Surs - The Melodies Of Harmonized Music

There are 30 surs in the Shah Jo Risalo. Sur means a form or a mode of singing - rhythm, melody. Each sur corresponds to its subject matter. These surs are according to the science of Indian music with its Rags and Ragnis sung at different times in a particular manner. They are not named according to their music but according to the subject matter. For the sake of facility in singing and reading, each sur is subdivided into sections.

Madam Khamisani...click in her English translation of the Risalo, "The Risalo Of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai : Translated In Verse", writes that the verses of the Risalo...click do not follow any of the formal patterns of writing poetry. Ther is no regularity and the number of stresses per line is not always uniform. Repetition and enumeration are often made use of. Length of lines and their variation is often determined by feeling and thought and not by any set pattern. The number of lines in a stanza may vary from 2 to 10. A longer line may appear anywhere in the stanza that has a verse of Holy Qur'an or it may quote a Hadith (Prophet Muhammad's practises and sayings). It may sometimes contain a phrase or a proverb from Arabic or Persian or from some other language like Siraiki and Balochi. At the end of each section there is a Vai, which is actually, a song consisting of 3 or more couplets each ending with a refrain. Vai is Shah Latif's invention. A singer, by way of introduction, sings a few couplets or a stanza which is called Dohiro and then proceeds with the Kafi, the remaining part of the Vai. The audience in this way are led to a state of harmonious rapture.

The underlying theme of all surs is, how is man to cultivate those godly attributes in himself which will facilitate him in his efforts towards a higher evolution. In this sense, Bhitai's poetry...click reflects the process involved by which man's inner life is developed. It elaborates man's relationship with his Creator, the journey that he has to undertake in fulfilling the primeval covenant and the pitfalls that lie in his path which include waging constant war against evil, temptation, ignorance, sloth and moral relapses that bring about serious consequences; aberrations that lead to man's fall from Divine grace to be redeemed by repentance, inability of sacrifice and the difficulty of living in this world, yet, be out of it. In its final analysis Bhitai's surs culminate in a quest of a God-intoxicated man for an approximation with the Divine. Since these are truths that cannot be directly communicated, they are transmitted through allegory, parables, copious use of symbols and images. Other poetic devices in Shah's poetry include frequent use of alliteration and pun.

In addition to his proufoundly mystic...click and moral approach, Bhitai was ever conscious of the plight of the poor and the lowly, the peasants, the fishermen, the sailors, the weavers, the helpless and the needy women, the suffering and the suppressed. It is his concern for thes classes of Sindhis and his love for Sindh, that he has selected incidents and episodes from folklore, the stories of which were commonly known and which had been handed down from generation to generation.

"Wind from north blows, they depart to return in spring,
Much do I loath, the business that they profess.
It is festival for those whose husbands from voyage return."
.......Bhitai [Sur Samoondi]

Allama I.I. Kazi, eminent Sindhi scholar, philosopher, and educationist, in the "Translator's Note As An Aid", to the very valuable verse translation of the selections of the Risalo by his wife Mrs. Elsa Kazi, published by the Sindhi Adabi Board in 1965, writes, "Incidents, episodes, legends, subjects of observation, are not related as stories, only their significance is expressed in poems, that deal with the higher evolution of man." He further goes on to say that, "these stories and episodes are but the pegs on which he hangs his Divine themes." The Allama calls the surs as "musical themes" and Latif's art as "impressionistic par excellence." Refering to Shah Latif's mysticism...click, he says, "with the aid of the beauitiful in Nature, he leads the reader to have longing for the union with God, who always is the Beloved in his poems.

In the introduction of this same translation of the selected verses by Mrs Elsa Kazi, Mr A.K. Brohi, well-known Sindhi philosopher, scholar, and jurist, using Carlyle's words, calls Latif's poetry, "musical thought" of the highest and profoundest aspirations of a spiritually evolved being, fused with the deepest emotions that touch the very core of hearts, hence, its power, its appeal, and its beauty.

"My folks smile, spring rain falls,
All their worries are over, strong grow calves;
Soft wool of sheep they shear,
Umar! Maru women, sitting besides their spouses, weave wool;
In Thar, even the lambs have given their back's wool,
In Thar, they weave good and pretty shawls,
While starching shalws women cry, "We need Marui in Malir.""
........Bhitai [Sur Marui]

Tirathdas Hotchand, in his epic contribution "Poet Laurete of Sindhi, Hyderabad, Sindh, 1961" on the toipc of The Risalo and Its Musical Compositions wrote", "The music of the Hindu saints of India took the form of Bhajan; amongsts the Muslims of India it took the form of Kawali; and in Sind it took the form of Vai [vaaii]. In vai the music is subservient to its poetic theme. Its melody is gross because the notes are cramped or extended a little away from teh true notes."

The vai as it is sung still by the Fakirs at the shrine of Shah Latif makes this quite clear. A vai is lyrical and its theme is love and prayer but it is congregational in essence. No finer instruments are needed for this form of folk music.

Besides the Duhas and Vais, there are many many Kafis of Shah Abdul Latif still on the lips of every Sindhi... Kafi is the veritable music of Sind. It is lyrical in essence. Its theme is love... The old sing them as acts of devotion, the yound derive pleasure out of their contents; the pious consider them sacred, while the profane will find in them many things which they glory either to have themselves performed or should have been glad to have had it in their power to achieve.

These songs are the sacred hymns of Sind and lays of the Lord. It has become a musical form rather than a musical mode as it is India. Our Kafis can be sung in any musical mode. The Kafis are more simple, short, and lucid than vais in their texture and form. The Kafi is an individualized form of Vai. It is the solo music of Sind. When Aiin-e Akbari [the official historical record of Akbar's court] talks of Sindhi music as Kami or amotary, it talks of the Sindhi Kafi. Sindhi Kafi is not manly and solemn. It is light and graceful, womanly and voluptous like the 'Khayal' of the Indian counterpart. It does not possess the hard and deafening rhythm of 'Kawali'.

Sindhi Kafi is half way between classical and light music for it is a product of tapa, khayal and thumrii [forms of Indian music]. It is lively and well adopted to pantomime or dancing. They are simple little melodies which keep the audience enraptured. It is divided into two parts -- 'asthai' the main part of the musical mode and 'antra', the second half of the musical mode which includes notes of higher tetrachord. It admits of graces and 'alap' [the beginning part of North Indian classical music] intonation. Its melody simple yet sure... it is elegant, bright and gay. It embodies a small number of 'matras' ranging 8 to 16.

Judging this musical form in the light of the Risalo [Shah's compedium of music] the possibility of the view that it not yet taken its form in the days of [Shah] Abdul Latif is excluded. To its formation Shah Latif has contributed considerably. The most important thing for which Shah Latif cannot be forgotten is the fact that he wrested the music from the minstrel class and gave it to his people as a substitute for religion. The Sindhi Kafi has taken centuries in its formation which the posterity of Sind will not let die or forget.

Click for the introduction to the sur:

Sur Kalyan
Sur Yaman Kalyan
Sur Khambat
Sur Srirag
Sur Samoondi
Sur Suhni
Sur Sasui
Sur Sasui Ma'azuri
Sur Sasui Desi
Sur Sasui Kohyari
Sur Sasui Hussaini
Sur Leela Chanesar
Sur Moomal-a Rano
Sur Marui
Sur Kamode
Sur Ghatu
Sur Sorath
Sur Kedaro
Sur Sarang
Sur As-a (Hope)
Sur Rip-a (Deep Distress)
Sur Khahori (Wandering Ascetics)
Sur Barvo Sindhi (The Beloved)
Sur Ramkali (Divine Buds)
Sur Kapaeti (The Spinners)
Sur Poorab (East)
Sur Karayal (The Swan)
Sur Pirbhati (Hymn at Dawn)
Sur Dahar (Desert Valley)
Sur Bilawal (The Soothing Tune

Bhitai's Journey Towards The Truth

Sufism And Love : One And The Same