A Journey Thru My Semester

Introduction:

First off, let me start with saying that when i first enrolled in this class, I didn’t even know that this was a music class, I just needed one more english writing course in order to be done with my english minor and this was the only english class/section left. Later when it as the first day of class, that’s when i realized and found out that this is a music class. I had to double check my schedule to see if i’m in the right class. LOL. I felt like this wasn’t the smartest choice for me because in my previous taken music classes, i didn’t quite do my best, because i am not a music person, the only thing i do with music is listen to it sometimes. I’m not even up to date with the latest trends or listen to the stuff people listen to these days. Or so i thought. I learned from this class that everyone in this class has a different music taste. Not everyone is constantly listening to Pop Smoke or Lil Uzi. There are so many other artists that i never even knew about and learning about them was exciting. Just like i introduced the class to some artists i was familiar of, a legend from my culture and somebody who the entire world knows about.

Today in my portfolio i’m going to walk you all through……

—————————————————-RECORD CLUB———————————————————–

Till last minute I was confused about what song choose for the record club, i was stuck between a Bollywood song and this one, but ended up deciding on this one. This is a song that takes me down memory lane, I remember i first heard this song in 201, during the summertime and instantly fell in love with it. My sisters and I would listen to this song on repeat for days! This was the first song that i have heard of Lana Del Rey, and then started listening to other songs too. When I heard this song in the Great Gatsby, it gave me another reason to love it even more, because I really admired that movie, and it perfectly sits with the 1900s setting as well.

One reason I love this song is because it gives an old era vibe, and i’ve always admired the songs of that era so this was something different. It was a present singer, making songs that made it seem like they were from the 60s or 70s. This song is so melismatic and airy, the way she sings it really sets the mood of summer, or like she’s flying or on the clouds.Her voice is so smooth throughout the entire song. The way the instruments are being played in the back also gives off an airy structure. I love how when she sings the part, “O Lord when i get to heaven….”, that’s probably my most favorite part of the song, the whole song sort of rise, the melody becomes louder. And then calms down at the part, “All that grace, all that body, all that face makes me wanna party….”. Then she rises up again and has a change of tone when she sings the last verse, implicating that the song has ended.

Airy: Lighthearted, graceful

Melismatic: Melismatic’ indicates one end of a spectrum; the other is ‘syllabic’, or one note to each syllable.

Smooth: without breaks between notes; smooth and connected

Melody: A melody, also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity.

Verse: In the countable sense, a verse is formally a single metrical line in a poetic composition.

—————————————–The Legend Of Qawwali —————————————————–

What is qawwali? Qawwali is a style of Muslim devotional music now associated particularly with Sufis in Pakistan. It’s also considered classical music or even somewhat acapella, because sometime the instruments wouldn’t even be necessary for the singer, his voice would have enough music to keep the song going. I was introduced to this sort of music back when I was 5-6 years old, and at the time every time my dad would play it in the car or in the house, my sisters and I would start whining about how trash it is, because we wouldn’t understand the lyrics of it. And instead, would make fun of the way the song is being played, and how dramatic the singer is because of his extremely long intro of “ahhhhhhh” with absolute no other lyrics. But now…oh my goodness, I could listen to this music all day long, depending on the mood obviously. From the lyrics to the beat of the ‘qawwali’, everything just makes you swoon and go “WOW, just wow, how did these people even come up with lyrics/poetry like this. It blows my mind.”

The very first qawwali singer that I was introduced to, was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan aka NFAK and it’s his music that i will be introducing to you all today. World renowned qawwali singer, there were people who started worshipping him because of his words and songs. He was almost like the Michael Jackson of the Pakistani music industry, Bollywood wanted to start using his songs for their movies, he also sung some songs for them. And Bollywood till this day are remaking his songs, by completely changing the music yet keeping the lyrics.

Tumhe Dillagi Bhool Janey Parey Gi

The first qawwali that I’m introducing you to is his most famous one called, “Tumhe Dillagi Bhool Janey Paregi” (you will have to forget all about infatuation). His qawwali wasn’t the normal song duration, it would go upto 16-20mins, some even longer. This song is 16mins long and he would sing all this live. The verses of this song are just exceptional. His music is very repetitive, but you don’t get tired of listening to it. And the only way to admire and appreciate his music is if you can understand what he’s talking about. There’s this stanza in this song that says, “zakhm pe zakhm kha ke ji, apne lahoo ke ghoont pi, aah na kar labon ko si, ishq ha dillagi nahi”, (stay alive, torment after torment…take a sip of your own blood…don’t object, seal your lips, this is true love not infatuation!) And at another time he says, “kuch khel nahi hai ishq ki lag, paani na samaj ye aag hai aag”, (love is not a game, don’t mistake it for water, it’s a sea of fire!). The simile that he uses in this verse is just WOW, so, he’s basically singing about how love isn’t something that could/should be taken granted for. It’s not easy to love, it’s a challenge, an extremely difficult one to love somebody. He compares love to a sea of fire and in order to love somebody truly and deeply you have to dive into that sea of fire. This qawwali has come into many new forms for today’s era with a new tune and a new song structure but nothing beats the old one.

Ankh Uthi Mohabbat Ne Angrai Li

All I want to post for this song is….

Tanhai Mein Faryaad Toh Kar Sakta Hoon
Veerane Ko Aabaad Toh Kar Sakta Hoon
Jab Chahoon Tumhe Mil Nhi Sakta Lekin
Jab Chahoon Tumhe Yaad toh Kar Sakta Hoon
——————————————————————
In loneliness, I can plaint
Some may define this as a prayer or request being made to God
A desolate place I can bring back to life

When you want, I cannot meet you, however
when you want I can think of you
——————————————————————

Achi Surat Ko Savarne Ki Jaroorat Kya Hai
Saadgi Mein Bhi Keyaamat Ki Ada Hoti Hai
Tum Jo aa jaate ho Masjid mein Ada Karne Namaaz
Tum ko maalum hai kitno ki Kaza Hoti Hai
——————————————————————
What is the purpose in adorning your beautiful face
there can be greatness in simplicity
You , who comes and goes …
to the mosque to offer your prayers
are you even aware of how many peoples prayers are disrupted

…. I hope you all can comprehend this. This is one of my very favorite poetry of his. I never knew where this came from, I had read it on Instagram before, until my husband played this song the other day and I was like OMG THIS IS WHERE THIS POETRY IS FROM! I was so happy to have found this song, I didn’t even know this was from a song of his. When he says, when you come to the mosque to say your prayers, do you even know how many prayers break by looking at you. So in our religion a man isn’t allowed to look at a woman with lust in his eyes, it’s considered a sin as woman are considered a very pure kind. So when someone goes to pray it is important for him to cleanse himself, whether that your face, feet or even eyes and keep his lustful feelings behind and then offer prayer. But NFAK is describing the beauty of his lover as someone so beautiful that when people look at her they are unable to stop themselves from looking at her and by doing so they tend to break their prayer. Bollywood has recently come out with a very new version of this song and honestly, they just ruined it. They did not do justice with this song! I sort of wish they had never renewed this one. The main chorus, the singer failed to pronounce the word “uthi” correctly and instead it sounds like “kutti”, which means b**** in English.

Ye Jo Halka Halka Suroor Hai

My all-time favorite song, the qawwali version and the song version that a Pakistani singer sang. Both, I can never get tired of. I had listened to the newer version before the old version and instantly fell in love with it. Such an emotional song, and the singers voice, Farhan Saeed is so soft and soothing, just makes you want to listen to it all day long. The tone and music of the new version is completely different than the old version, but the lyrics remain the same. The original song is almost 20 minutes long, whereas the newer version is just 4 mins and 22 seconds. My favorite lyric from this qawwali is “na namaz ati hai mujhko na wudhu ata hai, sajda kar leta hun jab samne tu ajata hai” which means, “nor prayer nor ablution do I know, but I prostrate when you come before me”. I love how he expresses his love for his lover to the point where he brings in his religion. He’s describing his love by saying that “i don’t know how perform ablution before my prayer, hell i don’t even know how to pray yet my love for you is so deep that i fall on my knees and fall into prostrate position.” I absolutely love the ending of this qawwali, when everything sort of tones down and NFAK calmly sings and finishes it off. The newer version that Farhan Saeed sung has a very soft tone to it, and he’s complaining to his lover that because of your love, because of you i have become an alcoholic.

—————————-Beyoncé’s Performance at Kobe’s Memorial——————————————-

2020 started off with a very tragic start. We lost a legend of basketball, along with a possible future legend, Kobe Bryant. I may not know a lot about basketball, but I did realize that he was loved by thousands and thousands of people all across the globe. We couldn’t believe what had just happened.When the news first broke out in my house; we couldn’t admit to the fact that he was gone. Like many others, we thought it was just another rumor passing around until officials confirmed it. Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash along with the others on board. In his honor, his wife, Vanessa Bryant held a beautiful memorial for him, where majority of his fans, celebrities and other athletes gathered in his remembrance and celebration. There, Beyoncé performed a very heartfelt version of “XO” and “Halo”. She created a very symphonic atmosphere, sending chills down everyone’s spine. And I think no one could’ve done it better than her.

Beyoncé paid her tribute to Kobe with an opening performance at the memorial, dedicating the song “XO”, because she said it was one of Kobe’s favorite songs, following with “Halo”. She performed with a group of orchestras and a choir which made the performance much more heavenly. She started singing and then she stops and starts again saying that she would love everyone to join her and show their love to Kobe. Her voice is very light and airy when she starts XO, having the choir repeating after her, creating a gospel effect.. There’s so much feeling and love in her voice as she’s singing; you can literally feel the emotions thru her performance. Slowly the violins jump in, creating a louder sound effect, growing the performance, adding on towards the climax of the performance.

You can see her coming in and out of the performance, she’s truly thinking of Kobe and reminiscing her memories with him. And then continues with her grieving smile on her face. When she reaches the chorus, the music gets even louder and so does she. Her voice gets louder, along with the orchestra and the choir. That moment when she sings, “in the darkest night I’ll, search through the crowd, your face is all that I see, I’m gonna give you everything”, I listened to the whole performance a good couple of times and each time I heard it, I got the chills. It sounded so personal — so direct towards Kobe, almost as if it was written for him.

She goes into the second stanza and the violins jump back out, causing it all to tenor down again, just like how the first stanza began. She goes, “we don’t have forever”, which fits so perfectly for the purpose she was singing for. Shows it in her face too, almost like it hurt singing those words. The orchestra and herself gradually grows louder, she gets more energetic and puts the energy with everyone she’s performing with. She hits every note so perfectly and on point it makes your heart sing. That pause in the choir and the orchestra creates a heart-dropping effect, with the thumping after every verse following with the choir and then she carries on so delightfully and smoothly. The choir creates such an enchanting harmony to the entire performance. Everyone joins towards the end of XO and then the orchestra slows it down again and you can hear the violin creating an almost saddening effect. Sad enough to make anyone cry or if not cry, emotional. Then she transitions into Halo with the piano.

Her transition is so smooth, it doesn’t ruin the mood, or lose anyone attention. The music for halo slowly starts coming in and Beyonce takes it away again.The addition of the violins when she says the first “halo” just gives holds your heart down. Then the rest of the orchestra comes in and the choir with full energy. The choir starts getting pumped as Beyoncé is really getting into the performance. That pause again creates such a strong effect. It’s like your heart stops and then starts beating again with a heavier beat. Every note she hits toward the end of the performance is just exceptional. The drums and the piano supporting her towards the end and she so beautifully finishes her performance by holding her note. And ended by blowing a kiss towards the sky.

She gave a whole new context to both the songs, especially XO, by performing it at the memorial. Whenever I listen to this song it would remind of summer 2016 but now whenever I will be listening to those songs, it will remind me of Kobe’s memorial and her performance on it. It will remind me of how beautifully this was dedicated to him, almost as if the song was personally written for him. This performance was a beautiful way to start his memorial, she expressed feelings for everyone who was and wasn’t present. It made hearts and eyes teary, it was so full of love and emotions, everyone felt it in their hearts. The song was meant to be sung for that moment, it was almost as if it was written just for him, for me that is Kobe’s song now. She made it his.

—————————————————-Acknowledgments——————————————————-

Professor Jason, My husband, My mother, Lana Del Rey, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Farhan Saeed, Jubin Nautiyal, Beyonce, Kobe, Vanessa Bryant.

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