|
April's
Musings
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
"Sufi Qawali - A night of Sufi Music in aid of the Concern India
Foundation"
The scene: sun is beginning to set, the green grass of the park
surrounding the stunning lotus temple is bathed in end-of-day
light. Broad avenues are filled with walking people, some strolling
to the glistening white lotus temple, some turning right to
the new Bahai auditorium.
The night could not be more beautiful, the setting more designed
to relax one. As I stroll with our head designer, Angela Artico,
a tall blond, and I, a medium sized blonde, in a sea of dark-haired
Indians, I think, "What a perfect night!"
We are attending the concert at the Invitation of Kavita Shah
of Concern India. Concern India is the sister foundation of
the Giving World. Concern India identifies and audits more than
100 projects in India that help give a hand-up to people in
need. Kavita Shah is the director of Concern India and you can
read about her in my "Women I Admire" musing. Kavita
and the Concern India team are elegantly attired for the beautiful
event.
Summer in India brings out the most beautiful and fine cottons,
from Garamond in her striking turquoise voile suit to Kavita
in an off-white embroidered outfit. Elegantly attired in striking
saris, the women of Concern India show their appreciation and
respect for the musicians and the patrons, and their personal
enjoyment of life in their beautiful outfits. Really that is
part of the pleasure just seeing what these beautiful women
wear!
Angela and I, being in the trade, take notes! By the way, I
am in an ivory pintucked jacket (our Christina jacket) with
a matching long skirt, underneath I have one of our "table-for-two"
beaded pink tee shirts. Angela has on white linen pants and
a long Indian tunic with dazzling turquoise sequins!
This concert is a fundraiser for Concern India, it is sponsored
by HSBC Bank and helps raise awareness of the foundation and
offers a cultural evening of great excitement.
So let me tell you about these Sufis!* Have you heard the term
“whirling dervishes? Well, you might just turn into a
whirling dervish when you listen to the Wadali brothers. Eight
Men, two are the sages who sing, seated cross legged on a traditional
Indian padded mattresses, are framed by garlands of orange and
yellow marigolds. They are dressed in cream colored kurtas with
gold embroidery; strangely, their hands sparkle with large gold
rings.
The singers are accompanied by two drummers, dressed in white
with gold embroidered tunics, who play on the tabla and dholak
drums (these are tuned with a fine metal hammer by the singing
sage and then handed back to the drummer). There is a beautiful
golden song book, open in front of the lead singer while the
mustachioed singer, who I think of as the sage, plays a harmonium.
Then there is the chorus of four young singing men—really
their smiles split their faces as they back up the sung poetry
with vigorous refrains.
I say, there sits the friendliest group of musicians I have
ever seen! The singers Urdu verse is filled with gleeful humor
and their gospel style singing makes you want to shout. They
implore and beseech us with their vigorous wails and impish
grins to understand the God and joy in everything. Kavita whispers
simple translations into my ear and I whisper them to a grinning
Angela. "Wow! Aren't we lucky." she says. I must agree.
The tuning and tuning before the concert creates anticipation.
Finally the drumming begins, the songs, which are like sung
poetry, begin to flow. They are beseeching and plaintive, joyful
and accompanied by exuberant gestures heavenward. You can feel
the Punjabi vigor and the Sufi joy melding together in their
performance. You feel that the singer is addressing you especially,
and somehow their friendly explanations, all in Urdu, make perfect
sense. What a joyful evening.
These Wadali brother Sufis are a hit!
A few facts April style:
About Giving:
Concern India is a registered Indian Foundation that identifies
and funds many projects to help the disadvantaged in India.
Their mission is "helping people help themselves"
and they believe in giving a hand-up, not a hand-out. April
Cornell, Cornell Trading, and La Cache are all connected to
Concern India through the Giving World which is a foundation
registered in both USA and Canada to help people help themselves.
The Giving World currently supports more than a dozen of Concern
India projects: homes for girls at risk, forty Gali Schools
for children in the slums, a full-fledged school for 400 first
generation learners, schools and homes for child laborers, training
Projects for women in prison, and more. Through our own shops,
staff, and vendors, we raised more than $100,000 for the Giving
World last year (and just one dollar at a time)! The Giving
World and Concern India are a joy in both Chris's life and mine.
To learn more, look under The Giving World on the website.
About Culture:
Maybe you know more about the Sufis than I do, but the understanding
of Sufism to me is from scraps of information accumulated piecemeal
for years. My primary reference is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam,
whose expressive poetry I loved in college and whose scraps
of verse are still fluttering in my mind. He was a Sufi poet,
philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician of around 1000 CE.
The verse that has stayed in mind all these years is…
A book of Verses Underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread- and Thou,
Beside me Singing in the Wilderness,
Oh Wilderness were Paradise now.”
Now that is living!
The Sufis, from what I recall, love life; they love dance and
poetry and singing. They have a philosophy, a religion. that
is very contrary to other religions. It is that God is in everything,
even in the clothes you wear and though people go to find God
in a church or temple, mosque or gurdwara, God is actually everywhere.
Everyone worships the same god, and though religion implies
that we are different from each other, we are not. The essence
of Sufism according to Dr. Alan Godas of the University of Georgia
is that "one surrenders to god and embraces with love each
moment the content of one’s consciousness."
The Bahai religion is a non-exclusive embracing religion that
respects all people, women and men, and is really a very modern
non-divisive religion. It is a new religion, only 150 years
old. It believes in Unity in Diversity. Their Lotus Temple in
New Delhi India is a large lotus-shaped white temple that rises
out of a Green Park. It is architecturally stunning and very
inspiring to see. The Lotus is used as symbol of simplicity
and inspiration—the white lotus rising above the challenges
of life. The Lotus Temple seemed a suitable setting for the
Sufis to perform.
About Language:
Urdu is an Indian language spoken by 250 million people and
is known for its poetry and songs. Urdu was the language of
the concert, and if you are interested there is a site on the
web that says you can learn Urdu in three hours! Hmmm...
About Style:
An Indian suit for ladies is not a suit that we would recognize;
it is a long tunic-style top with flowing pants, topped off
with a dupatta, or shawl. The suits can be made in every fabric,
from silks to cottons, from heavily-embellished to simple and
casual. The pants may or may not match the tunic and the dupatta
usually picks up on some embroidered or print detail from the
tunic.
This style of dress originated in the Punjab, which is a state
that is both in India and in Pakistan. So the style has a Muslim
influence. It is very popular in Delhi (where many Punjabis
migrated after partition) and is won by all religions. The tunic
can be short (kurtis—popular with the young) or long,
which is very elegant.
I love this style myself and wear it often. Many of my designs
over the years have felt the influence of this casual but elegant
look. The Indian style tunic that is so popular now is based
on the Indian kurta and the caftan (coming to you soon) can
be seen as a dress version of the kurta.
About Geography:
The Punjab is an Indian state and also a Pakistani state. It
was divided during partition in 1948, when India and Pakistan
separated and became two countries. It is known for agriculture
and vigorous people with a hearty sense of humor. The people
are reputed to be hardworking and successful. It is also famous
for the Golden Temple which is the Religious Shrine (Gurdwara)
of the Sikh religion. Sikh men wear Turbans and do not cut their
hair. Tucked under that turban—you'll never see it! So
they stand out in a crowd in a very stylish way.
|
