Roundabout | Sufi kafi of Punjab is the food for her soul

Although born and brought up in Delhi, the roots of Raj’s musics go to pre-partitioned Punjab with her naani (grandmother), Bibi Khurshidan, also being a talented singer of Punjabi sufi and folk music, and renowned for singing the “kissa of Heer”, the famous folk heroine who gave her life for her right to love her Ranjha

The first acquaintance with music was the ebullient singing of Rekha Raj in the enjoyable 2001 film “Monsoon Wedding” which went onto win the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award. It was, of course, the all time heartrending parting song for the bride whose lot is to move from her father’s home to the husband’s in the intensely patriarchal society of Punjab. It was the much loved Punjabi folk song, “Madhanian, hai ve mere dadiya rabba kina jamian kihnan ne lai jania; (The churning of fate: O’ my cruel lord, who gives birth to girls, who takes them away). One did not quite know the name of the soulful singer, but the intense and painful lilt of the singing remained with one for long. The acquaintance with her was some two decades and more later with the Didi sisters, Poonam Singh and Shumita Sandhu, presenting a “Sufi Soliloquy” at the 30th anniversary celebrations of Indian Women’s Press Corps in Delhi recently.

Singer Rekha Raj performing at Art of Togetherness: a sufi soliloquy. (Rekha Raj)

A fine legacy of notes

Although born and brought up in Delhi, the roots of Raj’s musics go to pre-partitioned Punjab with her naani (grandmother), Bibi Khurshidan, also being a talented singer of Punjabi sufi and folk music, and renowned for singing the “kissa of Heer”, the famous folk heroine who gave her life for her right to love her Ranjha. This gift of music came to her mother Chanda who married Basanti Lal, a renowned musician of Nagor in Rajasthan. He became, later, an accompanist to well-known Punjabi singers like Gurdas Maan, Sardool Sikander and others. While her parents had not contemplated Raj making a career as a musician, so she carried on with her studies in Delhi without any formal training. But music ran through her veins and no one could stop her from singing. Noting that she could sing rather well, her father decided that she should train formally in music. So, she started learning classical music from Shubha Mudgal. Looking back, Raj says, “This changed my life and with the blessings of my Guru Shubha ji, whose voice I loved, I started taking music more seriously and I owe this to her.” She adds that earlier she had enjoyed singing but now she was understanding the classical nuances of Indian music. She had inherited a soulful voice from her forebears but with training, she was ready to step onto the stage and films, which she did with rare grace.

Rhythms of the soil

Her rich voice, which resonated with the rhythms of soil, attracted singer Madan Gopal and Bharatnatyam dancer Navtej Johar. The trio was to be involved in many projects on stage and screen.

“My most memorable show with the two of them was ‘Fanaa’, with which we travelled home and abroad with Navtej dancing and I got the rare chance as a singer along with my mentor Madanlal. The music included South Indian and Punjabi songs as it took legends of south and north danced out by Navtej,” Raj says.

It was with the two of them that she featured as a singer, in as many as four songs in “Khamosh Paani”, a rare Indo-Pak film starring Kiron Kher as a mother, who was abducted and converted during the “Partition riots”, who sadly watches her young son turn to Islamic militancy. Raj recalls with nostalgia, “I just loved singing ‘Bhain taan meri rui di badli’ and ‘Lai de mainu Kalyan baghan di mehndi’.”

But this singer needs no nostalgia for she was amazing in sufi soliloquy. A Sandhu, who presented it on behalf of Eclectica- a group for art and artistes, says, “Rekha Raj’s voice has a unique timbre and throw which lends itself powerfully to sufi score.” Poonam, editor of Preetlari, a heritage Punjabi magazine and co-presenter, adds: “Woman was the form the sufis took, as worshippers and lovers, same as the Sikh gurus followed later. A Woman’s capacity to love was envied perhaps! The rich voice of Raj does full justice to it.”

Well said, as one hopes to hear Raj more in Punjab, singing sufi and folk music as it should be sung.

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