Music in our region is usually conceived as performance designed to entertain, delight and enthrall the audience. Even the practitioners whether vocalists or instrumentalists are rarely pushed about the theoretical side of the music they practice. A host of reasons created this particular situation, some of which are related with the very nature of the art and others with specific historical conditions.

Music in its pure form is abstract like mathematics. Theorizing, critiquing and evaluating music amount to what can be termed as an abstraction born of what is already abstract making the whole exercise doubly abstract. Historical factors responsible for such conditions are deeply rooted in the evolution of religion and caste system in the Subcontinent.

Music was an integral part of religious rituals and considered sacred. Temple was the centre of rituals. But due to caste system which placed people in perennially fixed iron-clad castes hierarchies, certain groups low in caste status were not only debarred from entering the high castes’ temples but also deprived of the privilege of learning the honed ritualistic music practiced at places of worship monopolised by priestly class. In order to tightly control the transmission of sacred chants and music Pundits/priests, the custodians of rituals, evolved the ‘Guru Shishya Parampra’, the teacher-disciple tradition of imparting knowledge which entailed direct relationship between Guru and disciple premised on the unconditional submission of the latter. The tradition also safeguarded their holy trade secrets. What was left for the ordinary mortals was the domain of what is now called folk music i.e. people’s music.

Folk music is still practiced and immensely popular but hasn’t been properly documented and analysed. So let’s welcome Aslam Rasoolpuri’s latest book “Saraiki Lok Mausiqi [Saraiki folk music]” published by Saraiki Publications, Rasoolpur. Mr. Rasoolpuri, a respected writer, critic and folklorist, is a lawyer by profession and has a host of books on diverse subjects to his credit. The book has six chapters dealing with origin of folk music, Saraoki folk-singing, early Sarailki folk music, Faqira Bhagat [a vocalist from Cholistan desert], meda ishq vi tun [Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s Kafi popularised by our great soul singer Pathane Khan] and the epilogue. At the end of the book he has provided glossary of music terms for the lay readers.

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The book is well-researched and referenced in terms of narrating the practice of music in our region. What he quotes in support of the narrative he attempts to build is apparently apt. But the conclusions he draws are contestable. Defining the creators of folk music Mr. Rasoolpuri states; “anonymous creators of folk music have informal training in music. They get their training from the people they live surrounded by”. One can rightly assert on the contrary that folk music makers can be anonymous but they are formally trained in music. No novice or rookie could come up with the tunes and songs that have not only survived the ravages of time but also have been the envy of our great composers and tune makers in the film industry and elsewhere. Even our pop is loaded with borrowings from the folk-tunes. And let’s not forget that creators of intricate structures of complex Ragas are anonymous too.

Anonymity per se doesn’t imply lack of education and training. Another aspect of his book that needs critical appraisal is his vapid effort to portray in a desultory fashion the shared heritage of Punjab as exclusively Saraiki or exclusively Punjabi which results in a loss of objectivity on the part of the author. The instruments which one finds all across Punjab are dubbed exclusively Saraiki such as Sarangi, Iktara, Sharna [Shenai], Naqara and Harmonium. One is flabbergasted by his politically motivated banal effort to stress the difference between so-called Punjabi and so-called Saraiki music by quoting two different marriage songs from Central and South Punjab. That two different lyrics with different tunes are different proves nothing. Spurred by his political exigencies to stress the apparent separateness of Saraiki music, he nonchalantly compares apples and oranges marring a good book which otherwise introduces the readers to Saraiki repertoire of Punjab in a lucid manner.

The book is quite informative but one will be well-advised to beware of his theoretical conclusions. One expects from an erudite scholar like Aslam Rasoolpuri a narrative that doesn’t lose sight of concrete facts and objective view of the phenomenon in question. The book however is a rewarding read.

Dr. Javed Kanwal is a poet settled abroad. “Pehli Kani [The First Drop]”, his latest book of poetry, has recently been published by Azan Publications, Manchester, UK. Dr. Kanwal got his primary education from Pakpattan, an ancient town well-known for having the shrine of Baba Farid, the pioneer of Punjab’s literary tradition.

Later, he moved to Sahiwal and completed his studies there. In 1960s and 1970s apart from being one of the centres of political upsurge that swept across Punjab and Sindh, Sahiwal was the envy of many a city for having a galaxy of poets and writers who would meet daily at two of its restaurants and indulge in unending dialogues and discussions on literature.

Who could miss the chance of joining the company of poet Majeed Amjad who graced Baba Jogi’s Stadium Hotel every evening. This saintly figure though a man of few words had immense intellectual and spiritual presence. Dr.Kanwal evocatively but with a whiff of wistfulness reminisces about the people and places of that bygone era in the introduction of his book. In addition to a cry of protest against the existing oppressive conditions, which is a habit with most of the poets, the major theme of Kanwal’s poetry is the changes that come in the wake of changing times. “Every day I used to reiterate a litany of complaints, I thought, I would confront you with/ after such a long hiatus now when you come face to face with me, I find all my complaints brushed aside/ the time has rendered me and your face alien/ friend, what a treasure I have lost!”