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Recorded at SeekersHub on DEC 01/2011: Nader Khan singing “Balaghal Ula Bi Kamalihi”.
The Arabic refrain is the famous verse in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, by the great Persian poet Sa’di Shirazi.
A translation of the Urdu verses is as follows:
“The destinations are not distant from anyone,
Nor is it a matter of proximity
It ennobles whomever it wishes to
Such is the matter of the Beloved’s doorstep.
He summons whomever he wishes to upon his doorstep
He makes his own, whomever he wishes to do so
These are decisions of great generosity
This is a matter of an exalted destiny.
That one went astray and was left behind somewhere along the way
This one wrapped itself around the doorstep with an enthusiastic eagerness
That was the arrogance of one consumed by material possession
This is the matter of a needy one free of such attachments”
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I’d first heard this Urdu na’at brilliantly recited by the late Ustadh Khurshid Ahmad. It’s been one of my personal favourites for many years now. A rough translation is pasted below.
This recording is from a recent gathering of Celebrating The Prophet this past Thursday (October 6th, 2011) at SeekersHub Toronto.
TRANSLATION:
Beneath the grille of your resting place
Are the blessed shades of your mercy
Whosoever desires to gaze upon paradise
Let him take a trip to gaze upon Madina
O visitor of the blessed Rowdah
This is the prayer that I send forth for you
That upon arriving at the threshold of Mustafa
May you become oblivious to the rest of the world
He alone is my well wisher
He alone, O Zahur, is my dear beloved friend
The one who, when he shall visit my grave
Will recite for me an ode in praise of The Prophet
Here I am, setting off into my grave
Convey a request to my Mustafa
That a breeze from your alleyway
Be sent to see me off as I depart
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This poem in praise of The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, is one of my favourites. This past Thursday (October 6th, 2011), we sang it again at SeekersHub Toronto, in an East African style.
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The Qasida Muhammadiya is one of the most famous shorter compositions by Imam Busiri, in praise of The Prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and give him peace.
This recording is from the weekly gathering of celebrating The Prophet, at SeekersHub Toronto [http://www.SeekersHub.org], on September 15th 2011.
I’ve used an Edirol R-09 recorder, mounted on a tripod about two feet away from me. The microphone on this was excellent at capturing the feel of the gathering in stereo sound. In post-production, I’ve just added the “Live Performance” effect in GarageBand.
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Many apologies for the lack of a podcast in the recent weeks. The recent opening of SeekersHub Toronto (http://SeekersHub.org), and the intense Ramadan programming there had kept my wife and I very busy.
So now, I’m back, and will do my best to be more regular, insha’Allah.
This song is an English translation by Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad, of an originally Turkish song by Yunus Emre. In his mastery of the English language, he has managed to maintain rhyme and meter of the Turkish original.
I’d always found one of the popular tunes for this song especially captivating, and had written a song called “The Quest” to this tune on the first album. This song follows the original tune and song structure more closely.
The song is essentially an exercise in intercession, through all the things and people one considers as held close by God.
The recording for both the lead vocals and the voice layering backing vocals was done with Blue’s Yeti Pro microphone, mounted upside down on a boom microphone stand, straight into my Mac’s GarageBand. I’m *really* liking this microphone.
Here are the full lyrics ::
With the rocks and mountains high, Let me call, my Lord, on Thee.
At the dawn with birds that fly, Let me call, my Lord, on Thee.
With Isa, raised on high, With Musa on Sinai,
With the rod that he holds by, Let me call, my Lord, on Thee.
With thankful praise addressed to God With the Koran’s ‘Say: He is God’,
With bare feet, head uncovered, Let me call, my Lord, on Thee.
With Eyub in suffering drear With Yaqoub shedding many a tear
With Muhammad, loved so dear,Let me call, my Lord, on Thee.
With this song, Yunus regales, Singing with the nightingales,
With the Truth’s most loving slaves, Let me call, my Lord, on Thee.
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I don’t recall *exactly* when it was, that I heard this Urdu Na’at in praise of The Beloved of God, May God bless him and give him peace, during in my childhood. I do remember being very young, and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in my parents’ home. I also remember that it was being rendered by a person who became my absolute favourite Na’at reciter later in life – the late Hazrat Khursheed Ahmed, may he be enveloped in Divine Mercy.
This was my earliest memory of an introduction to the tradition of praising the Prophet, Sall Allahu ‘alaihi wa sallam. This na’at remains one of my all-time favourite ones to this day. I hope you all like it too.
This particular recording was recorded live at blessed evening in November 2009, at the Ta’leef Collective in Fremont California.
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This piece was written immediately following the RIS 2009 conference in Toronto, in December 2009. It was originally intended as a poem, but Shaykh Faraz encouraged me to set it to a tune and record it.
It was recorded with Blue Microphones’ Yeti Pro – the best USB microphone I’ve used thus far. It’s rich capture of sound is … very cool.
I’ve kept this recording Acapella on purpose, as I intended for the listener to focus on the lyrics. I also wanted to hear the recording quality of this new microphone up close without distractions.
The song itself is a reminder, and an admonition to myself as an artist, and perhaps to other artists as well, to help orient myself against the ego entrapments that come with this line of work.
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This set of lyrics was originally composed as a poem by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. I composed a tune to it in March 2009, on my second flight to Scan Fransisco in a month, en route to a private gathering of commemorating the month of the Prophet’s birth, Allah bless him and give him peace. AlhamduliLlah, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf was able to hear the initial draft himnself and encouraged me to continue refining it.
The tune is loosely based on a cello solo that my brother had composed in 1990.
This specific recording is from a live performance at the Ta’leef Collective in Fremont California, in November 2009. It was recorded live using a Canon Powershot SX 20i that I mounted on a $20 tripod. Not sure about the specs of the sound system at Ta’leef that day, but they always seem to know what they’re doing in that department.
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Ramadan is now upon us and we are looking for your support to respond to hunger in their communities.
“O Son of Adam, I was hungry, and you didn’t feed Me,” says Allah in Divine Words (hadith qudsi) related by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).
There are 800,000 people in Canada who use foodbanks on a monthly basis, 40% of them children.
SeekersHub’s FeedMe Fast campaign is a way for you to make a difference in your own city: a $5/day donation feeds one hungry Torontonian for a day, and a $20/day donation feeds a family. (100% of funds raised will be given to local GTA food banks.)
“None of you believes if they sleep full, while their neighbours are hungry,” said the Prophet.
DO Something::
• Donate via Email Interac to: feedmefast@seekershub.org
• Donate canned food at SeekersHub: 2355 Royal Windsor Dr, Unit 10, Mississauga
• Get five friends or family members to donate
• Encourage three friends to get involved in the campaign.
As you approach the time to break your fast this month, please consider what a tremendous difference you can make in the lives of the hungry in your own neighbourhoods, for whom hunger is not a consequence of choice. For the increasingly burgeoning masses who find themselves heading towards the foodbanks for help, almost half of whom are children, we can’t afford to do nothing about it.
During this blessed holy month, we get to experience by choice and for a limited time, what 2.7 Million people live with everyday in this beautiful country of ours, our Canada, our home and native land. This Ramadan, let’s manifest The Prophet’s concern for the well-being of others by making a difference in someone’s life.
I wish you all a blessed Ramadan, and a festive Eid.
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This is a set of lyrics that I’ve been trying to set a tune to, for well over 3 years now. It was originally intended to be on the first album, but to a very different tune. It’s a good thing I waited – this is the most satisfied I’ve been.
The lyrics were originally composed by Shaykh Abdul-Hakeem Murad and he had titled the poem as “Lamiyyat Al Ajam”. Those who know what a “Lamiyya” is, will get the subtle wit of his title.
This recording was done to test out the sound setup at the new SeekersHub (http://seekershub.org) in Mississauga, Ontario. I’ve used a wired Shure SM-58 microphone, plugged into a Fender Passport 500 PA system – probably the best one there is for a musician on the road, in the affordable range.
It was recorded on Shaykh Faraz’s iPhone 4 as a movie. I extracted the sound file in Apple’s GarageBand, added in a “Live Performance” affect, and voila.
