Singh writes this Open Letter saying that “such
a non-jarring Punjabi treat comes after a long time”. |
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 Dear Rabbi Singh Ji
Sat Sri Akal
I have listened to
Pagri Sambhal Jatta and Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Vo Kahan
Hai, some fifty times before writing to you. I was totally
enthralled by your composition and more so by the lyrics. To my
mind, the poetic content of the two songs is so overwhelming that I
can easily say that I have not listened to any such content for a
long time.
The lines
Twarikhan da Ghatta (the dust of history) and Be-itafaqian di
Tuhri (the haystack of mistrust) continue to resonate in my
ears. Your call to buck up should not be lost; every Punjabi and
Sikh worth his salt must take your words seriously and without
delay.
Your present album
is a revolution of ideas. The soft and sensual manner in which you
have encompassed the two Punjabs, the use of Punjabi, Hindi and
English languages, the publication of lyrics and their English
version in the Album cover -I see these as a sample of your
versatility on a large canvas and a significant attempt to widen
your horizon. There is no doubt that you have reached out, it is
now for the awam to lap it up.
I am a human rights
activist. Every word of your new album, barring the romantic asides
(of which I do not know much!), is food for the soul. Believe me,
Sardar Sahib, not for the body and mind, but for the soul. It was
soul-stirring and invigorating, making me get up while listening and
prompting me to do something to change the world around me.
Gurpreet Singh Ji, I
am quiet determined to popularise the two songs mentioned above in
as many ways as I can. My son, Mansimran Singh is a lover of music
and a student of music too. I have urged him to learn these songs
and their composition.
 I will be writing to
the government of Punjab to reduce the tax on your new album so that
it can be available more easily to the common man. I would also be
urging the Punjab State Education Board to incorporate the songs
Pagri Sambhal Jatta (appropriately sung by you on the 101st
anniversary of the legendary Pagri Sambal movement) and
Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par into the tenth class curriculum for
Punjabi students.
During my school
days in Malad –a suburb of Mumbai, my Hindi teacher, Master Shukla
spent hours explaining to us the real meaning of “Chal se Mang
Liya Karte hai Angoothe ka Daan” –a line from Ramdhari Singh
Dinkar’s poem about the relationship between Ekalavya and
Dronacharya. Your two songs belong to that genre and warrant
similar treatment to understand their full import.
Your tribute to
Bilqis Bano when lumpens came searching for their god is a classic.
As I have lived most of my life in Mumbai, the reference to Navleen
Kumar in Marathi in the socially-revivalist song entitled Bilqis
brought back nostalgic memories of Nalasopara and Virar which I
travelled through on the Mumbai suburban railways. You have blown
the bugle for whistle blowers Satyendra Dubey and Manjunath so well
that Social activists of India must include this song in the prelude
to their reports as prominently as they display Neimoller’s call.
I am pleased to know
that you have rebuffed those who think that every singer and
creative artist should be “politically correct”. It is perhaps only
in this part of the world that creative artists are required to fall
in line and not go against the wind. For most Indians, the best
songs are Bollywood songs and the best music too emanates from
there. You and a few others have broken the records and have done
with without selling your soul or compromising your worldly
competence.
To me, the new album
Avengi Ja Nahin is not a romance with an unseen lady in
Karachi; it is your romance with your soul, your history, your
being, your search to be socially relevant and politically conscious
and not a dumb spectator to the spectacle of death on the streets of
Ahmedbad and religious annihilation in the villages of Punjab.
Your talk of the
failure of the United Nations and the SGPC, your chiding of India
for its Pokharan nuclear explosion reflects your commitment. Singing
Ballo for missing daughters alongside UNFPA is a timely
contribution. Your faith in Guru Nanak’s teachings, your Sikhi
Saroop and your recent non-apologetic stand at being a Sikh speaks
volumes of the legacy of your preacher-academic parents.
I pray to Akal
Purakh to bless you with more energy and may you live to see the day
that “jo kadey hoia si shuru” reaches its logical conclusion
and the Sikhs by then have taken care of their
Pagri.
Rab Rakha.
Jagmohan Singh
Jagmohan Singh is a
human rights activist based in Ludhiana. He may be contacted at
jsbigideas@gmail.com
(with inputs from
Harjinder Singh of SikhNetwork and Mansimran Singh)
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Pagri Sambhal Jatta
Ghazni Tughlaq Aibaq Ghauri
Pehla duja Khilji Lodhi
Taimur ‘te Babar
Jagannath Somnath Ajudhia
Banaras Kannauj ‘te Mathura
Bolia si fir Nanak
“Aiti mar pai karlaney
Taenki darad(u) na aia” rabba
Uthh kharha hun tagrha ho ja
Bina Guru ko na vali jatta
Kasna paina tainu lakk aapna
Lanbhion aa ke kisey nahion sambhnan
Pagrhi sambhal jatta
Lehna pothi miripiri
Nauven Guru di shahidi
Amrit Chali Muktey, Auranga
Bala Mardana ‘te Baba Budha
Bidhichand Matidas Satidas
(Mai) Bhago ‘te Banda
“Jau tau prem khelan ka chau
Sir dhar tali gali meri aau
It
marag paer dharijaey
Sir deejai kaan na keejay”
Asan keeta jo aakhia si guru
Par ajj kittey phassiay jo kadey hoia si shuru
Sirhind Budhha Taruna Dal Mani Singh Bota Singh
Deep Singh Massa Rangarh Nadirshah Bhai Taru
Mir Mannu barha maaru
Shahbaz Singh Subeg Singh Haqiqat Rai Ahmed Shah
Hathhu Bagarh Singh Thomson Jassa Singh
Ghallugharey
Eh mukdey nahi ne marey
Ranjit Singh Aala Singh gorey
Hari Singh Phula Singh dogrey
Attak di jit Gujarat di haar
Kehrha zimmevar
Tere hath ki aaya jatta
Tavarikhan da ghatta
Be-ittefaqian de turhi
Aa vekh uddadi pai u
Pagrhi sambhal jatta
Pagrhi sambhal jatta
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16
July, 2008
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