Sufi Musical Gathering and Sufi Musical Instruments in Chitral

Sufis consider music as a tool to reach God and its sound plays a very important role in the life of a Sufi. It is a process of dissolving the physical realm into the spiritual one by polishing the heart and enhancing the spiritual aspect of life over the physical aspect. These days there are spiritual gatherings in Upper Chitral and out of Chitral where Shia Ismailia Muslims perform spiritual music to transcend the physical realm into spiritual one. In old days Pir Nasir khusraw is credited to introduce spiritual music in Chitral. He was a Sufi and Muslim religious preacher from Arabia. The Muslim rulers over these centuries were also great patrons of music. The patronage also extended to families of musicians who were looked after and promoted by the King and the musicians were called Ustazan (music gurus). The royal court, as well as the courts in the provinces, states or rajwaras, offered their patronage. This was shaped up as a pyramid with the Sultan or Badshah (king) surveying all from its pinnacle. The Mehtar (ruler) was responsible for patronage of the court musicians. Dilawar of Drosh is a recent example who performed for more than a decade in the court of prince Hisam ul Mulk, the governor of Drosh. 

The Sufis have been accused by the orthodoxy of many transgressions. One of those was offering patronage to music. There must have been a tussle between the two orders of representation of Islam and the Muslim way of life in the subcontinent. It appears that it tended to be not only polemical, but also violent. But certain Sufi silsilas (orders) continued to promote and protect musicians and the musical expression throughout this period. Pir Nasir Khusraw promoted Islam by reciting ginnans in Chitral. Ginnans are the sacred literature of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. The topics of ginnans are mostly for divine love, cosmology, rituals, eschatology, ethical behavior and meditation. Ginnans are attributed to the pir, who were second to the Imams in the Ismaili hierarchy. 

One can refer to the diversity of sufi music from its main land: the sun of Africa, the shore of Atlantic ocean to the mountains of Pakistan, and the diversity of sufi music is enriched by all its cultures it crosses in Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India. But in India, Amir Khusrw is seen to be the representative figure of the Indo-Muslim culture. Everything has been attributed to him in poetry and music. He is seen to be a lone ranger responsible for offering a larger and a more humanistic expression of religious sensibility. He was aware of various strands coming together and forming a new cultural matrix that was unique to this land and not a replication of a prototype.

 There must have been greater investigation into the augmented role of music and its immense qualities as has been done in other systems and orders. Its great value addition would not let it remain just a means, but must have sprung forward at times to become an end in itself. All this must not have been lost on somebody as perceptive and wise as Pir Nasir Khusraw who instituted what remains a living tradition, was also responsible to promote Islam by using daf, flute and garba as musical instruments by reciting ginnans. Here is a short description about garba, daf and flute which are being used by Shia Ismailia Muslims in their spiritual gathering in Chitral.

Garba

It is a short necked lute with five strings made of sheep intestine due to which the sound is bum (flat) and one resonant string. The strings are tuned in C -C –C –C -F –F. Plectrum is used to play and the instrument is close to rubab.  The wood used to make garba is mulberry. In upper Chitral and northern areas among Ismaili communities it is played with spiritual music. It is played by their spiritual leader only.  The Persian poems of Nasir Khusraw, Mullana Roomi and Shamstabrizi etc, are played on the instruments. The melody is monotonous and similar, and on Garba it is not repeated fully as on the Chitrali Sitar. It only keeps the rhythm but nowadays the whole tune is played with it. Garba was not played on festive occasions but nowadays it is also played on marriage Ceremonies and other fairs. The famous garba players in Chitral are Muhammad Amin, Aftab Alam and Ahsan Ali and his son Iqtidar Ali. 

Daf

It is an Arabic word and is known as dap in middle Persian. It reached Chitral from Central Asia. It is a frame drum with metal bangles and ringlets attached while the membrane is usually of goat skin. It has a 6-7 inches deep hollow cylinder of wood about 32-46 inches in diameters. Daf is played on different occasions, either marriage or spiritual music.  It is mostly used with garba and considered as instruments with religious connotation. 

Most of the people say that when Nasir Khusraw came to Chitral he brought garba flute and daf and sang spiritual songs on these instruments. Tuning of the daf is done by heating the membrane of it and balances it with the reference note of the other instrument garba. The left thumb is put into the hole of daf while all the nine fingers used to play, the beat is counted as seven. It is used to bring about a repetitive sound which often takes the listener into a trance. Sufi music uses recurring sounds combined with rhythmic tones. It sounds like a melody following the rhythm of the “life pulse” in all its different stages or it seems like the movement of the ocean under all kinds of weather. Just like our world it forms unity in diversity.

Belu (flute)

It is also made in the same pattern as Surnai (clarinet) but its sound is less in volume than Surnai. The wood of apricot or bark is used to make it. There are eight holes on which the notes are produced by placing the fingers. The instrument is mostly connected with shepherds and in the past there were many women in Chitral who played Belu. It is also played by the Kalash. There are different sizes of the flutes; most of the people prefer to play a middle sized flute. Nowadays flute is also used in the sufi music gathering in Upper Chitral. It has a symbol of the human soul that has to be totally void so that it can resonate. It has a deep meaning of its emptiness. Human soul must be empty and clear to connect with divine power. 

The essence of Sufism and its connection with music is poignantly expressed in the opening words of the “Mathwani” the “spiritual couplets” written over seven hundred years ago by the famous poet Jalal Al Din Al Rumi.

"Listen to the reed, how it complains
and tells a tale of separation pains.
"Ever since I was cut from the reed bed, my lament

has caused man and woman to moan.
I want a bosom torn my separation,
to explain the pain of longing.
Everyone who is far from his source
longs for the time of being united with it once more."

The writer Saifuddin is a culture critic based in Chitral