Narratives

National songs like ‘Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhey’ and ‘Jeevay Jeevay’ have been sung and heard by us for as long as I can remember. Independence Day fervor grants the media liberty to play and replay these songs as they aim to emotionally awaken and revive feelings of patriotism. The eight am telecast from Islamabad on 14^th August particularly, has forever shown state school students sing ‘Milli nagme’ such as these to celebrate independence. Then, the irony lies in just the words ‘celebration’ and ‘independence’ as we deconstruct the state narrative altogether against the time that these songs were released in, versus their inspiration and relevance to today’s ‘Halaat’. Also, when we compare them to the patriotic songs sung by private artists, we see a deliberate absence of responsibility. Rather, the responsibility is sometimes misplaced - the agendas, grievances, inspirations and even the audiences addressed differ starkly. Not only do we see a problem with the positive attitude in the state songs but the motivation to correct and transform is thrown towards everyone but the state itself: God, or the ‘awam’. This doesn't automatically mean that the later songs such as ‘Laga Reh’ by Shehzad Roy or ‘Main Tou Dekhoonga’ by Strings are perfectly capable of describing the problems, recognizing the blame and stirring national sentiment. Is there a call to action? Are all of them just as effective in their own way? What are we missing in both? How does the public and private music industry describe the dominant national?

1

Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhey 

Sohni dharti Allah rakhey qadam qadam abad

Qadam qadam abad tujhey, qadam qadam abad

Tera har aik zarra hum ko apni jaan sey pyara

Teray dam sey shaan hamari, tujh sey naam hamara

Jab tak hai dunya baqi, hum dekhien azad

Hum dekhien azad tujhey

The most powerful thing about this song is the constant prayer to God to keep the state alive ‘abad’ and independent ‘azad’. We have seen this constant reference to ‘Allah’ and how everything sees the best when left to God’s will; it’s almost always like we don’t place our belief in God, rather we place the entire responsibility of our situation on God. Later, in Shehzad Roy’s song ‘Laga Reh’, this idea has been reiterated where the video shows the politician say ‘Sab kuch Allah peh chor do’ and he mocks them saying ‘Kuch na kar, kuch na kar tu, sab kuch Allah peh chor dey, Allah hi tera hafiz hai’. In the video, it’s remarkable when the ‘Buzurg’ in a black sherwani says this and the camera immediately takes an aerial view as the crowd looks up and stares at the sky as if a solution will descend from above. This resolution in God especially to rid ourselves of our responsibility and laziness is one of the most destructive habits of the population. Does the state narrative then align itself to this lazy, misplaced idea of Godly help when it says ‘Allah rakhey abad’? I feel that it is a more of a convenient and diplomatic narrative than a wholly religious one.

Also notice that the pronoun here is ‘hum’, almost as if it’s an emotion on behalf of the people. ‘Tera har aik zarra hum ko apni jaan sey pyara/ Teray dam sey shan hamari/ Tujh sey naam hamara’. This association of people’s identity with the state’s is not only remarkable because it’s very inclusive and inspiring but also because it allows the state to demand due loyalty of its people. However, this line ‘Jab tak hai dunya baqi, hum dekhien azad/ Hum dekhien azad tujhey’ is a queer prayer. It points to uncertainty of independence altogether and a threat on the side. It’s interesting as only a few years later we see the Bengal partition and this then defines the ‘tujhey’, the present day Pakistan. Words such as ‘hum’, ‘tujhey’, ‘tera’ and ‘apni jaan’ succeed in presenting a strong relationship between citizens and the state. The national’s (The state) own narrative then is very embracing and inclusive but at the same time, it’s demanding and relies on prayer and God –when we talk of responsibility on matters such as ‘Abad’ and ‘Azad’, it’s slightly problematic.