"I Grew Up Singing at Dargahs"

By Anuji Kumar, "Why the awards matter" - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, March 2, 2008

Like every year past, the announcement of the Padma Shri/Bhushan/Vibhushan awards has not been without a dash of controversy. “Political patronage,” some cried. “Well deserved but a bit late,” say others. Regardless of the con troversy, some of this year’s recipients repeat a common sentiment: they are all glad and honoured to be conferred with the award.

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His compositions create the same frenzy at a discotheque as at a countryside dhaba. He works with Anuradha Sairam and Daler Mehndi with the same zeal. The lyrics of his songs are as popular in Punjab as in Kerala.

In short, Jawahar Wattal unifies the country through his music rooted in folk traditions. “The Padma Sri is the result of 25 years of hard work to create a sustainable alternative to film music,” says Jawahar, who has 19 multi-platinum discs to his credit.

Jawahar, who started by composing advertisement jingles like ‘Fill it, Shut it, Forget it’, says his music worked despite the overwhelming presence of Bollywood.

“And I didn’t have the advantage of a multitude of channels to broadcast sleek music videos round the clock. I have worked on Sufi music and bhangra and introduced artistes like Daler Mehndi and Hans Raj Hans but I have also worked on Gujarat’s dandia, Rajasthan’s nathni and the folk music of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. I have worked with the likes of Shujaat Khan, Shubha Mudgal, Hema Sardesai and now I am working with Aruna Sairam.”


Coming from Shafipur, a remote village in Punjab, Hans Raj Hans says coming to Chandigarh was a big thing for him. Today he is a visiting professor at the University of San Jose in California.

“I grew up singing at dargahs. I had full confidence in my sur and my guru Ustad Puran Shah Koti.”

Hans has been singing at the Wagah border for the last 12 years and roots for Indo-Pakistan friendship. Sufi music has won him many admirers abroad.

“Recently I performed at Birmingham and 70 per cent of the audience were white. The influence of Sufi music is catching the fancy of foreigners.”

With Bulle Shah as his favourite, Hans says he still loves singing in front of rural crowd in his state. “Woh hawa ka farq pehchante hain. If I miss a note they tell me: you are looking tired, Hans. This is not the case in the metros.”

[Pictures: Shri Jawahar Wattal and Shri Hans Raj Hans. Photos by: Rajeev Bhatt, R.V. Moorthy and Sandeep Saxena]

[About the Padma Shri Awards, go to this Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Shri].