By Jan Khaskheli
Karachi: At least 99 per cent singers in Sindh do not have basic knowledge of musical principles and skills. Majority of them are unaware about the importance of timings of Surs and the nature of its composition.
This was stated by Ustad Ameer Ali, the head of Centre for Music Education, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, while talking to The News. He said that this carelessness has damaged the image of the classical music of Sindh, which had been home to leading classical music families.
Ustad Ameer Ali was born to a traditional singer family of Ustad Ramzan Ali in 1961 in the Doman Wah area of Hyderabad, Sindh. He has produced a smaller number of students, who are performing music in the province.
Sharing achievements, he said, after three years of continuous work he has completed three books on music, including the unique one on the poetic rhythm of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. In this book, he got help from the traditional Faqirs of Bhitai, Syed Juman Shah and Faqir Khan Mohammed Chandio, who already teach the Latifi Raag at Bhit Shah.
The book on Bhitai’s Surs depicts the real rhythm being performed by his traditional Raagis (singers) at his shrine, in which Ustad Ameer Ali has contributed some addition with different composition to make it easier. The book on music for children studying in pre-primary classes with composition of Western and classical music is also in the final stages, the Ustad claims.
It will help raise awareness of music among the school children. This is a unique work, he said, adding that nowhere in the country anybody has developed this idea to teach music to school children.
About the functioning of the Music Centre, he said there were 50 students–30 girls and 20 boys–learning basic principles of music, playing instruments, and the history of the music.
Ustad claims to have developed syllabus consisting six subjects, including playing flute, guitar, keyboard, harmonium, vocal performance, and music history. They have monthly gathering for students to perform in the presence of one or two classical artistes on a full moonlit night.
He said the music center needs more help, financially and morally, to organise such festivals at different areas, inviting leading artistes from Cholistan, Sindh and its Thar desert area, which are home to leading classical artiste families, running their family institutes of classical music to keep the art alive.
Ustad Ameer Ali, himself performs classical and modern poetry in selective gatherings in Sindh, Islamabad and other parts of the region. He has also composed the poetry of Shaikh Ayaz, Ustad Bukhari and Hassan Dars.
Meanwhile, he informed that the Centre for Music Education in collaboration with leading Sindhi scholars, is organising a night-long ‘Raag and Kavita Festival’ in Hyderabad at the end of March, 2011, to promote classical music in the province. And they were trying to convince the Sindh Culture Department to organise a larger three-day music festival soon, in which they are chalking out a comprehensive list of traditional artiste families of Sindh and southern Punjab. Ameer Ali links the relationship within the Raagi families performing classical music in Seraiki, Sindhi, and Dhatki languages.
Source: The News
Date:2/24/2011
