Wandering with Jogis

Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

Six years ago, I found myself at the side of a freeway eating food under a rickety hut in the deserts of Jamshoro, Sindh in Pakistan. The air was hot, as was the food. Drenched in sweat, I looked out past the asphalt, across sand, sprinkled in defiant bits of green. I had come there from Los Angeles seeking a group of wandering snake charmers; Jogis to add their music to my animated film "Gul". Little did I know how connected we would be in the years to come, from devastating floods to bringing Sufi poetry to the world all thanks to people joining together to do some good.

Sindhi musicians

Thanks to help from Suffi Bilal Khalid, Fatah Daudpoto, Saeed Mangi and others who made my work possible, I have a story to share. I went to pick up Ustad Amb Jogi and Jairam Jogi at the Hyderabad rail station in Sindh. We would have ridden in two auto rickshaws, but they humbly suggested that one was enough. We piled in with my friend Azam Bugti, the two musicians, their large instrument cases and the auto driver, then went to Fatah sahib's apartment.In the apartment, we met a few more local musicians, and each played a bit. I was mesmerized. It took years of grueling effort to get to this point. The musicians asked what I was looking for and I played a few recordings. They had never made music for films before. I reassured them, that what I wanted was their music, expressing the emotions of my film. After setting a date for a recording session and overcoming some other logistical challenges, I found myself with them again at the recording studio at the Institute of Sindhology in Jamshoro.With hand gestures and words, I gave them cues for timing as Ustad Amb Jogi lead them through different raags and emotional arcs of the film. Each musician added their embellishments and created a rich piece of music. I was ecstatic. All that pressure and effort came down to several hours of weaving music from their seventh and eighth generation traditions, into a nine minute piece of music. We shared a meal after the recording session, then bid farewell. I came back to Los Angeles, with the recordings which I mixed and edited. I finished the rest of my film and "Gul" was born.The Jogis came with me through their music to festivals around the world. My film had no words, but the emotions of their music and sound design by my friend Brian Stroner. I put together a section devoted to them on my website, to let the world know them. The following year, I returned to Sindh, to give thanks to friends and share the finished film. The Jogis met in the lawn of a local radio station. I was overjoyed to see them again. They told me that it was not a particularly large project that we had worked on, but when I called them about meeting, they came because they appreciated my respect for them. I felt the same way. We sat and talked for a while. I told them how people around the world loved their music at festivals I went to. I gave them DVDs for each member of the group. I learned more about the challenges they face as musicians, such as never receiving copies of their recordings, never being showcased in their own album, and certainly not receiving the financial rewards for their art that they should. They were known as being among the best at each of their instruments, yet being illiterate and of simple means, promotion was not something they could manage. Yet these were not complaints. They shared with me, only after some pushing, out of a sense of trust.My project was funded out of pocket. They sat with me and gave it all the care and skill they had. In turn, I tried to give them the utmost respect as fellow artists as well as paying them for their hard work. These are sweet, humble people. I wanted to do more. I asked them to get recordings of their work, and have them sent via a friend at the University to me in Los Angeles, that I might cobble something together to promote them further. They agreed and we parted ways.I came back to Los Angeles, after that summer and got busy in trying to earn a living again to keep bills paid. I called Ustad Amb Jogi in November the next year, only to learn that he and the rest of the Jogis had lost their homes to devastating floods. Ashamed that I had not thought to check in sooner, I began to think about what I could do. I took video from our recording session and put it together. Based on that, I created a small campaign selling that one piece of music and sharing their story. It took a few months of personally emailing, calling and speaking to as many people as possible, but we raised $1,200 which I transferred to Ustad Amb Jogi. My friends at Sindhology came through to support once again. They provided recording services, then sent me the footage to edit and mix with funds going to the musicians and minimal recording costs.

Girnari Jogi Group album sessions.

Out of that project came a DVD and CD of the Jogis, with their names on it, short bios, photos and introductions with subtitles as a fledgling vehicle to promote and support their livelihoods. I told everyone about the project, shared the Jogi's story and music online for free and in person everywhere I went. People bought the album and at a very grass roots level it has been able to help the Jogis by raising more funds. Their videos have received thousands of views online, and where once there was no trace of them to the outside world, now people from every corner of the world can know them and their music in their own words. This project did not take millions of dollars to create. It took care, trust and a lot of love. They gave me what I could never create, and I in turn applied my skills and resources to try and share what I could.In the end, I feel empowered by what can happen with an idea and the many people who help to make it a reality. At the moment, I am planning a new project with the Jogis, assorted other musicians and puppeteers, to dig deeper and share more of the rich culture there as well as benefit more artists. We are creating a traditional puppetry film based on sufi poetry by Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai which will bring together Sindhi folk musicians and Rajasthani puppeteers in the form of a film that crosses a border that has kept families apart for almost 70 years. Once again, it started with an idea, and is steadily growing, thanks to the power of people coming together to try and do some good.Learn more about the puppet film; "Risalo".

Crowd Funding for the Girnari Jogi Group Album

Girnari Jogi Group preparing.

Click to enjoy the music of the Girnari Jogi Group.Back in December 2011, I had called my friend Ustad Amb Jogi in Pakistan. I was visiting Ohio at the time, and thought it would be good to catch up with some friends I hadn't spoken to in a while. I  had hired Jogi and his group of musicians to record music for my short animated film Gul, back in 2008. I returned to the US, finished the film, toured around with it, then returned to share the results with Jogi and his group in 2010. That day in December 2011, on the phone, after some prodding, Jogi told me that he and the other musicians had lost their homes to flooding, earlier that year.I felt ashamed for not having called sooner. My second thought was that I needed to do something. Sitting a world away, what could I do for these wonderful musicians? I had one song that I had hired them to record. There was some unedited video footage from the recording session. Perhaps I could use these along with the photos of them I had already posted online in promotion of my film, to try and piece together a campaign to raise funds.

Ustad Amb Jogi on Dholak, with Mewa Khan on Harmonium

It was not feasible for me to raise enough funds to rebuild their homes. Still, I knew they could use whatever I could raise, but there had to be something more. I had discussed promoting them with recordings that others may have made of them before all of this, but no one every really gave them footage from shows, nor were there people interested in looking our for and promoting them.What if I used this campaign to pay them to create an album? Then they would be earning the money and it would work towards trying to create new opportunities for their careers. I already had a website, so I researched some shopping plugins for wordpress and decided on Shopp. I also started contacting people in the US and in Pakistan. I started letting everyone I met know about this campaign that I was putting together. My target was to get it up and running after Christmas and New Years, when people might be paying attention again. I enlisted the help of a few friends for recording at the Institute of Sindhology in Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.

Sanam Chakori and Sherebano on vocals.

I went through my data backups and pulled out the footage, and the music only version of the score from my film. To me, this was the key to connecting potential crowd funders here in the US, with these musicians in Pakistan. I edited the video together, finished testing the shop portion of my website and finally launched the campaign, a few days after New Years. I used my facebook page, and fan page to send out messages with the purchase link. Everyone I spoke to learned about the campaign. By the time the campaign began, I had everything worked out as far as recording facilities, how to send the money directly to Ustad Amb Jogi and what to do with the footage for the new album once I had it. Now I just needed to raise the funds. I set a goal for $1,200 as that would be 4 to 5 times what the musicians would normally get paid for recording.Now that I had pushed myself so hard and put it all out there, certainly the money would come pouring in. Wrong! A few sales came through, but it quickly became apparent that things needed to pick up to make this goal a reality. I posted in all kinds of forums and groups related to Sindhi culture (Sindh being where the musicians were from in Pakistan). There was interest. People enjoyed watching the video, but it really did not increase sales.I started sending direct messages to everyone based in the US on my facebook. It took time to write all the messages, personalize them and try and connect people to what I was trying to do. Every day, I sent messages until I hit the facebook anti spam warning, then stopped for the day to start again the very next. Things picked up slightly, but on a day when I didn't campaign, nothing happened. I kept on it morning, noon and night around my work schedule.Every time someone purchased the music, I sent a thank you with them tagged in it from the Mad Guru facebook page. This showed up to all their friends and then to my twitter feed which was connected. I tried to use hash tags that would help with visibility. I kept this going for 2 months, messaging and remessaging to get through to friends and their circles.By the end of the campaign, there were over 90 people who purchased music to help the Jogis. I sent it all to Ustad Amb Jogi, all the while discussing what the purpose of the album was, how stories are what connects people and how their culture is what people wanted to enjoy. The Jogis were ready to go. With money in hand, they were able to hire a recording engineer and studio at the Institute of Sindhology for a very low cost thanks to the generosity of contacts there.

Zulfikar Ali Gopang, Recording Engineer

Receiving the recordings ended up being the largest delay in the process. I called from April to October to try and get the recording sent. I tried to have other contacts go and pick up the tapes to send me, but in the end a good friend Suffi Bilal Khalid in Lahore was able to get the tapes sent to him, which he was able to digitize and ftp to me as courier services refused to send music, probably due to piracy fears, though these were original recordings.

Jairam and Bhiko Jogi on Murli

With the recording in hand, I've launched the album, and feel thankful to all those who chipped in $1.50 to $150, and placed their faith in the Jogis and myself. It had been a rewarding journey so far, and I hope to keep connecting the Girnari Jogi Group to new opportunities. Thanks Saeed Mangi for all the beautiful photos from the recording session, and for helping to make it possible to record at the Institute of Sindhology. Thanks to Fatah Daud Poto and Suffi Bilal Khalid for making it possible for me to ever even meet Ustad Amb Jogi and the group. 

Sanam Chakori and Sherebano on vocals, with Ibrahim Jog on Tali behind them.