If we link our past to our future...we'll have a path to walk on. - mooshak
… I once asked a Teacher, “Why is music given such importance in spiritual practice, almost all over the world?” And He said, “Because we are just vibrations, snatching at harmony…”
There is a musical phenomenon called Coke Studio ripping through the personal computers of thousands of subcontinental youth. If you haven’t discovered it already (wherever you are in the world, as long as you like GOOD music), its never too late. Coke Studio seems to mean many things to many people. To the youth of Pakistan (read the comments below the videos on youtube)…it seems like their battle-cry… their victory dance in the face of rapid political descent (obviously caused by powerful men in cahoots with world-dominating powers, while the common Pakistani watches helplessly). My Brother says that a nation pushed against the wall tends to find in its voice a much more poignant strain. While the world breakfasts regularly to descriptions of a disintegrating Pakistan…(not all of which seem true)…these immensely talented and accomplished Pakistani musicians decided to strike back…
…but this opening post isn’t about Pakistani politics (Now now – an Indian must be careful if he has to live in India! :-)) Its about the songs that producer Rohail Hyatt and his team have masterfully picked to bring to the fore… And about one song in particular…
In some long forgotten time – in a place forged from the memories in my bones – I was there when this song was first written… In fact, I was witness when the words first formed… and centuries later when I hear them again, my blood, confused, displaced, educated, sterilised, still recognises the ancient call… but only just…aikon alif tere darkaar…
The lyric and its most obvious translation are provided below…
http://ilovesunrise.blogspot.com/2009/06/aik-alif.html
http://www.koolmuzone.com/forum/lyrics-and-guitar-tabs/lyrics-noori-saieen-zahoor-aik-alif/
The link to the video, performed by Noori and Saaeen Zahoor, follows… This can inspire an entire movement…(it kinda already has!) amen to that…
forward, tweet, fb, blog…2,00,000 views is just not good enough… get it out there!
http://www.youtube.com/user/cokestudio?blend=1&ob=4#p/c/F4193A3A15DA737E/9/Ra5nTlty6CM
(it works if you copy-paste)
The song talks of how we are blindsided by ‘learning’. We continuously overlook the Thing Itself…manifest in that final cry of ‘Allah’ by the Saaeen…and how we must needs resist our urge to ‘eat’ the whole world with our senses..as if our relentless and gargantuan collective endeavour to make sense of all that exists is doomed to end in ridicule…and we must surrender…that surrender is more honourable than defiance…as if surrender is defiance…as if surrender is courage…as if surrender is revolution…inevitable…
It isn’t just Saaeen Zahoor and Abida Parveen and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, (known sufi exponents) who sing of the ‘spirit’ in the series. The young, and ridiculously gifted, generation of pop stars, a couple of whom have struck gold in bollywood, surprise us with their attachment and understanding of their musical/spiritual culture, and mesmerizing performances of songs of old Masters… strengthening their traditions, carrying them into the future…
This story will continue, for Season 3 of Coke studio is out in parts already…
And the oft-heard lament from us Indians responding on these video posts is – Why can’t we do this in India? Ha ha… typical neighbourly jealousy…
More soon…
On why a movie called Raavan, by any other name, could have smelled sweeter… why we tell stories (at all)…and how social networking can be made into fun and fulfilling ways to make that little difference…
oh, and I promise to spruce up the site a little bit every time… I’m just getting the hang of this 🙂
Mooshak 
Thanks for getting me hooked onto Coke Studio.