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The land of Rajasthan boasts of a
happy and productive co-existence of many faiths
such as the Hindu, Jain, Islamic and the Sindhi. At
the same time, interaction with several different
bordering cultural zones has invested Rajasthan’s
Sufi music with a great diversity. More
particularly, western Rajasthan shows a musical and
melodic oneness with Sindh and the Middle East. The
presence of Sufism, generally understood to be the
inner or mystical dimension of Islam, as part of
traditional repertoire of Manganiar musicians of
Rajasthan best illustrates this synthesis.
Manganiars most commonly sing the poetry of great
saint-poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, who has
written devotional Sindhi poetry in the form of
love-legends such as Sassi-Punnu, Moomal-Mahendra,
Leela-Chanesar, Umar-Marui, etc. They also sing
Sachal Sarmast ‘Saain’, Baba Bulle Shah, Ghulam
Fareed, Kanwar Bhagat, etc. and kaafis of Badal Nath,
Sada Ram and Rohil Saain, Sufi saints from
Rajasthan, .who have penned some of the most
profound and beautiful poetry ever written.
Hazrat Amir Khusro from Itaawa in South Western
Uttar Pradesh, one of the most popularly sung sufi
saint poet, is not commonly sung by most Manganiars.
Samandar has specially composed and performed
Khusro’s poetry and is probably the only Manganiar
singer to do so. He also sings traditional quawwalis
in his own inimitable style. Samandar has also
composed the qualam of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Swami
Madhavanand, and others. |
