Hadiqa Kiani’s journey, from pop hits to the path of Sufi music, began some time ago. Coming together with the release of Wajd Volume I, she followed up the Sufi elements that have come to redefine her as an artist in Coke Studio 12, produced by Rohail Hyatt.

But now Hadiqa has gone a step further by composing and releasing a qawwali that is original in design “with poetry that has been selected by Abrar Hussain and verses of numerous classic poets that have been incorporated to enrich it with ‘Girah Bundi’”.

Released in collaboration with Sufiscore, “the premier YouTube channel for South Asian music with a focus on conserving culture and styles, Hadiqa Kiani has collaborated with the legendary qawwali icon, the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s tabla player, Ustad Dildar Hussain,” notes the press release further.

Titled ‘Jaanay Iss Dil’, the qawwali is both ambitious and devotional. A dynamic shift to spirituality that seems to be the direction Hadiqa has chosen to take in the future, it is ultimately a beautiful effort.

“Qawaali is indeed the purest form of music. Having had the opportunity to jump into a genre that is somewhat outside my comfort zone, I have an even greater appreciation for the art that is qawwali. The opportunity to work with Ustad Dildar Hussain, someone who has been an important part of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s entourage was nothing short of extraordinary,” she said.

A qawwali is no small accomplishment. It pays homage to the Beloved (the Divine) and is a musical tradition that dates back to approximately 800 years at minimum. A real qawwali gathering is still known as Mehfil-e-Sama.

This tradition of music has been made popular by the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who put it on the map by collaborating with the likes of Michael Brook and Peter Gabriel, as well as the likes of Ghulam Sabri, Sabri Brothers and Fareed Ayaz Qawwal. These legends opened doors for those unaware of this music tradition.

And Hadiqa Kiani has taken it a step further, working with Irfan Kiani (musician/brother) who arranged the qawwali.

Rearts Records discusses the year 2020 and how they survived

From Ali Noor’s Pagal to Kashmir’s Khwab to dozens of other artists signed with them, Rearts has emerged as one of the most eclectic labels in Pakistan.

Co-founded by Azeem Hamid (who is also the CEO and Creative Director of Rearts) and Najam Ul Assar (co-founder of the company presently in Denmark, drumming up business opportunities for Rearts in Europe), the company was first created in 2017.

With scores of Pakistani artists now signed to the label, Azeem Hamid, while talking to Instep about its expansive roster stated, “2020 was relatively a tough year for musicians on our roster and for us too considering we’re an arts organisation and a curatorial company based out of Lahore, Pakistan and Tallinn, Estonia.”

He further stated, “Our focus evolved and shifted when the pandemic started and we decided to maximise the search optimization of our artists on digital mediums and streaming platforms so they are able to connect with their fans directly, sustain themselves and thankfully after working tirelessly for months we were able to achieve more than 5 million streams worldwide [with 20+ artists by the end of the year]. We prompted all our artists to release their previous catalogues and make them available on digital platforms, we streamlined their content and made a swift move in removing all content that was illegally uploaded on various websites and/or without the permission/consent of the artists - this really helped in diverting audiences to our artists pages/streaming platform profiles.”

Bollywood massacres ‘Bibi Sanam’

It isn’t enough that Bollywood massacres its classic originals in forms of remixes but now their attention is on Pakistani music. After a delinquent effort to recreate the classic Junoon song, ‘Sayonee’, Bollywood has done it again with ‘Bibi Sanam’ that was presented by Zeb & Haniya on season three of Coke Studio.

Though it is a folk song that hails from Afghanistan, it was recreated without losing the sanctity of the original. What’s most important is that Zeb and Haniya didn’t massacre the song; they introduced many to a folk song from a land that is now mostly known for extremism. Here, there was a flower from the rugged land.

All that has been thrown aside for a new version that has been sung by Usha Uthap for a film called Cabaret. Apart from listening to the atrocious version, Zeb Bangash wrote an opinion piece for Scroll India on why the [Bollywood] song is a disservice to the original as well as Zeb Bangash’s version with her Brooklyn-based band Sandaraa.

Wrote Zeb: “From the moment my cousin Haniya and I released our version of ‘Bibi Sanam’ on Coke Studio, it resonated with people from Kabul to Kolkata and beyond, becoming one of our most-loved and celebrated numbers. Its success spawned many other versions on YouTube and it was a delight to see and hear people from all over the world engaging with the song with so much love.

In time, many classic versions were uploaded. In 2013, inspired by Ustaad Shamsuddin Masrur’s performance of the song in the 1960s, I recorded an entirely fresh version of ‘Bibi Sanam’ with my Brooklyn-based band SANDARAA. Not surprisingly, this version became a crowd-pleaser on SANDARAA tours even to predominantly Western audiences in North America.”

But Zeb couldn’t hide her disappointment of what was done to the song by Bollywood.

“The song was forcibly put in a place it was never meant for. I must admit it deeply disturbed me to see a cover of our loving tribute/rendition juxtaposed against the general ongoings of a forgettable Bollywood item song. What was infused into the innocence, the freshness and sweetness of Sistaan is unwanted aggressive sexuality. Sadly, it felt perhaps for the first time a version has compromised the beauty of an ancient poetic, musical and spiritual tradition.”

Covering a song like ‘Bibi Sanam’ without keeping its sacredness intact for a cheap hit is ultimately a cheap shot. Will it hold the value the Coke Studio version or the SANDAARA version hold is, well, unimaginable. Perhaps Bollywood should stick to making abomination of remixes of its own classic hits.