Zikr through Mugham: Tunes from Azerbaijan --The Alim Qasimov Ensemble

Sounds and tunes from around the globe are an inseparable part of the charged atmosphere at the Jaipur Literature Fest. Spiritual notes wafting from Azerbaijan were an unusual, savory addition this time. In the quest to bring you exclusive interactions with authors and performers across the world, Financial Chronicle got up close and personal with the Alim Qasimov Ensemble—winner of the UNESCO International Music Prize for Performers— that cast a spell on all of Jaipur.

Relaxing in the lobby of the Clarks Amer, Qasimov explains that though his music is classical in nature, it is a form of spiritual expression, which comes from a “deeper place inside him”. It’s not just a performance; it is a way of doing “zikr”, much like the Sufi tradition in India. “Earlier I was a performer,” he says. “But over the years, performing and performing, the meanings have changed for me. Now it is a way of seeking communion with the almighty… it’s my way of doing zikr. The music goes from me to god, and becomes a source of spiritual cleansing. The audience feels it, too. It creates an aura of spiritual energy around them.”

Qasimov answers all questions through hand-gestures and sparse words, even as Fargana, his daughter, conveys his meaning—and her own— in English. Language is a problem here, since their preferred one is Azeri—a language closely related to modern Turkish. Qasimov chides his daughter mildly, telling her to improve her English so she can handle interviews better! Fargana and Qasimov are the lead vocalists in the Ensemble, with the other 3 members—Rauf, Zaki and Rafael— playing the Kaman, the tar and the balaban, traditional instruments of Azerbaijan. Rafael sits with us now, his fingers unceasingly rotating prayer beads on a rosary. Is he praying? “No, no!” he laughs, and says something in Azeri. “It’s his habit…just his way of passing time,” Fargana translates.

Fargana explains that their performance is steeped in the Mugham tradition— an ancient Azerbaijani folk tradition— where they sing old poems by famous poets, improvising the rendition. Mugham is, in fact, a highly complex art form recognized in 2003 by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It combines classical poetry and musical improvisation in specific local modes associated not only with scales but with an orally transmitted collection of melodies and melodic fragments. The dramatic unfolding in performance is typically associated with increasing intensity and rising pitches.

“Our first lady Mehriban Aliyera is providing a lot of impetus to the promotion of Mugham,” Fargana says, “Not many people paid attention to this several years ago, but due to her support, more and more people are moving towards it. Especially young people, who used to be more interested in modern pop music.” Fargana herself  was initiated into Mugham as a child, and joined her father in stage performances at the age of 16. Qasimov is an acclaimed performer in his country since the age of 23.

Improvisation in music is an important part of their performance, and Qasimov says they now also combine elements of Indian music with their original sounds. Fargana says they greatly appreciate the music of “Hind”.  “When you go deeper, the music of Hind, Iran and Azerbaijan, all have the same roots. We have much in common.” So would we see any fusion performances? Qasimov enthusiastically expresses a desire to meet Anoushka Shankar and perform in collaboration with her. “If you meet her, please convey my message to her!”

Chills and Thrills of Crime Fiction: Hakan Nesser

Swedish and tall, armed with crisp, succinct remarks and a ready sense of humour. That’s Hakan Nesser, with all the essential qualities for an immensely popular crime fiction writer— three times winner of Best Swedish Crime Novel Award. Addressing a session titled ‘Nordic Noir: The Mind’s Eye’ along with Nils Nordberg, Norwegian crime writer, at day one of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Nesser spoke candidly about the commercial pull of crime fiction. In a brief stroll-and-chat with this reporter, he waxed eloquent on how books become a binding force globally.

“The greatest discovery in my journey so far has been the truth that readers are the same everywhere,” he replied thoughtfully when asked about his discoveries through writing. “I went to the US where I had to do a lot of readings, and I thought, oh, the readers would be so different here. But I found that we all think alike. We’re all the same in the way we receive books. And it’s a good discovery. It’s good, because you see that books connect us all. Whether you’re from Sweden or India or the US, every reader gets the same…well, message.”

Nesser, whose work has been translated into various different languages, pointed out that the reason there was such a great increase in crime fiction was because that was the genre that brought in the money. He goes on to narrate an episode where a bookseller in Sweden actually put a yellow dot on one of Dostoyevsky’s books—indicating crime fiction. “Well, Dostoyevsky started selling then,” he laughs out loud. And then he tells you that his very first story was a “beautiful, existential love story which got great reviews but sold about 75 copies worldwide.” From then onward, of course, it was crime writing all the way—creating his much loved characters—detective Van Veeteren and the more recent Inspector Barbarotti.

Nesser charms you with his ability to laugh at himself, and to create mirth around things such as murders. And incidentally, he can identify with the murderers in his books, too. Well, not quite in the way that it sounds. “I’m not keen on a black and white way of thinking. The question “why” is more important than “who”. You want to know why a person did such thing. So you get to identify a little with the murderers, too… like in my novel Woman With A Birth Mark,  the woman is out to get four men, and you wish, oh I do hope she gets this one!”

At the end of the day, though, it’s all about telling a good story. “My colleague used to say there’s nothing as bad as a bad crime story, but nothing as good as a good crime story! When I’m writing a story, a good one is the kind that I’d like to read,” he pauses and adds with a twinkling eye, “Only thing is, I’ve got to write it before I can read it!” 

Healing the Wounds of Abuse: Esther Austin

Even amid the riot of colours and the storm of human forms surrounding you at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, Esther Austin is easy to spot. Dressed in traditional African attire in the brightest shades of orange and red, complete with turban-like headgear, she is a tall woman of African origin with a bright and ready smile. A resident of the UK and originally from Nigeria, she gets even more interesting when you find out she’s a ‘spiritual’ healer and her book titled ‘Wounded Lives, Wounded Healers’ is going to be out in the stands very soon—February 2015 to be precise.

So how exactly does a spiritual healer work, you might want to know. “A spiritual healer is able to feel and sense a person’s pain and see what’s going on inside a person’s body,” Austin explains.

She talks about her book which explores all forms of pain in a person’s life. “In my book I've interviewed a lot of different people about pain and handling it. The people who help others to handle what’s inside them. So I’ve interviewed counsellors, shamans… people doing lots of spiritual work… they share their journey about their own emotional pain and also how they used t

hat pain in the work they did with their clients.”

Her own clients are a lot of people who have dealt with sexual abuse and physical violence. And she also reveals the abuse she has been subjected to. “The book in a way also reflects my life story because I’ve been through emotional abuse and maybe some physical abuse as well. Pretty painful expereinces. But I’ve come thru it and it’s a very powerful place to stand, and it empowers other people to say I can stand strong in my place too.”

It’s how we deal with the pain in our lives, she says, that creates the kind of person we are.

Her interviews are spread across 5 different countries in 3 different continents. “There are people from the States, then there’s a gentleman from India who practices laughter yoga, and there’s a lady who’s a shaman , so she deals with a lot of emotional pain people. In fact talking to the guy who does laughter yoga was a learning experience, you learn how laughter is a very cathartic and healing activity. The idea is to get a good mix— this whole eclectic view of different experiences from people with different capacities, a mixture of men and women and their experiences with pain.

So you can also find in there a lady from the US who practices Tantra to heal people, a lady who was emotionally abused as a child. Not to mention an activist for whales, who also works with human beings. Austin feels this book would prove to be pivotal in her life, and that it is a book for everyone “who is searching for peace, for freedom and liberty—who wants to say to life, I’m ready to explore and enjoy you. The thing is to be able to out your pain down somewhere, instead of having to carry it around. And that is what liberates you.”

Helon Habila: Stories Make The World Less Chaotic

His writing has won multiple awards including the Caine Prize and Commonwealth Writers Prize, his latest novel Oil on Water being shortlisted for three different awards, too. Celebrated Nigerian novelist and poet Helon Habila talks about the commonalities between Indian and African writing and how African literature is the ‘new Indian literature’ in an exclusive interaction with Zehra Naqvi at the Jaipur Literature Festival:

How would you describe the ‘African novel’ if such a categorization can be made?

The African novel is a hybrid form. It is a combination of the African folkloric tradition with the western novel form. The novel is a western creation; it came to Africa through colonisation. The Africans had an oral storytelling tradition. So the African novel is a new entity created by the fusion. It uses the structure of the novel, in terms of character, the dialogue and the setting and the folkloric such as proverbs, songs, morality tales. You put them in the western novel and you have the Afrcian novel.

What is your greatest inspiration to write?

It’s been the stories I was told while I was growing up, the folktales from my mother, the women in my compound where I grew up. See, what a story does to you, it explains the world to you. It makes the world less chaotic, less formless. The idea of novel is structure; you can’t have a story without structure, because there are so many things to talk about. So a story makes the world more structured, it becomes manageable. That’s the reason why writing appeals to me.

You’ve earlier said that when you were writing a ‘nice, apolitical’ novel, it seemed irrelevant in the face of the conflict around you. In a conflict-ridden region, is there certain compulsion to write political novels?

Conflict is good for novels, it makes stories exciting! Actually, this pressure is more internal, it’s not like someone is forcing you to do it. It’s just me—who I am as a person. I can’t keep quiet while all this is happening around me. But I cannot respond by going there to actively fight. So I respond through what I know best, which is art. This is how I protest.

Do you read Indian authors? Who are your favorites among them?

The one I like the most is White Tiger by Arvind Adiga ! It’s almost as if he’s writing about Africa, you know! I see the same bureaucracy, corruption, the same injustice. He’s writing about the things I write about, the things that concern me. I relate to it.

What other commonalities do you perceive between Indian and African literature?

We both have post-colonial identities. We have the same history—being subjugated , wanting to protest.  And we want to show the world that we are not what you think we are. We have our own culture and our distinct identity—so you show that through your writing. There’s a very strong historical sense in the fiction of both.

Is there a predominant message in your writing?

It varies from book to book.  I am influenced by different things at different times. I’m sure some reader who would read all my books would say, oh, this is the thing you’re trying to say! But I don’t look for unity. I always come to each new book thinking this is something I haven’t done before. I try to challenge myself. What I really want to do is to create more convincing characters, get better with the craft itself. It’s not just about the message. It’s about the art, the aesthetics—what I make the reader feel.

Do you think African literature is coming more into focus now?

Yes, it’s definitely on the rise. African literature is the ‘new Indian literature’! Earlier Indian writers were all the rage, now it is African writers. It’s good for us! And it’s also good for everyone else to see that the world is complex and diverse. This is a good moment to be an African writer. But it’s not going to last forever! So the thing is to be a good writer, period.