Commemorating the ghazal queen

Away from the life and times of Akhtari Bai Faizabadi or Begum Akhtar, as she is popularly known, one living in this generation finds it hard to connect with the soul of the famed singer. But the fact that the legendary artiste is no more, was almost nullified by Vidya Shah and Danish Husain’s performance titled ‘Akhtari- A tribute to
Begum Akhtar’.

Staged at India Habitat Centre recently, the performance was a motley of musical renditions by Vidya Shah, dramatic story-telling by Danish Husain and an adept trio on tabla, harmonium and sarangi.

A stage set up like a mehfil invited the music connoisseurs to one of the most memorable performances thus rendered. Contrary to the usual, the event was not just about an artiste paying tribute to Begum Akhtar through rendition of some of her iconic and even lesser known songs, it incorporated the element of narrative and even introduced a conversational tone when the musician on harmonium joined the other two artistes for a sher or kissa.

Danish entered the stage and introduced the other artistes. Taking to his seat he then began narrating the tale of Akhtari Bai. Also explaining his stance to choose story-telling: “Jiski jaan ki dastan ban chuki ho, uska drama nahi banana chahiye!”

Such refined was the choice of his words which were rendered in rich Urdu language. These were delivered with mastery and at perfect timing that remained intact even while silencing unwanted questions from an odd audience member.

His narrative on the life of Akhtari Bai was interspersed with ghazals, thumri and dadra sung by ace artiste Vidya Shah. Her voice did justice to the works of late maestro and left the listeners astounded with the inflections that she brought in her renditions while remaining honest to the original works.

From serious to non-serious songs, Vidya’s modulation of voice left the audience fixated on her throughout the event. She too enjoyed the same and sung an assortment of songs, including - Deewana banana hai to deewana bana de, Nadiya kaahe mare bore, Ulajh gaye nainwa chute nahin chutaye, Patli kamar lambe baal, Oo Rajaji humar kahi maano, Humari atariya pe aao sawariya and others.

All these were preceeded by significant incidents from the artiste’s life and even discussed the societal issues associated with her biography such as the pain of being tagged as a tawaif. The two even debated the blame on barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbasi (Akhtar’s husband) on restricting her to leave music as profession since Abbasi was in love with her. This is followed by the fact how she went back to singing and then came to be known as Begum Akhtar.

Vidya shared the naughty side of singer initially and sung lighter songs. Later she moved to more serious compositions as references to Begum Akhtar’s depression and pain after the death of her mother were brought into focus.

The vocalist even discussed Akhtar’s relationship with some of her close ones and thus came a kalam by Mir saab Ulti ho jaye sab tadbeerein, one by Urdu poet Jigar Muradabadi Humko mita sake zamane me dum nahin and even one of her most iconic ghazals Aae mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aaya.

As Vidya sings Itne mariyam hua kare koi, lights dim and a spot light falls on the portrait of Begum Akhtar hung in the backdrop. Thus the perfect rendezvous of artistes, who shared their skills to commemorate Begum Akhtar, came to a
grieving end.