Painter of tribal motifs
By N. S. Tasneem
THE isolation of man from nature is a modern phenomenon that has robbed him of the joy of existence. This peculiar situation has inspired Dr Sujata Miri, a painter in her own right, to depict the relationship between man, nature and spirit or what may be called “ecological” well-being.

Audioscan by ASC

• Silsilay (HMV; Rs 65)
• Aashiqon ko Jalana Buri Baat Hai (Venus)
• Nazar Mila Ke (Magnasound; Rs 60)

Blend of old and new
By D.C. Sharma
THIRTY kilometres east of Kangra stands the costliest temple of this valley at Baroh. Its construction had involved crores of rupees. Set in the deep interior pockets of the valley, it is a unique blend of antique and modern art. Inspiring the curiosity of inquisitive scholars, it has recently become a popular tourist spot.

Third time lucky Sukhbir
By Nonika Singh

AS a kid he grew up in Nairobi, then moved to London for a year and a half and finally settled down in Dubai. Yet, this three-album old “Punjabi munda” Sukhbir far removed from his land of birth, Dalli village in Jalandhar district, who can sing in multiple languages (Spanish, Portugese, Swahelese, Urdu, Hindi) has become a rage amidst Punjabi music aficionado.

Apart from eliciting a tremendous response across the globe, closer home recently during a show at a local club he generated a mass hysteria and it became nearly impossible to control the effusive jubilant crowds. Then at yet another performance, in Chandigarh itself though he shared the stage with other celebrities, he remained the star attraction.

So what makes our indigenous export quality “imported” singer tick, especially during times of cut-throat competition when a new Punjabi singer is born every other day? Of course it’s his “New Style”, the unusual blend of Western reggae (his personal favourite) with traditional Bhangra.

The inspiration for the fusion came from London-based groups like Alaap which had pioneered the modern Bhangra. Though at a particular point singers of his ilk like Malkiat Singh of Tootak tootak tootiyan... fame, treading on similar footsteps were highly successful, today Sukhbir insists that Punjabi music even across the seven seas has come a full circle.

He elaborates, “Earlier on Punjabi music was permeated with Western influences and one hardly heard the dholak sound. But as of now the reverse has happened and the Western beat has been relegated and the traditional Indian instruments have taken over.”

Small wonder, now Sukhbir who calls his earlier albums “New Style” and “O Teristo” sheer experimental musical fantasises, too has done an about-turn and back-tracked to the traditional. He remarks, “Bhangra has its own feel, a distinctive rhythm and a beat which can’t always be meddled with. We too realised this only after my more traditional album ‘Gal Ban Gaee’ struck a responsive chord”. Indeed it was with his third album, (the earlier two got a lukewarm response) that Sukhbir’s album sold over 1,75,000 copies in India alone.

But the only gold that he struck with the phenomenal sales figure was a gold disc, a memento actually. He says, “No singer unless he sells over a million copies ever makes money out of the albums. Video (an advertising necessity) making charges today are so exorbitant.” More so for Sukhbir whose videos are not only financed by his own company, but shot in exotic locales like Seychelles, London and Dubai.

Dittoing the fact that today in singing (a complete act of entertainment) kaleidoscopic imagery, technical wizardry and the hyped image is a predominant factor, he insists that his ponytailed pop image is not a deliberate ploy to attract attention.

He questions, “What manufactured persona are we talking about? I don’t wear make-up, do not go to a hair stylist. Nor do I have designers working overtime to package me. I just pick my clothes off the rack. The only marketing gimmick I have ever submitted to is wearing dark shades for the album cover as my director Simon Fellowes felt that I looked cool in it.”

While his outburst settles the image issue — which has often unnecessarily attracted flak — how does he reconcile his glitzy profession with strongly spiritual religious leanings at home. But this son of a Sikh priest claims that his formative years, during which he accompanied his father and sang bhajans and participated in kirtans, have not transformed him into a religious zealot. Not religious at all. In fact he believes in the religion of happiness and endorses the dictum: “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.” As for the conflict with his father, the possible rumblings of a generation gap, he denies vehemently. “On the contrary my father has been a singular guiding force. Even today whenever I suffer from a writer’s block while penning my lyrics, I just call up Dad and the rest of the lines flow from him”, he asserts.

Interestingly, Sukhbir who can’t read or write Punjabi but comprehends it very well, writes his lyrics — Gal ban gaee came in a jiffy, less than 24 hours to be precise — in English script. Plus, this talented singer, who can play a number of musical instruments such as tabla, dholak, drum and santoor, composes and arranges his own music.

The hard work that goes in this “one-man show” is evened out by “the irreplaceable feeling of satisfaction.” He experiences a similar gush of sentiments, and overwhelming sense of wonder and a rush of adrenalin while interacting with live-wire audiences and thrives on moments like “At a concert in Bangkok, the audience was singing louder than me.”

The raison d'etre behind the success of Punjabi music cutting across nationalities and boundaries (he himself has performed in Belgium, France, Kenya, Tanzania...) he feels is, “Punjabi music is infectious and full of energy, a joie de vivre that couldn’t possibly have been contained. It was bound to spill out, transcend beyond the land of the five rivers.”

For him “music is power” and the fountainhead of his creativity is music itself as he tunes into all kinds of music and is an avid Jagjit Singh buff. While his ultimate ambition is to eternalise the process of creating music. (“I create music with my heart and soul”), for the time being his next album is ready for release. Also in the pipeline is an ambitious project with Pankaj Udhas and matinee idol Amitabh Bachchan.

So what will be the fusion of three diverse streams of talent like? A million dollars, may be! But Sukhbir understands the mercurical ways of madame success too well, and muses, “If only one knew what sold, everyone would be selling it. The unknown is the chance, the gamble that one has to undertake.” Only Sukhbir is proving to be a good gambler with all his aces up his sleeve.

Painter of tribal motifs
By N. S. Tasneem

THE isolation of man from nature is a modern phenomenon that has robbed him of the joy of existence. This peculiar situation has inspired Dr Sujata Miri, a painter in her own right, to depict the relationship between man, nature and spirit or what may be called “ecological” well-being.

Sujata began painting many years ago while she was teaching philosophy in a Delhi college. She began to take painting more seriously with the deepening of her interest in the forms of life which are known as “tribal”. This happened during the period when she was engaged in her study of the tribes of North-East India. She found that people of those regions were deeply involved in mythology. Myth, of course, is the legitimisation of life and only through it does life find self-awareness. This consideration led her to the notion of the “return to myth”, having the overtones of Rousseau’s “return to nature”.

The mythological motifs that Sujata portrays in her painting reveal the nuances of man’s quest for truth, beauty and goodness. Mostly she arrives at a particular myth through archetypes. At times she employs various narrative modes for the depiction of the ethical aspects of human life. This synthesis of aesthetic forms and ethical patterns has lent a new dimension to her paintings.

Sometimes she takes recourse in motifs with a view to highlighting the deep-seated human urge to seek the unknown or what lies beyond. Generally she deals with the age-old tales of creation, the recurrent mythic allusions to the various aspects of nature and the sanctimoniousness of man-woman relationship.

Sujata does not think that the tribals believe more in myths than in reality. In her view tribal traditionalism does not regard myth and reality as separate entities. Of course, with the changes taking place these days in remote regions, mostly as a result of modernisation, myth now plays as much or less a role in their society as in any other Indian society.

In her philosophical writings, she has been keen to articulate the tribal worldview which, of course, is at variance with the colonial approach to the understanding of tribal cultures. As a result, she has been successful in recreating the past, through the medium of colour, which has presented the psyche of these people with a peculiar texture. The observation that she is more occupied with the figurative art than the landscape, elicits the reply that her primary objective is to portray the tribal themes.

She attributes lack of sophistication in her paintings to her down-to-earth approach. She uses loud colours and delineates rugged features as the people in her paintings represent the power of natural forces.

Audioscan by ASC
Jagjit sings Javed

SILSILAY (HMV; Rs 65): Jagjit Singh has it in him to elevate even ordinary poetry to the level of sublimity. When he sings a shair of the calibre of Javed Akhtar, the results are bound to be delightful. That is what has happened in Silsilay, which is an enjoyable album from cover to cover.

The voice of Jagjit complements the imagery of Javed all the way. These are his own compositions and the music is deceptively simple. But it must have been quite a task to set to music lines such as :

Dariya ka sahil ho, poore chand ki raat ho,
Aur tum aao, kabhie yun bhi to ho...

Simplicity is the hallmark of Javed’s poetry all through. If his film song, Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga …, was replete with similes, he experiments in a different direction in

Maine dil se kaha
mujhko yeh to bata
jo hai tujhko mila
usme kya baat hai
kya hai jadugari, kaun hai wo pari
ai deewane bata
na vo koi pari
na koi mehzabin
na vo duniya mein hai sabse jyada hasin
bholi bhali si hai
seedhi saadi si hai
lekin usme ada ik nirali si hai
uske bin mera jeena hi bekaar hai
meine dil se kaha
baat itni si hai
ke tujhe pyar hai
mere dil ne kaha
mujhko ikrar hai
haan mujhe pyar hai...

Could anything be simpler? Yes, of course. For that, one has to hear Mujhko yakeen hai sach kahti thee, jo bhee amma kahti thee / Jab mere bachpan ke din the, chaand mein pariyaan rahti thee...

That is what the cassette is all about: nostalgic here, sad there and philosophical there. But it is enjoyable everywhere.

AASHIQON KO JALANA BURI BAAT HAI (Venus): Qawwali has always held its own against the onslaught of modern and can enthrall even those listeners who boast of only prevalent tastes. Badar Ali Khan is a well-known qawwal who knows all the nuances of his trade and applies them efficiently in the four quawwalis presented here. The singing is efficient but the ordinariness of the lyrics becomes a drag.

These are not traditional qawwalis but still, the name of the writers is not mentioned.

NAZAR MILA KE (Magnasound; Rs 60): Magnasound has been experimenting with new singers and Somesh Kumar is one of the beneficiaries. He may not become hot property but can surely try to be the flavour of the month. Like most newcomers, all the songs have been written, composed and arranged by Somesh himself, except Meri sona … which has been composed by Aslam Khan and written by Rais Khan. The title song is hummable, but one is put off by Somesh’s blatant attempt to ape Amitabh Bachchan of Aby Baby in the video version.

The club remix Pa ni sa... is lively while the numbers on side B are rather staid.

A unique work of art
By Suman Sachar

THE theme of an English poet John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” has its manifest illustration in the form of a sturdy Indian Nandi (bull) at Balakrupi in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.

Lord Shiva’s vahan (carrier) is usually found carved out of stone, but the Nandi at Balakrupi is tastefully made out of copper, the metal. Nothing is known about its maker whose artistic sensibility gave a life-like shape to a many-ton piece of copper.

Nandi at Balakrupi has some stark features. It has wide open nostrils which appear to be breathing heavily and panting fast. Both eye balls are at the exact angle and it seems as if the sacred bull was watching each visitor with a deep peep. The well spread over mat on its back gives the impression of a real piece of velvet. The bedecked bridle round the upper and lower jaws of the bull lends it a regal stature it deserves.

Why should the unique bull have a royal appearance? There is a story of the queen of a local ruler, Abhay Chand, suffering from various physical ailments. One day she had a vision of her step-mother asking her to install a Nandi to get rid of her sufferings. It is said the ailing queen got well soon after the holy animal was ceremoniously placed in the Balakrupi temple.

Today people from far and wide visit this temple for the darshan of the Nandi and, in accordance with the practice, rub flour, ghee and turmeric mixed together against its body. The massage is popularly believed to give relief from incurable skin problems.

Balakrupi is a small village. It can be approached both from Hamirpur and Palampur. From Hamirpur its distance is around 33 km, and from Palampur, roughly 42 km.

The Nandi as a rare work of art mutely calls for some accurate scientific protection against metallic erosion from the Archaeological Survey of India.

Blend of old and new
By D.C. Sharma

THIRTY kilometres east of Kangra stands the costliest temple of this valley at Baroh. Its construction had involved crores of rupees. Set in the deep interior pockets of the valley, it is a unique blend of antique and modern art. Inspiring the curiosity of inquisitive scholars, it has recently become a popular tourist spot.

The artistic entrance at the corner of the temple gives it a grandeur of its own. Its arched gate, having two steeples above its pillars with a designed one above its centre is certainly inviting.

Ascending a few steps one enters the first bramda leading to the abodes of two deities one of which is made of pure black stone of rare quality. One is thrilled not only by the deity’s grace but gets curious as to how the unique art on its pillars could be engraved. The temple is made of pure marble and the shine on all its sides is simply superb.

The art above the roof level of all three domes is classical in design, but made by modern masters of masonary. However, the construction work up to the roof level involves more of modernity than any artificial touch.

They say it is a strange meeting place of southern and northern art. But, in fact, here one finds samples of eastern and western art as well. No doubt, the costliest stone used here had been brought from almost every zone of India.

Set in urban natural surroundings, here is a sample which speaks of rare artistic grandeur.