Types of Music Compositions: Ghazal

Ghazal

The ghazal  is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th-century Arabic verse. It is derived from the Arabian panegyric qasida. The structural requirements of the ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. In style and content it is a genre that has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation. It is one of the principal poetic forms which the Indo-Perso-Arabic civilization offered to the eastern Islamic world.

The ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century due to the influence of Sufi mystics and the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Dari poetry and Urdu poetry, today it is found in the poetry of many languages of the Indian sub-continent.

Sufi Music

Sufi music is a form of music prevailing in northern India. The meaning of Sufi music is the music that links with the heart. It envisages linking to god with out any religious limitations. Singers like the Abida Parveen and late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Pakistan are reputed Sufi singers.

Sufi music emerged in the early 14th century and is having high content of spirituality in it. Sufism is a philosophy that glorifies every religion as a way to virtue. Sufism gives precedence to love for humanity. Sufi music has helped a lot to spread the ideas of Sufism to many parts of the world. There are variations for Sufi music in different religions. Sufi music was spread by the Fakirs who travel through different parts of the country. Avadh, Rajasthan and Kashmir have developed their own singing style for Sufi music. Iran has been the global cradle for Sufi music. Sufi music is also popular in Turkey, Sudan and even Israel. Today the great Iranian Sufi saint and poet Roomi is the most noted, renowned and largest moving authors in America.

Poets of Urdu ghazal

In Urdu, some important and respected ghazal poets are Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Wali, Aatish, Mirza Rafi Sauda, Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Zauq, Momin Khan Momin , Dard, Daagh, Altaf Hussain Hali and Jigar Moradabadi. Post-partition poets include Firaq Gorakhpuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Mohani, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Jaun Elia, Munir Niazi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Shakeb Jalali, Qamar Jalalabadi, Qateel Shifai, Nasir Kazmi, Ahmad Faraz, , Sahir Ludhianvi and  Makhdoom Mohiuddin.