Punjabi Folk Maestros: Jagmohan Kaur & K Deep.

A husband and wife team, who specialized in mixing comedy and slightly risqué comedy at that with music, as their variety shows became so popular not in India but all over the world also. K. Deep was the king and Jagmohan Kaur was his queen. Popular as “king of variety shows”, K. Deep and Jagmohan Kaur came into the limelight as duet singers in the ‘70s. K. Deep was perhaps the first artiste who mixed melody with comedy to make it an effective source of entertainment. His cassettes “Mai Mohno” was not only a hit in the ‘80s, but continues to be in demand even today. Jagmohan Kaur, the erstwhile ‘‘koel’’ of Punjab, was popular with her songs and captivating histrionics as “Mai Mohono”, with her husbansd K. Deep acting as “Posti”. K. DEEP is indeed a versatile Punjabi artiste. He had stopped his stage performances after the death of his stage and life partner Jagmohan Kaur about nine years ago. His entry into the world of stage was dramatic. After doing a diploma course from Sir Chhottu Ram Polytechnic Institute in Haryana, K. Deep had come to Chandigarh for an interview in 1970. He got late and in the evening there was some cultural function. He got a chance to perform at the function where a recording team of the HMV was also present. After he came down from the stage, the Director of the HMV impressed by his voice and flair for comedy made him an offer on the spot that he should come to Delhi for recording. He got his first LP recorded in 1970 and there has been no looking back since then.

Jagmohan Kaur - Puran (Lok Gatha)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyPgtrI8lWM

Traditional Punjabi Bhangra on Dhol by Jagmohan Kaur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S01iCYQe2ms

His meeting with Jagmohan Kaur was also an interesting episode. He had gone to Calcutta on the invitation of a Punjabi society to perform at a cultural programme. Jagmohan Kaur along with several other Giddha artistes was also there. Jagmohan Kaur fell for him when he won the applause of the audience for his earthy comedy laced with a melodious voice. There were some hurdles, but they got married and performed together on stage. This continued till Jagmohan Kaur left for her heavenly abode. Their most popular songs in the ‘80s were Baitha nim thale ni jawai tere baap da..., Paisa hai nahi pale, guttar vangu jhakda..., Baba ve kala marore..., Meri gal sunno Sardarji, Tere ni bharava mannu kuttia.., and Bara karara pudna... Apart from stage performances, K. Deep also made several documentaries. He staged variety shows almost in all countries, including the USA, Canada, and the UK where Punjabis are settled in a good number. He was busy in the past few years to make a documentary on Punjabis around the world. Already he has been to 14 countries in this connection. K. Deep who was earlier known as Kuldeep when he was a student at his home village Attiana near Halwara in Ludhiana district. Attiana has given some very famous artistes, including Daljit Kaur, to the Punjabi theatre and film world.

Ni Main Kamli Aan (Bulleh Shah) - Jagmohan Kaur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3rLfYzRjLw


Ni Main Kamli Aan by Jagmohan Kaur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEuTd7PLT50

K. Deep is a great imitator. He can imitate any one. His voice culture is very impressive. His unmatched quality is that he can play any sort of music with his mouth without using any musical instrument. He is also an actor and has done theatre. Known as a shy boy at the school level, K. Deep has emerged as an artiste full of wit, comedy and melody. Mr K. Deep also want to make Aab-e-Hayyat a vibrant cultural centre with the help of the Punjabi Sabhyachar Akademi. Now Both K. Deep and his daughter, Gurpreet, ‘‘Billy’’ to her friends, want to perpetuate the memory of Jagmohan Kaur, an all-time great Punjabi folk singer, who like Shiv Batalvi died young. Up till now they have had numerous successful shows to their credit in North America and other places in the world in memory of her. K. Deep, besides singing, has been in production and direction of documentaries, serials and films. ‘‘Billy’’ wants to be a ‘‘promoter’’. Both K. Deep and "Billy" had settled at Burnaby in British Columbia in Canada. There too, they tried to serve their mother tongue, Punjabi, and folklore of their state of origin. REFERENCE: Ludhiana Personality :: K. Deep & Jagmohan Kaur http://www.ludhianadistrict.com/personality/kdeep_jagmohan_kaur.php

RANI ISHRA DAHAN MAARDI - JAGMOHAN KAUR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3alo0EsYu6s

THE centuries-old Pooran Di Khuee (the well of Pooran) situated at a far-off border village, Karol, in Kotli Syed Ameer sector, remains a ray of hope for the issueless who believe that the Allah Almighty will bless them with children if they take a bath around it every Sunday night in the moonlight of each Islamic month. Dozens of issueless people, therefore, visit Pooran Di Khuee every Sunday night and perform these rituals. Women hang their colourful ‘dopattas’ on the centuries-old tree near the well and the temple of Pooran, hoping that their prayers for children would be granted. Several people told Dawn that Allah Almighty gave them children after they had repeatedly visited Pooran Di Khuee. Before partition, the issueless Sikhs and Hindus used to visit the place to pray for children. Now, couples from all over Pakistan visit it throughout the year for the same purpose. According to Tareekh-i-Sialkot (the history of Sialkot), compiled by historian Rashid Niaz, Pooran was the son of the then ruler of Sialkot, Raja Salbahan. Pooran was very handsome and innocent. Raja Salbahan’s wife Rani Loonan, the daughter of the ruler of Jammu state, was issueless. The Raja felt the need of a son who could inherit his kingdom. So he married a poor and pretty girl, Ichchran. Rani Ichchran became much beloved of Raja Salbahan when she gave birth to a son named Pooran. Raja Salbahan declared Pooran as his successor. On this, Raja Salbahan’s first wife Rani Loonan become jealous of her stepson. Raja Pooran turned a handsome and charming youth full of innocence. His stepmother, one day, under a plan, accused him of trying to criminally assault her. She also misguided Raja Salbahan, terming the innocent boy a vagabond. On this, Raja Salbahan became very angry and without verifying the accusation ordered his lieutenants to throw his only and beloved son into a well (Chah-i-Zindan) after cutting his arms and legs. Pooran was not given a chance to clarify his position.

Tareekh-i-Sialkot revealed that Raja Salbahan’s men threw Pooran into Chah-i-Zindan after cutting his hands and legs. This was what Rani Loonan had wanted. Chah-i-Zindan was located on the banks of the river Chenab. The same day, Sikh saint Guru Gorakhnath, with dozens of his disciples, reached the well. They found Pooran in it and took him out in a critical condition. Later, Pooran told his entire story to the Guru, who adopted him as his disciple. It is said that Pooran regained his legs and arms with the special worship and prayers of his Guru. Pooran started worship of God under his supervision and became a Bhagat preaching the teachings of his Guru. Hearing the fame of Pooran’s miracles, Raja Salbahan and Rani Loonan went to Pooran Bhagat and requested him to pray to God to bless them with a child. Pooran Bhagat introduced himself as Raja Pooran, their son, and proved that he was not guilty as his issueless stepmother, Rani Loonan, out of jealousy had blamed him for trying to rape her. Pooran asked his stepmother to accept her fault if she wanted a child.

Rani Loonan admitted before Raja Salbahan that she had unjustly blamed her stepson who was innocent. Raja Salbahan felt ashamed and asked him to come back and take charge as a new ruler of his kingdom. Refusing to go back, Pooran Bhagat prayed to God to bless them with a child. Later, he gave them the good news that God will give them a handsome boy and his name would be Raja Rasalu. Tareekh-i-Sialkot revealed that Raja Salbahan constructed a temple, Lungar Khana, Ashnan Ghar and Dharam Shala at the place where his son, Pooran Bhagat, had lived and preached. According to another history book, Mutiny in Sialkot, Pooran Bhagat’s Samadhi remained there till 1857. It disappeared with the passage of centuries, leaving behind only a small well Pooran Di Khuee and a small temple there which are being looked after by issueless people, who visit the place. REFERENCE: A ‘ray of hope’ for the issueless February 12, 2003 Wednesday Zul Hijjah 10, 1423 http://archives.dawn.com/2003/02/12/fea.htm#1

Tribute to Legendary Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor (1910-1986)

A gaunt, regal saffron turbanned figure, yaktaro held aloft, steps onto the stage. Beside him is a smaller, younger man; several other saffron-robed faqirs follow, and as the full throated, open roar of Faqir Abdul Ghafoor rents the night air, they move around him in rhythmic union, echoing the words of the kafi he is singing. It is an unforgettable experience and one that can never be repeated, for Faqir Abdul Ghafoor died last month. (Article was written in 1986 and this post is posted in 2011)

Ant Bahar Di Khabar by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor



 Chalo Way Sayan by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

 

 With his passing, a long chapter in Sindh’s cultural history drew towards a close. It seems tragically symbolic that the greatest surviving Sindhi folk singer should die at a time when monumental changes are taking place in his beloved homeland: changes which will sweep away the society and culture which shaped his musical career.

Sohnay Yar Di Gharoli by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

 Faqir Abdul Ghafoor was born into that environment: the feudal society of Sindh, with its rural base, its village culture, its havelis and autaqs and, most important of all as far as the music is concerned, its dargahs and pirs and faqirs. He grew up surrounded by the sounds of the dargah and the kalam of the sufi poets, and took up the study and practice of music at an early age. At that time, the music of the dargah was the dominant form of musical expression at the popular level, and it was inevitable that the young Ghafoor would gravitate towards a murshed.

Kalangi Walra 2 by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

His choice was Sachal Sarmast, and it was at his dargah at Daraza (near Khairpur), that Faqir Abdul Ghafoor received his early training. Sachal’s shrine was the gathering place for many great singers of his kafis, and Ghafoor gained invaluable experience, listening to them and storing away their particular styles and approach. He presided over the annual ceremony at which a special chadar was laid on the tomb of the saint, and sang the kafi associated with this occasion, and sung only once in a year.

Bar Sudagar by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor



Ghum Charakhra by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

The range and power of Faqir Abdul Ghafoor’s voice had already marked him out as an exceptional kafi performer, but his scope was not limited to the dargah. His intense interest in the politics of Sindh was seldom far from his music. During the period of agitation against One Unit, Ghafoor performed at a students’ function at Liaquat Medical College, Hyderabad. His choice of a Shaikh Ayaz’s wai brought the house down:

Sahando ker mayar o’ yar

Sindhri ta’an ser ker na deendo

(Who among us, my friend, would bear the shame

Of not sacrificing himself for Sindh when the call comes?).

Muhinjey Ranay Khey Raham Paway by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

After this performance, no Sindhi cultural occasion was considered complete without Ghafoor singing Sindhri... A close friend of Ghafoor’s once recalled that, ”Whenever Ghafoor has stepped onto a stage in Sindh during a period of political turmoil, he has always been called upon to sing Sindhri. In fact, the emotions aroused by his performance were so powerful that the authorities banned him from singing this wai on public occasions. They allowed others to sing whatever they wanted to, but Ghafoor was too much for them to handle.”

Nahay Barochal by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

Ghafoor pioneered and popularised many other now-famous folk songs and kafis, including Dama dam mast Qalandar, Gharoli and Rano. His performance of Rano was a special favourite of the late Prime Minister Bhutto, who often used to call Ghafoor to his home to sing for him. This association between the Prime Minister and the Faqir assumed a special poignance when Mr. Bhutto was in jail, a few months before his death, and Ghafoor sang Rano on the Bhitshah stage: the cry by Moomal (Sindh) that Rano would return, was readily associated by the audience with the then current political situation.

Faqir Abdul Ghafoor’s love of Sindh and his rebellious nature were a natural vehicle for the anti-establishment poetry with which his music was largely associated. But he was much more than just a Sindhi folk musician. His collection of the kalam of various poets and his own development of the songs he discovered during his sojourn at Sachal’s and other shrines, was a unique contribution to the musical tradition of Pakistan. The sufi literary and musical heritage has drawn from a variety of sources; Ghafoor himself was familiar with the poetry of several languages, including Seraiki, Baluchi, Farsi, Gujrati, Punjabi and Urdu/Hindi..

Soorat Jo Sultan by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor



 Dil Masto Mast by Late Faqeer Abdul Ghafoor

 

 Hithay Nahin To Kithay Nahin Yeh Kaun Piya Bolenda by Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor (Sachal Sarmast)


 Aao Kaanga Kar by Late Faqeer Abdul Ghafoor

 

The environment which produced I. this extraordinary man has now changed so substantially, that it is inconceivable that another Ghafoor could emerge. The spontaneity, lack of artifice and the self-consciousness of Ghafoor’s performance (and that of other Sindhi musicians like Hussain Bakhsh Khadim, his constant companion and co-performer, Allan Faqir and Dhol Faqir) is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Having moved far away from the open maidans and informal gatherings of village life, divorced from the dargah culture which gave birth to the various schools of sufi music, modern performers are a different breed from Ghafoor. Electronic media and stage performances have created new musical forms and changed the relationship between the singer, the audience and the source of inspiration; the latter is, perhaps, now commercial success and money, rather than devotion to the murshid or participation in a life centred around his dargah. Courtesy: Faqeer Abdul Ghafoor (1910-1986) By Amenah Azam Ali (Courtesy: The Herald, August 1986) http://www.the-reporter.info/2009/feb-march09/memoirs/index.htm