About ten years ago I was driving to work one day with the radio on. I happened to catch a live interview on a local station with an artist whom I'd never heard of before, Kiran Ahluwalia. They played a snippet of one of her songs and I was immediately captivated.
Kiran was born in India, in the north I believe, possibly the Punjab, but her family immigrated to Canada when she was ten. After completing college, Kiran went to India to study singing and thereafter followed about ten years of back-and-forthing between the two countries. She'd work and save money in Canada, then return to India to continue her studies in voice training. Her vocal form was often the qawwali, or the musical equivalent of the ghazal. As I've written before, the ghazal is a masterful poetic form which originated in Persia and moved with the Moghul invasion into what is now Pakistan and northern India. It is a vital and living artistic presence within the Urdu language.
This particular song is the first video of Kiran's that I encountered. She is singing a ghazal composed by Pakistan's beloved national poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz. The central or chief theme of the ghazal is a plaint of the heart, although topical commentary is also popular and often interspersed within the verse.
When you watch this video, bear in mind that you are witnessing the artistic form of another culture. I see Kiran's movements and gestures as part of the form's expression, or perhaps a felt part of her personal style of delivery. She is accompanied by Rez Abbasi on guitar and Will Holshouser on accordion.
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