On 3/12/2009 3:11 PM India Time, _Jahanzeb Farooq_ wrote: > in fact we watched > JA together and during Khwaja mere khwaja as I mentioned that music > is by ARR, he said I did not see anything special (sadly enough. may > because it was in bad quality. also we know that ARR's music grows > but he does not).
I am a known JA basher so I thought I can say about this song also. khwaja song might be holding additional value for muslims due to its religious connotations, and for general fans it might have got some high weightage due to the anecdotes of ARR having composed it already and then AG using it in the film. But as a song, I find khwaja song quite barren and monotonous if I can say that. It is a sort of "introvert" song giving a feel that a person must be singing it within his heart and mind. It is his personal pleasure. Others would not be able to connect to it. Firstly, the song has some 1:20 initial alaaps that are quire boring to say and kill the entire beauty of song that comes after that. It is more like the sounds generated when a player "tunes up" his instruments before starting to really play it up. Such a long wasted part is a sin in current busy time. Those "ya khwaja ji, moinuddin, gareeb nawaz" are without any lyrical or music value". So, I think the start itself is badly thought up. But then the song starts with lovely music BUT, BUT BUT poor lyrics. A typical lack of creativity in the monotonous, "logically-built up" lyrics as is usually the case with Javed Akhtar. Khwaja Mere Khwaja Dil Mein Sama ja Bebaso ki Taqdeer Tu ne hai sawari There is no rhyming, no deep devotion. All that "dil mein sama ja" type of phrases had been used a 1000 times in cheap ladki-pataao songs in 60s and here he comes up with that in a 21st century devotional song. I would say that the major failure of the song remains in the poor lyrics. Then, it fails in arrangements of vocals. None of the voices carry and ethos and pathos. They are just singing an any song, not a religious song for the most respected muslim personality of Indian subcontinent. pronunciations are also not clear. that bebaso ki taqdeer tu ne hai sanwari, has bebaso and tu ne pronounced so pooorly that one has to strain to hear it and make the meaning of it. Sad that it is our man himself. And then "Tere darbaar mein khwaza noor ko mainne dekha" has noor pronounced so poorly by our man himself, and then there are alaaps, and then the music gives the impression that the line is going to be repeated, tere darbar mein khwaja - but they drop the line unceremoniously and begin another line - sar jhukaate hain auliya. What was so great in mentioning that auliya sar jhukate hain, so what, is that why you feel respect for him? I think the respect should have come from within, not due to seeing how others are respecting him. and then "tu hai xxxx khwaja - rutaba hai pyara" chahne se tujhko mustafa ko paya" that xxx is still not clear to my aging ears. and lastly that "hai mere peer ka sadqa, tera daman hai thama," tali hai bala hamari, chhaya hai khumar tera, jitna bhi rashq karein beshaq, to ab hai XXX mere khwaja, tere kadmo ko mere rahnuma nahin chhodna gawara. I don't get what exactly is the concept. No rhyming, no poetry, just some words have got hammerred in. It must be the poorest lyrics by Javed. I would say that ARR's voice is also not as sweet enough as he is famed for, there is a rare shrillness, a hollow in ARR's voice that I don't remember having heard in any other song. May be he was trying a new voice but it didn't suit my ears. all the internal aalaaps also are confusing, making it a classical song. They are not even bringing a sense of a trance. And as I already said once that JA music was a personal music and didn't reflect the lavishness of the film. I think I can describe now what I meant by that personal vs lavishness. Listen to the music between 3:40 - 4:05. That Persian sort of. Now, that is what I call a royal music, that has lavishness, that has luxury, that is group music, public music. Also the instrument that stars playing at the backdrop at about 6:10 and continues till the end of song. that single instrument is giving a royal touch to the song. That type of music is what I expected to be everywhere in JA music and background, but no, we didn't get that. Our man had different ideas about music suitable for the emperor of India. Compare the above two sounds to the sound at 1:20-1:45. Now this 1:20 sound is what I call a personal sound, lacking royal touch. It is a commoner's, a poor man's sound, now suitable for a period film. Seeing so many members liking the song so much, mentioning it as their most fav song, etc., I tried to listen to it several times, but this is one song of ARR that I found lacking in almost each and every aspect. -- Compare that to D6's Arziyaan. Now, Arziyaan is a prayer song that carries you with it and you forget yourself love the journey . perfect sounds, music, emotional voices, all pathos, stopping just short of melodrama of so many manmohan desai's religious songs. I wonder what those who had loved khwaja feel about Arziyaan? One can't go on liking every song otherwise it becomes a hype. One has to love some songs and find some other songs not up to the mark, only then his appraisal of the songs appear realistic. -- Rawat
