Lyric Poetry in Urdu: the Ghazal

by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and Frances W. Pritchett

People are always tempted to compare the ghazal to the sonnet. Poems in the two genres are usually about the same length, and they share a basically romantic and introspective sensibility. A Western scholar, Robert Oppenheimer, has recently called the sonnet “the oldest poetic form still in wide popular use,” and has proudly traced it back through a number of European languages to its origins in Italy in the early thirteenth century. He has failed to do his cross-cultural homework, however, for the ghazal antedates the sonnet by about six hundred years: it traces its origins back to seventh-century Arabic poetry. From Arabic it spread into a number of languages, most notably Persian, Turkish, and then Urdu-- where it is thriving today not only as a sophisticated genre of modern poetry, but also in the popular media: “filmi” ghazals, and “filmi” singers of classical ghazals, have made themselves at home in the movie industry, and on radio, television, and cassette.

Throughout the ghazal’s reign, which has extended over thirteen centuries of time and immense amounts of space, ghazal poets have cherished their genre and consciously maintained its coherence. Learning their art from a master-poet and passing it on in their turn to students, ghazal poets have been proud to refer to and build on the work of their predecessors. Within the ghazal, the poet almost always adopts the stance of a romantic hero of one kind or another: a desperate lover intoxicated with passion, a rapt visionary absorbed in mystic illumination, an iconoclastic drunkard celebrating the omnipotence of wine. He presents himself as a solitary sufferer, sustained by brief flashes of ecstasy, defined by his desperate longing for some transcendant object of desire. This object of desire may be human (female or male), divine, abstract, or ambiguous; its defining trait is its inaccessibility. But if the worldview of the ghazal is romantic, its structure is classically precise. The following ghazal has been translated in a technically careful way, retaining as many formal features of the Urdu as possible. All translations here presented are our own.

/8/ To hell with all hindering walls and doors!
Love’s eye sees as feather and wing, walls and doors.
My flooded eyes blur the house
Doors and walls becoming walls and doors.

There is no shelter: my love is on her way,
They’ve gone ahead in greeting, walls and doors.

The wine of your splendor floods
Your street, intoxicating walls and doors.

If you’re mad for waiting, come to me--
My house is a store of gazing, walls and doors.

I never called down a flood of tears
For fear of my falling, pleading walls and doors.

She came to live next door--
Doors and walls adoring walls and doors.

A lively house stings my eyes
To tears, without you, seeing walls and doors.

They greet the flood with rapture
From end to end all dancing, walls and doors.

Don’t tell love-secrets, Ghalib
Except to those worthy of hearing: walls and doors.

As can readily be seen, each of the ten two-line shi`rs, or verses, ends in “walls and doors.” This identically repeated end-refrain is called the radif, and is present in most ghazals, though it is not compulsory. And in each verse the word before the radif ends in “-ing”; the rhyme here is called the qafiyah, and is compulsory. The first verse, to set the pattern in a genre designed to be heard rather than read, repeats the rhyming elements at the end of each line, so that the hearer can at once tell how much is radif and how much is qafiyah. A verse of this special introductory form is called a matla`, and most ghazals have one--though some may have more than /9/ one, and some may not have any. The last verse incorporates, by way of signature, the poet’s pen-name or takhallus (which in this case is “Ghalib”), and thus earns the special name of maqta`. The maqta` is optional: it is usually present in classical ghazal, but is no longer so popular today. What we could not show in English is the meter: every line of the ghazal is in the same rigorously defined Perso-Arabic quantitative meter.
The ghazal presents a blend of unity and autonomy that often seems paradoxical to Westerners. Formally speaking, the ghazal can be said to be unified: since its verses share meter, rhyme, and usually end-refrain as well, it has a powerful symmetry and cohesion. In terms of content, however, each two-line verse is an independent, free-standing poem, making its own effect with its own internal resources. Except for rare and special cases, there is no narrative or logical “flow” from one verse to the next; if the verses were rearranged, or one or two removed, usually the action would not even be detectable. While such treatment would fatally damage a sonnet, it would have little or no effect on most ghazals. Even today, lovers of Urdu poetry know hundreds and hundreds of two-line ghazal verses by heart, and can (and do) recite them for many conversational purposes; but no one can (or does) recite whole ghazals with all their verses in correct order. The pleasure of the ghazal dwells in each verse itself, and taking a verse “out of context” raises none of the problems that would be raised by so treating a verse from a sonnet. The ghazal acts largely as a kind of frame and showcase for its individual verses.

Yet the small two-line verse is not left entirely to its own devices, for it inhabits the long-established, well-developed ghazal universe. The ghazal universe is founded on the figure of the passionate lover, and faithfully mirrors his consciousness. The lover, while longing for his inaccessible (human) beloved or (divine) Beloved, reflects on the world as it appears to him in his altered emotional state. To him its highs are infinite heavens, its lows abysmal depths, its every scene and every moment charged with intense and complex meanings--meanings to which non-lovers, the ordinary “people of the /10/ world,” are appallingly blind. The ghazal universe exists in the consciousness of ghazal poets and their audiences, who construct it by knowing verses, and constantly refine it by making, hearing or reading, accepting or rejecting, yet more verses.

The human inhabitants of the ghazal universe are stylized, and exist chiefly to fulfill certain necessary functions: the lover’s friends, his confidant, his rivals, his messenger, the beloved’s cruel doorkeeper, the Shaikh full of reproachful and ostentatious piety, the Advisor with his unheeded words of caution, etc. The geography of the ghazal universe includes settings for the lover’s every mood: the garden for dialogue between nature and man, the social gathering for human relationships, the wine-house for intoxication and mystic revelation, the mosque for ostentatious impiety, the desert for solitary wandering, the madhouse or prison cell for intransigence and frenzy, the grave and its aftermath for ultimate triumph or defeat. The ghazal universe is thus filled with beings and objects so “pre-poeticized” that they bear only the most incidental relationship to their natural counterparts.

While romantic and mystical themes may predominate in the ghazal, it is important to note that they do not confine it. Since each two-line verse (shi`r) is semantically independent, most ghazals contain verses in various moods and on various topics. Different individual verses of a single ghazal may contain abstract reflection, social commentary, pious exhortation, elegy, the poet’s self-praise or self-deprecation, humor, or satire, as well as punning and other, more complex forms of wordplay. While simplicity and melancholy have been very popular, metaphoric subtlety and verbal intricacy have also been cultivated. In theory, ghazal poets can say anything--and in practice, at one time or another, they have.

The theoretical approach of the classical Urdu ghazal was twofold: it consisted of the pursuit of “mazmun” and “ma`ni.” The former can roughly be translated as “theme.” “Theme” is what one gets in answer to the question, ‘What’s the poem about?’ “Ma`ni” can be translated as “meaning.” Meaning is what one gets in answer to the question, ‘What does the poem /11/ say?’ The poet’s effort was to introduce new slants on old themes--and, if possible, even to invent new themes. His second goal was to pack as much “ma`ni” into the poem as possible. All the resources of the language were his territory: the great poets never hesitated to use them. All kinds of wordplay, allusion, effects of assonance, devices suited to oral delivery, complexity of metaphor, simple, everyday speech-rhythms--nothing was barred. The poem was seen more as a verbal artifact than a spontaneous, Wordsworthian “overflow of the powerful feelings of the heart.” Poems were not treated as autobiography. Autobiography wasn’t forbidden; it would, however, be frowned upon unless mediated to the audience through poetic devices.

Given the fact that the ghazal is basically a love poem, and its main theme is unrequited love, the poet has full liberty to deal with matters relating to love in the widest possible context. And since the ghazal is at its best when it implies or conveys more than it apparently says, any utterance in a ghazal can theoretically be interpreted in more ways than one, or on more levels than one. As the great poet Mir (1722-1810) says, “A single utterance has any number of aspects, Mir / What a variety of things I constantly say with the tongue of the pen!” He finds another image as well: “Every verse is curled and twisted like a lock of hair / Mir’s speech is of an extraordinary kind.”

Love consumes like fire--this is a fundamental, often-used theme for the ghazal. How this familiarity is made new, how it is turned into richness and variety, may be seen in the verses of the great masters. Of them all, Mir was perhaps the greatest. Here are some of his shi`rs, drawn from a number of different ghazals, on the subject of burning and flame:

The fire of love burnt Rizvan to death,
Although that demon had his home in Lanka, surrounded by water.
Mir, the sadness of a burnt-out heart never goes away,
Faced with her beautiful face, the candle-flame dies.

/12/ The rose has taken on her color
just as one candle is lighted from another.

Fire eats away all that it encounters, wet or dry,
But I, like the candle’s flame, only consumed myself.

Mir, do not shed tears when the heart is on fire--
It’s no use sprinkling water on a conflagration!

Bones shiver and burn away--
What a fire has love lighted here!

A splinter of lightning must still be lurking
somewhere in my house.

Today Mir’s house was an ash-heap; he had been smouldering for years,
Perhaps last night he burnt himself away.

Mir, the scar of my ravaged heart is bright in the night--
Love has lit a lamp even in such a wilderness.

With the advent of western ideas and education, the poetics of the classical ghazal lost much of their prestige, and fell into what Ghalib would call the “niche of forgetfulness.” Yet the conceptual underpinnings of the ghazal remain unchanged. It is still basically a poem of unhappy love, or at least of unhappiness, and of dissatisfaction with life. Many of the more sophisticated traditional images are now used only by a few. Yet the ghazal still has a polyvalence which makes it piquant and effective. Today it is often used variously for political expression, modernist experimentation, or personal reflection; it is also used by women poets to explore their own situation. For as Vali Dakani said several centuries ago, “The road to fresh mazmuns is never closed / Till Doomsday the gate of poetry stands open."

GHAZAL (GAZAL) - URDU POETIC SONGS
by David Courtney, Ph.D.


Introduction
The ghazal is a common form in Indian and Pakistan.  Strictly speaking, it is not a musical form at all but a poetic recitation.  However, today it is commonly conceived of as an Urdu song whose prime importance is given to the lyrics.

History of the Ghazal
It is said that we must turn to Arabia to find the origins of the ghazal.  The word ghazal is an Arabic word that literally means a "discourse" or more correctly a "talk to women".  There was an Arabic form of poetry called qasida which came to Iran in about the 10th century.  It dealt with the themes of the greatness of kings.

The qasida was at times unmanageably long.  It was often 100 couplets or more.  Therefore, a portion of the qasida, known as the tashib was detached and this became the ghazal.  The ghazal soon became the most popular form of poetry in Iran.

Ghazal's introduction into India from the 12th century, was part of an ongoing revolution in North Indian society.  India considered herself to be culturally inferior to greater Persia.  Thus Persian culture became a great inspiration for India.  The ghazal, along with many other cultural desiderata, were imported into India from the 12th to the 18th centuries.  These forms were given a local colour by many Indian artists such as Amir Khusru, and continued to enjoy widespread popularity among Indian Muslims for many centuries.

Although the ghazal was introduced first in the north, the south is responsible for its Urdu character.  The North Indian principalities were very much oriented toward Persian, but it was in the south that Urdu was beginning to be used for literary purposes.  It was in the courts of Golkonda, and Bijapur that this revolution occurred.  Such leaders as, Nusrati, Wajhi, Hashmi, Mohammad Quli Qutab Shah, and Wali are notable in their patronage and contributions.  Northern India began to embrace Urdu as a poetic language only in about the 19th century.

The process of converting this poetic form into a musical form was a slow one.  In the 18th and 19th centuries, the ghazal became associated the courtesan.  The courtesans, known as tawaif, were considered the mavens of art, literature, dance, music, etiquette, and in short, all of the high culture.  They were widely acclaimed for their musical abilities and did not hesitate to demonstrate these abilities when they performed the ghazal.

The decline in the feudal society at the end of the 19th and early 20th century brought with it a decline in the tawaif tradition.  This change in culture also saw a change in the performance of ghazal.  It continued to build upon its musical component, and began to be heard more and more in the concert hall.

The job of converting ghazal to a musical form was finished in the 20th century.  The development of the recording and film industries created a mass media that was well suited to the musical ghazal.  They also created an environment where it was convenient to treat the ghazal as though it were a mere git.  All of this had tremendous economic advantages for performers and producers alike.  Unfortunately, it also created economic pressures to lower the standards for the lyrical content.

Structure of the Ghazal
The poetic structure of the ghazal is precise.  It is based upon a series of couplets which are woven together by a precise rhyming structure.  The overall form uses an introductory couplet, the body of couplets, and then an concluding couplet.  We will look at these in greater detail.

The first couplet is always the most important, this is known as the matla.  The matla is important because it establishes the overall form and mood of the entire ghazal.  Occasionally there are two matlas, in which case the second one is referred to as the matla-e-sani.

Each subsequent couplet is linked to the matla in a well defined fashion.  The second verse of each couplet must rhyme with this.  Therefore, if the rhyming structure of the matla is AA, then the subsequent couplets have the form BA, CA, DA, etc.

There is a convention in the ghazal known as the radif.  This is a characteristic way that a portion of the first line (usually just two or three words) is maintained throughout the ghazal.  However, it is not always executed consistently.  For instance if there is no radif, the form is said to be ghair-muraddaf, this form is very rare.  If the exact same words are used in the radif, then it is said to be ham-radif.

The last couplet of the ghazal is very important, this is called the maqta.  It usually contains the pen name (takhallus) of the poet.  The maqta is usually a personal statement which may be very different in tone from the rest of the ghazal.  Today it is becoming more common to leave off the maqta.

There are a few common themes in the ghazal.  Typically they revolve around unrequited love, madness, mystical ruminations, and even social commentaries ridiculing religious orthodoxy.  Certainly the most common is unrequited love.  However, within each ghazal the theme of each couplet need not be consistent.  Each couplet may be thought of as a thematic vignette that need not relate to it adjacent couplets.

Although the themes of each couplet in a ghazal are usually distinct, there are some occasions where there is consistency.  The Nazm is an example of a style that exhibits remarkable consistency in its thematic approach.  A more common type of thematic connection is known as qita.  Still, the norm is for each couplet to stand alone thematically.

Musical Form
The musical form of the ghazal is variable.  The older more traditional ghazals were very similar to other Hindustani light classical forms such as the dadra or, thumri.  One often finds forms that are similar to qawwali.  They are typically in a variety of light classical rags.  However today, the ghazal usually has a form which is not too dissimilar to many film songs.  Such forms are usually decried by the purists because they usually display a bastardisation of the lyrics and a careless disregard of the forms.

The rhythmic forms (tal) of the modern ghazal are invariably of the lighter forms.  One typically finds rupak (7 beats), dadra (6 beats) and kaherava 8 beats being used to the near exclusion of everything else.

Conclusion
The story of the ghazal is an interesting one.  It is a story that begins in Arabia and continues over to Persia and on to India.  It involves an evolution from a long involved Persian poetic discourse into modern Urdu poetry.  It shows how a form of poetry may be converted into a form of song.  This is an extreme evolution, but one which occupies an important position in Indian music.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS USED IN GHAZAL
Harmonium
Santur
Sarangi
Sitar
Tabla
Rabab

OTHER INDIAN VOCAL FORMS
Bhajan
Dadra
Dhammar
Dhrupad
Film Music
Folk Music
Geet
Qawwali
Kheyal
Kirtan / Dhun
Lakshangit
Shabad
Tappa
Tarana
Thumri

Ghazal
With a touch of sun in the air here in the East, spring is definitely on its way and what better season than spring to pen down beautiful love songs or poems. It is indeed the season for romance, whether writing, reading or doing.
This week, I am going to tell you about my personal favorite among the poetry forms – that is ghazals, mainly ghazals adapted in English. Though I will primarily be teaching about writing a ghazal in English, it can be used for Urdu or Hindi too as the primary form remains the same and I will be using the Urdu words for the technical aspects anyway.
I grew up listening to ghazals of Mirza Ghalib and grew addicted to the magic and mystic of a ghazal. Though a very intricate form, ghazal flows seamlessly and is quite a challenging form to master. To learn more about ghazals it is important to know a little about the history of the same
Origin and History Of Ghazal
The origin if ghazal form can be traced back to the 10th century A.D in Iran. It grew from the Persian form qasida, which had come from Arabia in verse form. The qasida was a panegyric written in the praise of the lord or the emperor. The part of the qasida called tashbib got detached and developed in due course of time into the ghazal. Whereas the qasida sometimes ran into as many as 100 couplets or more in mono-rhyme, the ghazal seldom exceeded twelve, and settled down to an average of seven. Because of its comparative brevity and concentration, its thematic variety and rich suggestiveness, the ghazal soon eclipsed the qasida and became the most popular form of poetry in Iran.  
Since the arrival of the Turkic and Afghan tribesmen in India in about A.D. 1000, a most important place, a power base or shakti sthala has been occupied in Indian poetry and music by the lyric form called ghazal. This word, of Arabic origin, is now common heritage to all Indian languages and many Indian poets use it as the preferred form.
In Arabic, ghazal means a lover talking to his beloved amorously. The ghazal was developed further and to its maximum potential in Iran and in India where Persian was the court language of the Turcomans, Afghans and the Mughals who ruled in the North and the Bahamanis and their successors in the South. Of the Persian poets, Hafiz of Shiraz enjoys the highest reputation. The Indian poets held in esteem for Persian verse are Amir Khusrau (13th century) and Mirza Bedil (18th century). Khusrau also wrote in Hindi and was devoted to the great Sufi Nizamuddin Auliya. Khusrau's Persian and Hindi verse is sung at Sufi shrines even today, some seven centuries later. On the anniversary of the saint's death, the Urs festivities start with qawwals singing a Khusrau verse.
The most commonly used definition for a ghazal is very simplistic and yet kind of misleading. A ghazal is commonly defined to be a collection of shers (couplets).  A sher is a couplet, which means two line of poetry and makes sense all by itself.  In other words, each sher is a poem by itself and it doesn’t depend on the rest of the ghazal to make sense. This also means that there is absolutely no enjambments anywhere in the ghazal not even between the two lines of the sher.
Consider this sher,
The day we met my life was bound, with you
Every dream I dreamt of was found, with you.
You would notice that each line makes sense by itself and the sher is a complete poem by itself.  Yet not all collections of shers form a ghazal. Lets look at the other rules which have to be followed.
Beher
Beher refers to the meter of the ghazal. All the shers should have the same meter. The types of beher are loosely classified as:
Short
Just that day, I was yours
In every way, I was yours
Medium
The day we met my life was bound, with you
Every dream I dreamt of was found, with you.
Long
Just for that one joy in my lifetime, I would do anything
To live with your love so sublime, I would do anything
As you see the number of syllables is not same in each line but close enough.
Radif
Radif or the refrain is the phrase or word with which all the shers end. The last line of all the shers end with the same word or set of words.
Refer
Just that day, I was yours
In every way, I was yours
“I was yours” forms the radif here. The opening sher in all ghazal must have the radif in both the lines and is called the matla. All the examples cited above are matlas.
Kaafiya
Kaafiyaa' is the rhyming pattern which all the words before 'Radif' MUST have. The ghazal follows an intricate internal rhyming pattern.
Just that day, I was yours
In every way, I was yours
Day and way form the kaafiya in our example.
Maqta
In the last sher of the ghazal the shayar generally uses his nick name or alias in the poem. This may be in first person, second person or third persona and may be in any part of the last sher, though this is not a compulsory pat of the ghazal it is commonly used.
When you were away from me, my love
My heart was away ground, with you
Ephemeral though this life may be, dearest,
By love, I will our world surround, with you
Here I take the nickname Ephemeral and use it to portray the timelessness of love.
Now coming to the most important rule of a ghazal. All the shers of the ghzals MUST NOT follow the same line of thought. Each sher should be a separate line of thought and yet must have the same underlying theme. Each sher shouldn’t follow each other but must be disjointed.  If the shers are scrambled and arranged in different orders It should still make sense. Remember it is a collection where except for the matla the placement of theConsider this ghazal I wrote a while ago.
You look up with a smile, as love catches me unawares
Your dancing eyes beguile, as love catches me unawares

Stolen kisses whispered words, walks in the moonlight
Fond memories pile, as love catches me unawares

Nose pressed to the window, ears tuned to the door
My dreams run fertile, as love catches me unawares

Snow kissing my nose, wind whipping away my cape
I walk with steps agile, as love catches me unawares

Roses bloom in splendor, spring has spread her beauty,
I just want to sit down awhile, as love catches me unawares

Waves kissing the shore, branches swaying to the wind
Flowers bloom in style, as love catches me unawares

Wind whispers in my ears, the promises of a sweet tomorrow
My heart yearns to walk the aisle, as love catches me unawares
In some cases the whole second line of the sher is used as the radif throughout the poem.
The wind lovingly ruffles your hair
As the rain splatters against the pane

A new found love blossoms in passion
As the rain splatters against the pane

A matured love basks in familiar comfort
As the rain splatters against the pane.

A young couple share the day's worries
As the rain splatters against the pane.

A young heart dreamily yearns for love
As the rain splatters against the pane.

An old souls knits memories of love
As the rain splatters against the pane.

My heart just wishes you were still be my side
As the rain splatters against the pane.
Generally when writing a new form of poetry I use a blank form and then fit my words in it.    
rest shouldn’t really matter
The Ghazal Format
Sher 1
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
Sher 2
----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
Sher 3
----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
Sher 4
----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
Sher 5
----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
Sher 6
----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain
Sher 7
----------------------------------------------------
------------------------------rhyme A + refrain

Now draft the first sher, While doing so keep a few things in mind. Pick a rhyme for which you would be able to find lots of rhyming words, which gives you freedom. Then, make sure that the refrain is strong enough to sustain throughout the ghazal.  
I pick my first sher as
They were people all new, the two strangers by the night,
Like the morning dew, the two strangers by the night..
My refrain is two strangers by the night and my kaafiya will be new, dew and so on. Now I write out the next sher
Just a chance clash of glances across a crowded hall,
Life took on a new hue, the two strangers in the night.
I make sure I stuck to the rhyme scheme, my radif is there and my kaafiya is correct. Now move on to the rest of the couplets one by one
Thrown together by a chance of a fate, circumstances
Act stronger than a glue, the two strangers in the night

Just a few moments together in a life spent apart
Will tell if love is true, the two strangers in the night

Whispered words and concealed glances at each other
In one night their love grew, the two strangers in the night

In the night set for romance in a star spangled sky
And a moonlight view, the two strangers in the night

The face a passing blur, catching yearning in the heart
Sometimes love occurs to, the two strangers in the night.
Till you get all the rules of the ghazal known thoroughly it might be a good idea to use this form
A class about ghazals would be incomplete without the mention of nazms.
A nazm is very similar to a ghazal except that all the shers are bound together by a single thought.
Some contemporary shayars use the nazm within the sher too.
An example of a nazm
I stood waiting for you near the door, just to be by your side
That's what I wanted since I was four, just to be by your side

When we met for the first time holding our mommy's hands
I hated you and thought it a bore, just to be by your side

Yet I pounced on excuses and often landed on your door
even when the rain did pour, just to be by your side

The year when i turned sixteen you made me yours with a kiss
My heart did pound and blood did roar, just to be by your side

All through the tumultuous years we were together and fought
I wanted even when we were at war, just to be by your side

And then came the day when we were named man and wife
That was the day I solemnly swore, just to be by your side

Now as you sleep carelessly on the bed with an arm around me
I know I am blessed, even if you do snore, just to be by your side
The ghazal takes a little bit of time in the beginning to master the rules but is a pleasure to write later on. It is a very beautiful form to capture the myriad emotions of love. The ghazals of Ghalib are a treasure to read and I have provided the link below.
Recommended Reading
http://www.msci.memphis.edu/~ramamurt/ghalib.html  
Wrapping up the rules pertaining to a ghazal are
·    A poem of five to fifteen couplets
·    No enjambment between couplets. Think of each couplet as a separate poem. One must have a sense that line 2 is amplifying line 1, turning things around, surprising us.
·    Once again, ABSOLUTELY no enjambment between couplets—each couplet must be like a precious stone that can shine even when plucked from the necklace though it certainly has greater luster in its setting.
·    What links these couplets is a strict formal scheme. This is how it works: The entire ghazal employs the same rhyme and refrain. The rhyme must always immediately precede the refrain. If the rhyme is merely buried somewhere in the line, that will have its charm, of course, but it would not lead to the wonderful pleasure of IMMEDIATE recognition which is central to the ghazal. The refrain may be a word or phrase.
·    Each line must be of the same length (inclusive of the rhyme and refrain). In Urdu and Persian, all the lines are usually in the same meter and have the same metrical length. So establish some system—metrical or syllabic—for maintaining consistency in line lengths.
·    The last couplet may be (and usually is) a signature couplet in which the poet may invoke his/her name in the first, second, or third person.
·    The scheme of rhyme and refrain occurs in BOTH lines of the first couplet (that is how one learns what the scheme is), and then in only the second line of every succeeding couplet (that is, the first line of every succeeding couplet has no restrictions other than to maintain the syllabic or metrical length.
·    There is an epigrammatic terseness in the ghazal, but with immense lyricism, evocation, sorrow, heartbreak, wit. What defines the ghazal is a constant longing.
– Smitha Chakravarthula
May 2, 2004

gumshuda ji,
Thanks for posting those wonderful article. I did read few Shamsur Rahman Faruqi writing he is a great Poet. Looking forward.





____________
"I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.

gumshuda wrote: [View Post]

GHAZAL (GAZAL) - URDU POETIC SONGS
by David Courtney, Ph.D.


Introduction
The ghazal is a common form in Indian and Pakistan.  Strictly speaking, it is not a musical form at all but a poetic recitation.  However, today it is commonly conceived of as an Urdu song whose prime importance is given to the lyrics.


The job of converting ghazal to a musical form was finished in the 20th century.  The development of the recording and film industries created a mass media that was well suited to the musical ghazal.  They also created an environment where it was convenient to treat the ghazal as though it were a mere git.  All of this had tremendous economic advantages for performers and producers alike.  Unfortunately, it also created economic pressures to lower the standards for the lyrical content.

Gummu Bhai

This is the sad....Well let's do out part in Promoting as much as we can and do our bit in remembering some of those Legends





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"Without music, life is a journey through a desert. - Pat Conroy"

"There is no delight in owning anything unshared." Seneca [Roman philosopher]

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"Without music, life is a journey through a desert. - Pat Conroy"

"There is no delight in owning anything unshared." Seneca [Roman philosopher]

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"Without music, life is a journey through a desert. - Pat Conroy"

"There is no delight in owning anything unshared." Seneca [Roman philosopher]

 

But promotions are not the only factor which can help this genre as the issue has gone much beyond - like listening habits. Feels Makkar, "Today's music is on the move, anything which is soft and easy listening needs a mood and ambience. Unfortunately, the listening habits have changed and people are listening to music on the move- while driving or partying."

 

Apparently, the revenue streams are also pulling the genre down, feels Times Music CEO Adarsh Gupta. "It’s a downward spiral for ghazal music. The current mood in the market does not support this genre, but having said that, if someone comes with an exceptionally good album, it will work" he says. On being asked if contemporizing the genre will give it a lift, Gupta says, "If you use cosmetics on an aging woman, it doesn’t make her any good." 

 

Besides this, a common perception is that youngsters do not listen to ghazals. However, it seems there are many ghazal lovers among youngsters, who would prefer to remain its secret admirers. "They do not like to admit they like to listen to ghazals, because they feel it's not 'cool' to hear ghazals," says Makkar. 

 

But the ghazal is obviously working at some level, if EMI India felt the the market was right for bringing out a compilation of hit film and non film ghazals just last month. “It’s all about the mood. If I am in the mood, I’ll hear ghazals. The kind of life we lead is stressful. After reaching home, I do not like to listen to anything that is sad, because, it’s even more depressing. I will definitely choose to listen to a song that peps me up," says Aditya Bharadwaj, a media professional. 

 

In earlier days, both films and radio played a significant role in popularising the genre. Not anymore. Musicians often crib that radio stations ignore the ghazal, citing listener preferences. "Radio stations are going mass and ghazals is certainly not mass music – it requires a refined taste," says Pralay Bakshi, Station Head

 

Promoting ghazals and Hindustani classical music was predominantly done by state broadcaster All India Radio and anybody who wants to listen to ghazals can still switch to AIR. However, at this point, private stations don't look keen on following the example. "Probably when Phase III comes in, and when radio stations would be allowed to have multiple stations, probably then stations would devote time to a certain genre or cater certain audience. Even then, I don't think they will play it the entire day- nobody would like to commit commercial suicide," laughs Bakshi.

 

It seems this sentiment also varies from cities. For instance, Delhi is a very contemporary music market compared to Kolkata, which still has an audience who would be open to listening to ghazals. Mumbai, needless to say, has the ever dominant Bollywood ruling the charts, while in Bangalore, its western music all the way.  

 

One can only hope and pray that the golden age of ghazals will return, bringing with it a fresh perspective, enthusiasm and talented artistes who will take ghazal singing to new heights without having to resort to cheap gimmickry. If we compare the current state of Sufi music to that of Ghazals, Sufi has fared far too well with the contemporary element- in fact, it has turned into the highest selling genre - why can't ghazal singers give it a similar lift through tasteful arrangements? After all, a few years back, no one knew what Sufi was, but now it's the only thing that works. 

 

It’s up to the musicians if they want to take the genre to the masses or keep it to the restricted audience. Taking the genre to the masses would mean tweaking and tweaking would mean killing the soul of the rich genre to a large extent – in the interest of music, it would perhaps be best if the thought of contemporizing ghazals more than what it is done now is kept aside – that way at least we will have a genre which has its own straight ‘back’.

 

 

cont...

____________
"I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.

But promotions are not the only factor which can help this genre as the issue has gone much beyond - like listening habits. Feels Makkar, "Today's music is on the move, anything which is soft and easy listening needs a mood and ambience. Unfortunately, the listening habits have changed and people are listening to music on the move- while driving or partying."

 

Apparently, the revenue streams are also pulling the genre down, feels Times Music CEO Adarsh Gupta. "It’s a downward spiral for ghazal music. The current mood in the market does not support this genre, but having said that, if someone comes with an exceptionally good album, it will work" he says. On being asked if contemporizing the genre will give it a lift, Gupta says, "If you use cosmetics on an aging woman, it doesn’t make her any good." 

 

Besides this, a common perception is that youngsters do not listen to ghazals. However, it seems there are many ghazal lovers among youngsters, who would prefer to remain its secret admirers. "They do not like to admit they like to listen to ghazals, because they feel it's not 'cool' to hear ghazals," says Makkar. 

 

But the ghazal is obviously working at some level, if EMI India felt the the market was right for bringing out a compilation of hit film and non film ghazals just last month. “It’s all about the mood. If I am in the mood, I’ll hear ghazals. The kind of life we lead is stressful. After reaching home, I do not like to listen to anything that is sad, because, it’s even more depressing. I will definitely choose to listen to a song that peps me up," says Aditya Bharadwaj, a media professional. 

 

In earlier days, both films and radio played a significant role in popularising the genre. Not anymore. Musicians often crib that radio stations ignore the ghazal, citing listener preferences. "Radio stations are going mass and ghazals is certainly not mass music – it requires a refined taste," says Pralay Bakshi, Station Head

 

Promoting ghazals and Hindustani classical music was predominantly done by state broadcaster All India Radio and anybody who wants to listen to ghazals can still switch to AIR. However, at this point, private stations don't look keen on following the example. "Probably when Phase III comes in, and when radio stations would be allowed to have multiple stations, probably then stations would devote time to a certain genre or cater certain audience. Even then, I don't think they will play it the entire day- nobody would like to commit commercial suicide," laughs Bakshi.

 

It seems this sentiment also varies from cities. For instance, Delhi is a very contemporary music market compared to Kolkata, which still has an audience who would be open to listening to ghazals. Mumbai, needless to say, has the ever dominant Bollywood ruling the charts, while in Bangalore, its western music all the way.  

 

One can only hope and pray that the golden age of ghazals will return, bringing with it a fresh perspective, enthusiasm and talented artistes who will take ghazal singing to new heights without having to resort to cheap gimmickry. If we compare the current state of Sufi music to that of Ghazals, Sufi has fared far too well with the contemporary element- in fact, it has turned into the highest selling genre - why can't ghazal singers give it a similar lift through tasteful arrangements? After all, a few years back, no one knew what Sufi was, but now it's the only thing that works. 

 

It’s up to the musicians if they want to take the genre to the masses or keep it to the restricted audience. Taking the genre to the masses would mean tweaking and tweaking would mean killing the soul of the rich genre to a large extent – in the interest of music, it would perhaps be best if the thought of contemporizing ghazals more than what it is done now is kept aside – that way at least we will have a genre which has its own straight ‘back’.

 

 

cont...

____________
"I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.

Promoting ghazals and Hindustani classical music was predominantly done by state broadcaster All India Radio and anybody who wants to listen to ghazals can still switch to AIR. However, at this point, private stations don't look keen on following the example. "Probably when Phase III comes in, and when radio stations would be allowed to have multiple stations, probably then stations would devote time to a certain genre or cater certain audience. Even then, I don't think they will play it the entire day- nobody would like to commit commercial suicide," laughs Bakshi.

 

It seems this sentiment also varies from cities. For instance, Delhi is a very contemporary music market compared to Kolkata, which still has an audience who would be open to listening to ghazals. Mumbai, needless to say, has the ever dominant Bollywood ruling the charts, while in Bangalore, its western music all the way.  

 

One can only hope and pray that the golden age of ghazals will return, bringing with it a fresh perspective, enthusiasm and talented artistes who will take ghazal singing to new heights without having to resort to cheap gimmickry. If we compare the current state of Sufi music to that of Ghazals, Sufi has fared far too well with the contemporary element- in fact, it has turned into the highest selling genre - why can't ghazal singers give it a similar lift through tasteful arrangements? After all, a few years back, no one knew what Sufi was, but now it's the only thing that works. 

 

It’s up to the musicians if they want to take the genre to the masses or keep it to the restricted audience. Taking the genre to the masses would mean tweaking and tweaking would mean killing the soul of the rich genre to a large extent – in the interest of music, it would perhaps be best if the thought of contemporizing ghazals more than what it is done now is kept aside – that way at least we will have a genre which has its own straight ‘back’.

 

Final.......

____________
"I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.

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Music forms a part of me again It gives Shape to my faceless Expressions...To my Thoughts. {Alochana}