Age-old Traditions

By Imtiaz Ali, " Fahim Allan Fakir: chip off the old block" - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan
Thursday, June 10, 2008

Though Fahim Allan Fakir enthralled the audience at Alliance Francaise (AF), Karachi recently in concert, music lovers are still waiting to see whether or not he will be able to fill the void left by his father’s death.

Fahim may want to adopt the same style of singing as that of his father but he has a long way to go.

He may need more time to polish and hone his skill, which may or may not be different from his father or other performers. However, he is optimistic about his future.

Allan Fakir, the world renowned singer and musician introduced a new genre in the Sindhi-Urdu music. Basically, he was a traditional singer who proved to the world he could do equally well when it came to contemporary music.

Fakir attracted a large number of Urdu music lovers with his distinct style of performance. In a brief chat with The News at AF prior to his performance, Fahim said that once his father told him “if you cannot perform with ‘sur’, just croone ‘Woo, woo’and you will gain sur.”

Fahim said that he lacked melody in his voice at an early age and people often asked his father to train the son but “baba used to tell them that one day my son will get it.”

He also said that “I did not get any training from other singers or musicians,” adding that “I learnt some words by watching my father.”

He believes that sur is not something that can be learnt. Instead, it is something that is God-gifted.

“I was trained in the sufi tradition at an early age,” he said. “He taught me about Sufism and the love of God,” added Fahim.

Allan Fakir had assumed distinction in singing the ‘Wai’ of the great Sufi poet Shah Latif Bhitai as most Sufi singers preferred the poetry of Sachal Sarmast, which for them was relatively easy. Besides, the latter was also known as the ‘poet of seven languages.’

Singing the poetry of Bhitai is not difficult for him, said Fahim, as he inherited an appreciation for poetry from his family. His father also sang the kalaam of Baba Bulleh Shah, Sachal Sarmast, Haq Bahu, Meeral Fakir and others.

Fahim likes the recent trend of narration behind Sufi poetry in contemporary music. With the help of this technique, messages can be easily conveyed to the people. However, Fahim does not think much of the new trend of having models and actors in music videos while someone else is doing the real singing.

He is optimistic about the future of classical music. “Sufism and classical poetry are age-old traditions,” he explained, adding that “the trend of remixing music will not survive for long.”

He added that the people no longer invite Sufi singers at marriage ceremonies as they do not want poetry on festive occasions, which remind them of the ‘love for God’.

When he was talking about importance of classical music, the AF director Alexandre Tchikovani joined in. Interestingly enough, Fahim started speaking in English and told Tchikovani that the importance of classical music can be gauged from the fact that a king sacrificed his life after listening to the music of Beejal Fakir – in fact Bhitai has also written about this.

In response to another question, he said that he doesn’t want to bring out his own style of singing. “I wish I could emulate my father properly,” said Fahim.

“I would like to think that I have achieved my destiny when I will be able to sing like my father,” he added. There is no one in the world who can emulate his father, he said.