Renowned Pakistani singer Tina Sani is coming to Ireland this week, and far from being esoteric, her chosen art form, the 'ghazal', has a bang-up-to-date message, she tells ARMINTA WALLACE.
WHAT do Yeats and the national poet of Pakistan, Muhammad Iqbal, have in common? Well, they inhabited more or less the same corner of history (Yeats lived from 1865 to 1939, Iqbal from 1877 to 1938) and they were both interested in questions of individual and national identity, while their own identities were forged at the edges of the British empire. As poets, they were both masters of traditional literary forms, as opposed to formal innovators. They both had a mystical streak.
That’s quite a long list of connections already. And on Sunday another link will be forged at a four-hour celebration in Dublin’s Ballsbridge Inn, during which Irish and Pakistani poets and musicians will perform work by Yeats and Iqbal in English, Irish and Urdu.
Gabriel Rosenstock will read from his new book, which consists of Irish-language versions of Iqbal, while Ronan Browne, Des Geraghty, Noel O’Grady and Martin Doyle will perform musical interpretations of Yeats.
But the high point of a highly unusual cultural afternoon will be a performance by the Pakistani singer, Tina Sani, accompanied by her musicians on flute, sarangi, harmonium and tabla. Sani, who will also give concerts in Waterford, Cork and Dublin's Liberty Hall over the weekend, is renowned for her renditions of the Urdu ghazal, a style of classical Arabic poetry which dates from the seventh century and was brought to a peak of sophistication by the 13th-century Persian Sufi poet, Rumi.
The ghazalrevolves around a central theme of love and separation, using human love as a metaphor for the divine and often employing imagery of startling eroticism.
If you’re worrying that your Urdu – or, indeed, your Irish – might not be up to speed for a ghazalfest, fear not. English translations will be supplied. And if you’re thinking it’s all a bit esoteric, it really isn’t. Rumi’s poetry is famously playful and subversive; Iqbal, for his part, revered Rumi as a master and spiritual guide, and made him into a character in many of his poems.
IN FACT, AS Sani explains over the phone from her home in Karachi, this is an art form with a bang-up-to-date message.
While in Ireland she will unveil her latest composition, which is based on Iqbal's 1904 poem, The Complaint to God.
“It’s a very interesting piece,” she says. “In fact, it’s something which the entire Muslim world should read very carefully. Imagine a poem which was written before the first World War had even happened, yet is very close to what’s happening in the world today.”
Sani says she’s looking forward to singing the piece in Pakistan, but it will be a treat for Irish audiences too. Her ability to draw an audience into her musical world is legendary, while her musicians – Abid Hussain on tabla, Abid Ali on bansuri flute, Akhtar Hussain on sarangi and Wazir Sultan and Iqbal Hussain on harmonium – are virtuoso players in their own right.
“The poem begins with a man complaining to God about how unfair God has been, and how unfaithful to Muslims,” Sani says. “It’s very powerful, because he goes on and on, in a very insolent way, about how the Muslims went and did this and that and took the name of God everywhere. And he says to God, basically: ‘Well, what have you done?’ ”
The second part of the ghazalis God's reply – and it seems the deity isn't particularly impressed by humanity's violence, intransigence and, well, sheer inhumanity.
“Basically, God trashes the man. And between you and me,” says Sani, with a sparkle in her voice which is evident even across all those miles of phone lines and darkness, “that’s my favourite part.”
Sani in Ireland
Saturday, April 25:
Liberty Hall, Dublin, 7.30pm: Tina Sani and band are joined by sean-nós singer Róisín Elsafty, piper Ronan Browne and guitarist Stefan Galt. Tickets €20 (0818-205205, www.centralticketbureau.com)
Sunday, April 26:
Ballsbridge Inn, Dublin, noon to 4pm. From Sligo to Sialkot,an event celebrating the work of WB Yeats and Muhammad Iqbal. Tickets €80, including a three-course lunch, from evayasin@hotmail.com, Mariyam Burki (086-3907076) or Rosheen Callender (087-2551746). Proceeds to the Yasin Foundation, an Irish charity funding Pakistani women to do postgraduate studies at Irish universities (www.yasinfoundation.ie).
Monday, April 27:
City Hall, Waterford, 7pm. Tina Sani and band in concert. Tickets €20 (087-2367899)
Tuesday, April 28:
Pavilion Bar, Cork, 7.30pm. Tina Sani with local musicians Raj Padam, Amir Butt and Dara O’Brien. Tickets €20 from the Pavilion Bar (086-8893691) or www.tickets.ie.
