Of
Qawwals and Qawwalis
By Helpline Trust
The Helpline Trust Building
DHA, Karachi
Some weeks back, Ayaz Amir
had described good qawwali as: “Sung well,
qawwali is great and inspiring and the first step
on the road to the mystical highlands, whereas
as bad qawwali is a tickler, near-cousin to outright
farce, with the master qawwal belting out a verse
and the junior qawwals repeating the same, to
the sound of clapping”.
What Ayaz was referring to is how our educated,
enlightened and graduate politicians in Islamabad,
like the qawwals, have joined, one by one, some
of the lead qawwals of His Master’s Voice,
in a full throated chorus, clapping, urging and
pleading our enlightened President not to take
off his uniform. Whether this is out of modesty,
to preserve the purity of our beloved country
or just to protect their jobs, only time will
tell.
NGOs and other civil society organizations also
have their fair share of qawwals and qawwalis,
but we call t qawwals and qawwalis, but we call
them conferences and seminars, with the usual
lead qawwal, who is the Chief Guest, supported
by a string of junior qawwals, the speakers.
But the difference here is that a dark suit and
a fat Hawaiian cigar replace the glittering waistcoat
and the pan. And “Whereas good qawwali is
the first step on the road to the mystical highlands”,
these conferences and seminars are supposed to
be the steps to democracy, good governance and
the rule of law and towards the mystical light
at the end of the tunnel.
Having being actively involved in these qawwalis
since 1994, unfortunately, the light at the end
of the tunnel has always turned out to be another
onrushing train and good governance, the rule
of law, etc., still remain a mystical dream.
Without being disrespectful to the fine ladies
and gentlemen, the subject and speakers at these
programs are usually the same, with different
lyrics and the audiences that normally attend,
are the usual 50 to 100 diehards of the NGO fraternity,
who refuse to throw in the towel.
Most of these programs are usually held at five
star hotels and the first choice of speakers is
serving governors, ministers, judges, senior bureaucrats
and heads of civic agencies, followed by former
governors, etc.
The risk in inviting serving VIPs is that though
they do accept the invitations, the chances are
they will arrive late, leave immediately after
their speech and at times fail to show up at all,
without an apology or an explanation. But all
the fine ladies and gentlemen speak on democracy,
good governance and the above issues with passion
and authority.
Serving VIPs usually sing the praise of the performance
of the present government, while former VIPs usually
sing a sad ballad and criticize the government
for its failures and shortcomings. And there are
the smart ones, who play safe, by praising both
past and present governments.
Yet they seem to conveniently forget that they
too were part of the government at one time and
except for a few, who refused to compromise their
integrity and resigned in protest, rode the gravy
train right to the end and enjoyed the perks of
the job and failed to change the corrupt system,
which has been passed on from one government to
another.
The silent majority does not attach much importance
to these qawwalis and feel that they are a waste
of time. However, once in awhile, when there is
a qawwal from abroad, especially from India, t
they do wake up from their deep slumber and dress
up in their Sunday best and turn up in large numbers
to show their concern.
Let us hope that one day, the mystical light at
the end of the tunnel will be the beacon of light
to democracy.
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