Gham mujhe hasrat mujhe...

Gham mujhe, hasrat (longing) mujhe, wahshat (fear) mujhe, sauda (frenzy/madness) mujhe;
ek dil deke khudaa ne de diya kya kya mujhe.

Hai husuul-e-aarzoo (acquisition of a desire) ka raaz tark-e-aarzoo (discard of desire);
main ne duniya chhor di to mil gayi duniya mujhe.

kah ke soya hoon ye apne iztaraab-e-shauq (restlessness of love) se;
jab vo aayen qabr par, fauran jagaa denaa mujhe.

subah tak kya kya terii ummeed ne taane diye;
aa gaya tha shaam-e-gham ik neend ka jhonkaa mujhe.

ye namaaz-e-ishq (worship of love) hai, kaisa adab (etiquette) kiska adab?
apne paa-e-naaz (delicate feet) par karne bhi do sajdaa mujhe.

dekhte hi dekhte duniya se main uth jaaunga;
dekhti ki dekhti rah jaayegi duniya mujhe!!

~Seemab Akbarabadi

Ae gham-e-dil kya karoon...

Never before seeing the video below, could I have thought of two artists, so different in their art forms, geography, time, and culture, to be so similar! The artists in question are the famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh and the Urdu poet Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz. Hats off to the uploader who observed the similarities and put their works together in one video.

For those of you not aware of these artists or their stories-

Van Gogh was a great painter who's work influenced the 20th century art. He was believed to be suffering with mental illness which eventually claimed his life. Apparently his anxiety took him to self destruction and he eventually succeeded by committing a suicide. Though his death is still a mystery; because the gun, with which he supposedly shot himself in the head, could never be recovered.

Majaz was another passionate artist. True to his art and heart. It is said that he fell in love with a married woman. Being unsuccessful in love lead him to alcoholism and mental illness. He spent a lot of time in mental asylums. Once he ran away from a mental asylum and later his body was found on the terrace of a shop in a busy market in Lucknow. How he reached there and died, remains a mystery.

The pain of these two artists can be felt in the song, sung so beautifully by Jagjit Singh. Beautiful paintings, brilliant poetry and soulful singing: what a great confluence of three great artists!.

Hum-radeef ghazlein...

My all time favourite Jagjit-Chitra Ghazal:

Its actually two ghazals sung as one. In Urdu-poetic language its called 'hum-radeef ghazlein' - two ghazals with same ending word(s).

The part sung by Jagjit Singh is Amiir Miinaai's 'Uski Hasrat hai jise dil se mita bhi na sakun, Dhoondhne usko chala huun jise paa bhi na sakun', while Chitra Singh sings the famous Mirza Ghalib ghazal 'Meherbaan hoke bula lo mujhe Chahe jis waqt; Main gaya waqt nahi huun ke phir aa bhi na sakun'. Interestingly Ghalib's ghazal sounds like the reply to that of his contemporary Amiir Miinaai.

Writing ghazals on other poet's 'Zameen' is very common in Urdu poetry. Daagh Dehlvi has also written a ghazal 'hum-radeef' with Ghalib's very famous 'Ye na thi humaari qismat'. The famous ghazal singer Tina Sani sings these two in the video below. The singer and the compere (Anwar Masood) have also tried to explain the concept of hum-radeef ghazals at the start of the video.

Rare ghazals of Jagjit Singh...

Recently, I came across a few youtube videos of some of Jagjit Singh's rare ghazals. And I was blown away by a couple of them. Absolute gems!

Aaj tumse bichhad raha hoon main...

Jao ab sub'ha hone waali hai...

Unko bhoole hue apne hi sitam yaad aaye...