Kalid Anum – an interview
// November 15th, 2009 // Music, Pakistan
One of my fondest memories is of khalid somehow appearing at a small dinner party I was was once at, and singing these haunting, hypnotic folk songs on his guitar, and and how you could just see him moved by the songs he’d no doubt sung and heard so many times before.
YouTube – No Reservations Episode 57 Part 3.
In case you havent hear peera ho:
Its just struck me how atypical the video for peera ho is for its time. This was back in the early 90′s when pakistani pop music was very much in its infancy and whatever little music videos that go produced ran along the cheesy formula of boy meets girl in college. this must have had particular resonance with the guys writing/producing these songs and videos, because back then most of them were in college and the videos must have been the manifestations of the most ardently held desires.
Not only is this Khalid anum video pretty unsual in that context (note how, unlike most pakistani singers – he isnt the main protagonist) it pairs off very well with the feel of the song, and the strange seperation that the song tries to depict.
Speaking of depictions – i found a particularly moving (and perhaps melancholy) bit of Khalid’s interview stuck in my head days after I watched it. Somewhere in the clip (see the youtube video) he talks about how he remembers, as a young kid sitting outside the bar in the sindh club (probably the most prestigious colonial era gentlemen’s club left over from the raj) –children werent allowed in the bar (this presumably, was before the prohibition)– watching his mother rest her hand on the ancient piano and she sang along to its tunes. I can just see in the minds eye the cool, timeless raj era building which grows old through this odd tattering at the edges, which only somehow makes it homlier and prettier, and comfortable – just like an old t shirt and the young boy watching his mother play this piano – in pakistan’s heydey when a new nation had stepped up blinking into the tropical sun, and there was optimism and the scent of promise in the air. i mention this because the piano, the club, the setting was all largely out of bound to locals before independence, and i cant help but imagine that there was just this slight, imperceptible spring in their step for having over-come that.
whats happened since, is of course public knowlege (ie. pakistan seemingly endless vortex of suffering), but khaled also lost his dad (as he goes on to say) when he was 12, and his mum when he was 17.
Translation:
Mere haath kee reteyan, Tootian
The shackles of my hands, broken
Mere haath kee reteyan, Tootian
The shackles of my hands, broken
Mera Peer Sachee tay main chootian
My Mentor’s true* but I’m far away from that
Shala waleya Peera
My beloved Mentor
Peera ho Peera
Peera ho Peera
-
Meri dachi de gal wich taliyan
Around the neck of my camel, bells are hanging free
Meri dachi de gal wich taliyan
Around the neck of my camel, bells are hanging free
Wey mein peer manwan, Chaliya
I part to go makeup to my mentor
Shala waleya Peera
My beloved Mentor
Peera ho Peera
Peera ho Peera
-
Mera haath katora hai, Manga da
A begging bowl is in my hand
Mera haath katora hai, Manga da
A begging bowl is in my hand
Mera peera walee naa, Rawan da
My mentor is the master of these paths
Shala waleya Peera
My beloved Mentor
Peera ho Peera
Peera ho Peera
based on lyrics from here: http://qausain.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/peera-ho/
Related posts:
Mera peera walee naa, Rawan da
“mera Peer walee anaa, Rawan da”
My mentor is the master of these paths.
Thanks for that!