The Empress Has No Clothes by Ally Adnan
One of the greatest vocalists of the twentieth century, Farida Khanum is a towering figure in the world of music; a diva who’s singing of geet and ghazal set the
standard for the genres. A rich timbre of voice, an effortless fidelity to raag, the ability to convey the essence of the verse she sang, an abundant use of embellishments, the judicious employment of both aakaar (pure singing) and alankaar (musical ornamentation), and a close, vaguely flirtatious, and decidedly naughty relationship with listeners were the hallmarks of her songs. 1
Farida Khanum used to sing remarkably well. That, unfortunately, was a very long time ago and, even more unfortunately, for a very short period of time. An unfortunate inability to value her own gift, a tragic lack of seriousness towards music, and a reckless disregard for proper riyaaz (vocal practice) conspired to hurt the magical vocals of the singer, whose singing saw a marked and rapid deterioration, after only a few years of magnificence. It is sad that Farida ceased being a great singer at a very young age, much before the ravages of time would have hurt her musical acumen and singing ability; and it is truly tragic that she did not stop singing when she lost the ability. No one has hurt her own legacy as recklessly, and with so little heart, as Farida Khanum. Those who are not fortunate enough to have heard the young and tayyar (prepared) Farida Khanum may wonder about the respect she is afforded after listening to songs she sang past her prime. Her checkered musical legacy is unbecoming of the great vocalist she once was. Farida Khanum’s dreary resurrection of her famous geet (song), Aaj Jaanay Ki Zid Na Karo, in Coke Studio is an atrocity and a disgrace. Of course, one cannot and should not expect good music from Coke Studio. Season after sad season, the program has made a mockery of traditional Pakistani music with unbridled carelessness and infinite incompetence. The producers of Coke Studio do not understand fusion and collaborative music. They are, in fact, clueless about even the attributes of good music; absolutely, totally and completely clueless. Focusing on oblique camera angles, mood lighting, expensive but ill-used gear, and tasteless special effects, the hapless folks are so intent on appearing to be ‘cool’ that they forget the basic requirement of fusion – the seamless integration of multiple traditions of music. They bring together musicians of different styles and have them take turns ruining veritable gems of Pakistani musical heritage. They are akin to people who have the wherewithal but not the taste to collect, say, Gandharan statues. They purchase and bring the antique items home, scrub them clean, spray on neon paint, and place them in glass enclosures with iridescent lights, right next to their collections of Swarovski crystal figurines. They do not have the good taste, knowledge and intelligence to appreciate the value of art in its original and pristine form. They feel that they have done Gandharan art a service by stripping away all 2
signs of age, antiquity, historic value and character and making it shiny, sparkly and bright. They are just like producers of Coke Studio. They do to art what the producers do to music. Lamenting the crimes of Coke Studio is, perhaps, of no use but one does have the right to feel hurt due to Farida Khanum’s rapacious rendering of one of the greatest Pakistani songs of all times. Listeners deserved better. Her own legacy deserved better. And music deserved better. Farida Khanum is no longer able to sing but sadly she did. And what a shameful performance it was! The song was sung originally in raag Aiman which employs seven, and sometimes eight (when both forms of the seventh are used, but never more. Farida Khanum
used all twelve notes in her rendition and quite a few indeterminate ones in between. One can forget that fidelity to a raag used to be the strength of Farida Khanum’s geets and ghazals, and argue that such fidelity is not required in lighter genres of music, but no one can justify the involuntarily use of stray notes and continual failings of pitch. Coke Studio’s amateur recording engineers do not help in the area either. They do not use pitch correction techniques effectively and end up highlighting the problems of pitch instead of hiding them. Adjusting vocal 3
intonation, one note at a time, is both an art and a science. It is not easy and certainly way beyond the grasp of the rookies at Coke Studio. They make the flawed choice of using a chromatic scale and employing pitch correction with such heavyhandedness that the quantization of tone to discrete values becomes painfully obvious. The recording of the song has a number of problems. It seems that the producers of Coke Studio like what truck drivers call tulli waali recording ()ٹلّی والی رکارڈنگ which was very popular in Pakistan in the eighties. The recording style boosts higher frequencies indiscriminately, often using presets in a shoddy manner, to create a tinny sound that used to appeal to a very small set of listeners a very long time ago. The mixing leaves a lot to be desired as well. The volume of the guitars is very high and takes attention away from the vocals. The very obvious, and inept, use of plug-ins to process sound has resulted in making Farida Khanum’s voice sound jarring, hoarse and unnatural. The engineers and producers at Coke Studio have a lot to learn about sound processing. A dose of humility could encourage them to take the training they so badly need. Another thing that is missing in the song is the rich timbre of Farida Khanum’s voice. It has been replaced by a hoarseness, thanks to the diva’s age and lack of practice, and warbling, thanks to pitch correction artifacts due to poor voice processing. Her voice in the recording is unpleasant to the ears. A major problem in Coke Studio’s Aaj Jaanay Ki Zid Na Karo is one of taal (rhythmic time cycle) and lay (tempo). Maintaining count and tempo has always been a problem for Farida Khanum, even in her heyday, but the flaw is unforgivably exaggerated in this rendition of the song. The song employs a time cycle of fourteen (14) beats, known as Deepchandi, which is a simple taal. It is used widely both in thumri (a lighter genre of classical music) and in geet. It is not a challenging taal for musicians. Beat Stress Syllable
1 Sum (First Beat) Dha
2
3
Dhin
-
4 Taali (Clap) Dha
5
6
Deepchandi 7
Dha
Tin
-
4
8 Khali (Wave) Ta
9
10
Tin
-
11 Taali (Clap) Dha
12
13
14
Dha
Dhin
-
Recognizing Farida Khanum’s longstanding problems with taal and lay, the song is recorded without a percussion instrument. The decision is injudicious because it gives Farida Khanum a free reign to completely ignore the demands of taal and lay. This is wrong. Musicians are required to stay on beat and in tempo even when singing without any instruments. Maintaining tempo and cycle is not optional; it is mandatory. Farida Ji manages to be simultaneously off-beat and off-tempo – not to mention off-key – Coke Studio’s Aaj Jaanay Ki Zid Na Karo. Another major problem with Farida Khanum’s performance is that of breath control. The correct use of breathing is essential in singing. Singers do not breathe like other people. Specifically, they inhale into the lower lungs to make sure they
have fine control over their voice. Regular people fill their upper lungs with air when they inhale. This makes it very difficult to exert any real control over voice. Farida Ji’s incorrect inhalation technique leads to flawed exhalation which hurts vocal quality, tone, pitch and throw. The biggest problem of Coke Studio’s Aaj Jaanay Ki Zid Na Karo is a total and utter lack of feeling and emotion. This is not right. Farida Khanum is, undoubtedly, one of the most beautiful Pakistani vocalists of all time. She has always used her good looks and flirtatious manner to her advantage in live performances. The low 5
necklines of her blouses and the studied, but natural, slipping of the pallu (free end of sari) from her shoulder were charming hallmarks of live performances. Remarkably, she was able to conjure the magical eroticism even in recorded songs. The sensual element of her singing was far too potent to need visuals. She was able to convey the ideas, thoughts and feelings of some of the greatest Urdu poets through her songs. She could explain the meanings of the most nuanced of ashaar (couplets) by singing them in her inimitable style. Whatever happened to that quality? How did the rich emotional content disappear? Where did the mischievous flirtation go? In Coke Studio’s Aaj Jaanay Ki Zid Na Karo, she is unable to convey any emotion and feelings. There is no naughtiness, no flirtation and no romance; just boredom and ennui. The fact that her rendition has received mostly positive reviews is a telling testament of the state of affairs in Pakistan. One, it shows that people do not understand music. Two, it proves that sycophancy is now embedded in the national psyche. Three, it demonstrates that people have stopped harboring individual opinions in their desire to conform. Four, it proves people no longer value to virtues of speaking the truth. And, finally, it shows Pakistanis are so awestruck by institutions deemed hip, they are scared of appearing ‘uncool’ by criticizing them. The truth is that Coke Studio is an abomination and Farida Khanum has sung Aaj Jaanay Ki Zid Na Karo, in the program, horribly. One needs to speak the truth and declare that the empress has no clothes. She really does not!
Ally Adnan lives in Dallas and writes about culture, history and the arts. He tweets @allyadnan and can be reached at
[email protected]. 6
