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 Can life be compared to a mobile phone! Yes,
if 12-year-old Sufi singer Rais Anis Sabri is to be believed. He
says, life is like a SIM card of uncertain validity that needs
frequent recharge, to connect to the Almighty through prayer -
the outgoing calls - and receive the divine grace - the incoming
calls. He calls every earthquake or tsunami a missed call urging
people to always remember their Lord.
A phenomenally talented artiste, Rais Anis
Sabri is a sixth grade student from Jalalabad, Uttar Praesh, who
is currently making waves in the world of Sufi Qawwali music.
Son and disciple of Rais Sabri, who in turn is a disciple of
famous Qawwal Aslam Sabri, Anis is one of the youngest
performing sufiana qawwals in the subcontinent..
He began to learn the intricacies of this
genre of performing art from his father at the tender age of
four and at seven gave his first performance. He already has
several CDs to his credit and one of his albums ‘Chisti Rang’ is
a household name.
This child protégé’s performance was held at Music Academy in
Chennai on October 26, 2007. The event was organised by Amir
Khusro Sangeet Academy, a non-profit, registered, trust given to
promoting Hindustani classical and related genres in Chennai.
"With his quick repartee, clear enunciation conveyed soulfully,
Anis’ rendition is characterised by intensity, élan and
exuberance of the mystical singing tradition established some
seven centuries ago in the subcontinent," said Jyoti Nair
Belliapa, founder-trustee and vice-president of the Amir Khusro
Sangeet Academy, while introducing this rising star to the
Chennai audience.
Dressed in bright orange robes and a sequined cap rimmed with
the same colour, the lad was oozing with confidence.
He began his performance with an invocation to Allah, hitting
the high notes with “Allah Hoo”. The next was a power-packed
performance, ‘Mere Ghar Aaana Pyaare Nabhi.’ When he sang his
popular number ‘Chishti rang,’ he was in his full form. His
showmanship and confidence were at their best during this
performance. He sent the audience on a soul-searching mission
when he sang ‘Maa Baap Ka Dil Na Dukha.’ The depth and the range
of his voice charmed the audience who listened to the artiste
with great admiration.
When I asked Rais Anis Sabri who he admired the most, pat came
the kid's reply, Nusrat Fatheh Ali Khan. I asked him what he
liked about the late legendary singer: “His sargam and the alaap
- the mix of the two and the way he used to weave all this
during his performance. I, too, enjoy breaking into that kind of
mould, but I am still a learner,” Anis said.
Rais Anis Sabri's composition reflects a substitutive change
that’s going on in the popular singing tradition. The child
artiste deftly weaves together some complex spiritual concepts
by resorting to disarmingly simple analogies.
 As he was warming up, he made a few cracks on how the devout
these days are fixated on the TV remote and watch serials. He
even did a parody of the film song; ‘Aashiq Banaya.’ He also
talked about cricket stars like Dhoni and Sachin who occupy most
of the space in today’s youths' lives than the religious
characters of one’s faith.
The emotionally charged interactive ambience had admirers
walking up to the artiste, mid-way through the performance, to
shower him with money (nazranas) as tokens of appreciation.
Women, looking like Marwaris or Jains, burqua-clad women,
obviously Muslim, and look-alikes of Bipasha and Karena were all
doing the rounds, up and down the stage. So were men, wearing
all kids of dresses symbolising different religio-cultural
backgrounds. People were coming on to the stage literally every
second minute. Many sent their kids, but a lot of elders stood
on the stage carefully counting out the notes, till they were
exhausted.
Through it all, the performer didn't skip a beat, he ‘salaamed’
graciously and kept the money aside, singing all the while, or
bowed down, when many of them tossed notes, one by one, on his
head. Within his two hours of performance, believe me, not less
than Rs 50,000 must have been sprinkled on the stage.
Celebrities like Vyjayantimala Bali, film director Vijay T.
Rajendran and many others were among the audience in the
jam-packed auditorium. People with Rs 500 tickets were seen
standing on the aisles and some even squatted on the path.
People were clapping and shaking their heads as the wonder kid
sent everyone into raptures.
The boy spotted Vyjayantimala Bali, the heartthrob of the
sixties, leaving the hall and requested her to sit down again
and listen to his 'Bandh'. Vyjayantimala dutifully obliged him
and while leaving, gave a bend-down salutation in Mughal-e-Azam
style.
As it was free flowing music, everyone had licence to go on
stage. Gokul Das, a top builder of Chennai city, was so
overwhelmed by the performance that he took out his Rolex watch
and presented to the talented performer. He sat all through the
show sporting a white Muslim cap.
The most defining moment was when Tamil director Vijay T.
Rajendran emptied his wallet on the boy. Someone gave the
bearded celebrity the microphone and he addressed the audience
with Salam-Wale-Kum. Speaking in Tamil, he laced his speech with
words like Masha Alhah and Subhan Allah to praise Rais Anis
Sabri. He got thunderous applause when he said whenever he takes
food, he begins it with Bismillah. The director promised Anis a
chance to sing in his forthcoming film.
The Sufi musical tradition began at the hospice of the Sufi
saint Hazarat Nizamudin Auliya of Delhi in the late 13th century
India. His disciple Hazart Amir Khusro is credited with having
characterised the Sufi singing tradition marked by high musical
intensity élan and exuberance that’s known to us as Qawwali.
Qawwali normally start with an instrumental prelude where the
main melody is played on the harmonium, accompanied by the
tabla. Then comes, the alap, during which the singers intone
different long notes, in the raag of the song to be played. The
lead singer begins to sing some preamble verses after which the
side singers repeat them with their own improvisation. This
leads into the main song with members joining the singing of the
verses that constitute the refrain, playing the musical
instruments and clapping.
The verses of Qawwali repertoire are suffused with mysticism and
esoteric content. These have been passed down largely through
oral traditions. The poetry is implicitly spiritual in its
meaning and the central themes are love, devotion and longing of
the individual for the Divine.
The song usually builds in tempo and passion, with each singer
trying to outdo the other in terms of vocal acrobatics. The
‘Zikr’ and ‘Sama’ creates a hypnotic state both among the
musicians and the audience. So electrifying is the music that
the listeners and the artistes at times find themselves
transported into a state of ‘wajad,’ a trance-like state where
they feel at one with God - generally considered to be the
height of spiritual ecstasy in Sufism.
“Not everyone can experience such a state of mind. The person
who has deep knowledge of the history and understanding of the
language can only experience this flight of ecstasy," says
Qawwal Ustad Muna Shaukat Ali, president, Amir Khusro Sangeet
Academy.
 “The job of the Qawwal is to sing with deep devotion and use his
body movements and musical expertise to create an atmosphere of
transcended rapture - a state of mind where the person does not
have control over the body and goes into a tizzy, intoxicated by
the divine music,” he said.
“Those who go into that state of spiritual trance may not soon
return to normalcy and may take some time to get back to earth.
There are many instances in recorded history where people have
passed away in such a state of mind,” the veteran Qawwal said.
Earlier, Jyoti Nair Belliapa announced the Amir Khusro Sangeet
Academy lifetime achievement awards that were conferred on poet
Abdul Rahman and Prof Sahfiuualh for their outstanding
contribution to Urdu literature. Dr Hakim S A Syed Sathar got
the honour for his public service.
Some of the previous recipients of the Amir Khusro Sangeet
Academy's lifetime achievement award are: late Ustad Bismillah
Khan Sahib, A R Rahman, M S Viswanathan, N Ram, D K Pattamal,
the late Dr Cherian, Mrs YGP, Vyjayantimala Bali, Shovana
Narayan, R Santhanam, the late 'Hamsadhwani' Ramachandran, the
late S V Krishnan and Meera Savoor.
Syed Ali Mujtaba
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