Friday

I spent the day resting and then thought about what I could do on my project. Every new setting takes some adjusting. Each time I have to refocus my mind on the tasks that I can readily work on. It was friday and I head to the mosque here which is part of the shrine of my relatives forefathers.Regarding work, I have to assess what tasks can be worked on at the moment, what blocks are keeping me from working on additional tasks and how I can balance all of this to get the most done concurrently.

Sunrise in Punjab

I didn’t sleep much on the bus over night. Between dosing off for bits here and there, I caught the sunrise over crops in Punjab. It felt good to be back in Punjab. The hours past slowly, with bits of Indian movies playing on the screen in the bus.We stopped off at different spots, where passengers could leave if this was their destination, or stretch their legs and use the bathroom. There was not much else to do. The good thing about the bus is that it takes only the time that it takes to actually drive the distance you are going, whereas I have been on slow trains that seem to stop forever or slow down. You can’t walk around on the bus, but if it takes 16 hours to get there, that is what it will take.After what seemed like forever, we got into Lahore. We passed alongside the canal on the outskirts, and the sky looked ready to burst with rain. My cousin’s driver was waiting for me at the station. Ali helped me load my things and we were off to my cousin’s place.

Aapi!

After days with cute, but hard to handle children, I was ready to step back into an adult filled world of hard to handle, childish adults. Of course there was an adorable toddler in the seat ahead of me on the bus, who kept turning back to look around. I couldn’t help but smile at her, cringing at the thought of her turning  like the other children had.Poor kid had a bit of a cough. The stewardess was very sweet, taking her to hang out in the front for bits here and there. The little one started calling her “Aapi” (big sister) and you could hear her call for “Aaapi!” up and down the aisle.

Daewoe

It was another lazy day in Nawabshah, spent with the little cousins. I went over to visit an uncle. Other than that I rested, ate good food and cleared my mind more or less. At night, I was taking a bus out of town. The bus left from Moro, which was about 80km away from Nawabshah.We had arranged for a my uncle’s in laws to pick us up and go early. As usual, things got late. My uncle ended up renting a car and driver to load up my things and we were off. Somehow we got there in an hour. I had booked my seat as usual in advance over the phone. As I walked in to pay for the ticket, the man at the counter told me it had been cancelled and even if I had come much earlier that would still be the case. I already had one ticket cancelled by them via text message and now this?Daewoo has been pretty reliable in the past, so I don’t know what happened here. I bought the next available seat for the day after tomorrow. We got some water from the store, then made the long journey back to Nawabshah.

Motorcycle ride

Early morning, after some tea, Moeez and I head out on his motorcycle. He had asked if I would be interested in checking out a landscape that was a bit different. Sure I was. It was a long motorcycle ride, but well worth it, to just get away from the city and see all the beautiful mud homes, thatched roofs, desert plants, sand dunes, lakes and mountains. These landscapes of course make me think about the stories that I am working on with my film “Risalo”.Trips like this bring those words to life when I see people who have lived the same way for centuries, regardless of freedom from the British, separation from India and an ever revolving door of leaders running governments that have never really made a positive difference on their lives.The rest of the day was spent just hanging out, and eating food. I think I needed this rest. I am still amazed that I am able to sleep so much during the day and still at night too.

Eid in Nawabshah

I did not take this tipsy photo from a low angle.

the most feared child in all the land

gol gappas…more daring than crossing the freeway in Jamshoro

dinner

I woke up for Eid and Moeez and his family had ironed a nice shalwar kameez for me. I got ready and my little cousin Yusuf was all dressed up too. The three of us walked over to the mosque for Eid prayers. Little Yusuf held my hand on the way there, which was sweet. It was nice to be with family on Eid.After prayers, men greeted each other. I really did not know anyone, but Moeez introduced me to a few people and some of them knew of my grandfather, mother and aunts, so that became a reference point. The old maulvi at the mosque, it turned out was the son of the maulvi who used to teach my mother and her sisters Quran.We walked to a cemetery behind the mosque afterwards and said prayers for my maternal grandparents, and Moeez’s grandfather. There were many people standing around graves, saying prayers for departed loved ones.A short walk and we were back home, ready to eat, and wait for a steady stream of guests to arrive. Similar to old times, I imagine, people came and sat with the head of the household outside, or in the drawing room. Women came inside to greet the family. I didn’t really know anyone, so I was free to hang out, relax, sleep or do whatever.

Those used to be my shoes...

On the last day of fasting for the month of Ramazan, I rested. I woke up for a bit, then slept again. I chatted a bit with relatives, played with little cousins then fell asleep again. After all that stress, running around, dealing with madness and taking in the support of good friends, I was completely finished.

Leaving Jamshoro

goodbye Jamshoro

hello Nawabshah

It was still hard to believe that the recordings were finished. I felt a need to leave Jamshoro as fast as possible, after being stuck there for such a long time. Optimistically, I had hoped to finish all my work by the end of June, which based on the work load seemed feasible, but I also knew that working here could take much longer for all the wrong reasons. It was mid July and I was halfway done.I was exhausted, as I packed up things and went out to meet a few more friends and thank people before I left. Darya sahib and a friend of his drove me to Radio Pakistan in Hyderabad. I spent some time with Ustad Anb Jogi, his father Bhiko Jogi, Ustad Sodho Jogi and a few others.We ate some lunch, then Anb and I head over to the bus stand. His wife had knit a pillow cover for me, which I put in my bag. I hopped on a van with my things and I was off. I watched the landscape change from dusty little towns to desert landscapes and back.Eventually, I reached Nawabshah. It is a city I have seen since I was very young, yet each time I return there are many changes. I went to my mother’s childhood home as usual and met my relatives as well as a few new additions, in the form of small cousins born since last I visited.It was time for food, rest, playing with tiny tots and catching up with relatives.

Last day of music recording?

early morninhg dhaba breakfast scene.

Ustad Anb Jogi, our music director, translating my story direction into beautiful music.

Rashid Haideri singing sur Yaman Kalyan.

Arbaab sahib on dambura.

Farzana Bahar singing sur Sohni.

Ustad Anb Jogi, our music director, accompanying Shahid on Sitar.

Zulfikar Ali Gopang, the recording engineer I depend on.

Saqib Syd, the man behind the camera on most of these session photos.

I woke up, got ready, then head out with Nisar sahib to get some breakfast at a dingy little dhaba. We got back and I grabbed my gear then walked over to Sindhology. As I walked through the gates, I saw Aarab sahib, the dambura player I had requested Ustad Anb Jogi to include in today’s recording session. I had seen him perform at the Sewan mela and then talked to him at Radio Pakistan a few days later. He is a humble musician. At over 80 years of age, he has played with all the greats of yesterday and today in Sindhi music.He loves to perform and is always such a humble and kind presence. I saw him sitting by the canteen, bright and early around 8:30am as I arrived. I walked over to him and sat down. He remembered me from the radio station. He asked if I worked at Sindhology and I mentioned that I was doing the recording sessions today and had especially requested him. Sitting with him certainly had a calming effect on me.We chat for a while, then I picked up some water bottles and head up into the building with him. As we walked up the stairs, he named practically every legendary Sindhi musician whose photo lines the stairs in the museum. He was not reading the names, as there were perhaps 2 or 3 that he did not recall. He had played with almost all of them. I knew that I was the one privileged to have him in this recording session that day.After getting to the top floor, we sat down for a bit as the recording room was being cleaned, then went inside and began setting up with Zulfiqar sahib and Afzal sahib. One of our singers for the day, Rashid Haideri arrived. I setup my camera and recorded short introductions for both musicians. A short while later, Ustad Anb Jogi and Shahid Amjad sahib, the sitar player arrived.That was enough for us to record the first half of what we needed to finish that day, and by about 10am we started. We rerecorded Sur Kalyan and Sur Yaman Kalyan. This is the first scene of Risalo. It was important to get it right. As we were well into the piece, our other singer, Farzana Bahar arrived with the musicians for her portion. This was perfect. Things moved along and we continued with her. She was there to wrap up Sur Sohni, which she sang beautifully. Basically, we recorded music for the very beginning and end of the film. Having Araab sahib, the dambura player there allowed us to connect both parts musically.This happenstance was the result of many delays and problems prior to this, and yet it somehow worked out. We took a short break and said goodbye to most of our musicians. We had two hours left and I was amazed at how things had actually worked out that day. There had been a few short power outages, but musicians got there on time, and things were working. We actually finished the script which was a huge milestone. That left us time to record some fantastic solo sitar pieces with Shahid Amjad. He had practiced and planned out a few pieces the night before. It was amazing. I was free to just sit back and enjoy the performance. Everyone in the room was entranced. I am very excited about putting all of this music together over time.We had some lunch after the session, then I head back to Darya Khan’s place where I was staying. Saqib as always took lots of great photos during the session and was there to help in every way possible. I felt so relieved. I could leave Jamshoro at last and stop thinking about the project for a few days. I was well past exhaustion with the work, but extremely thankful for how well things had turned out despite endless challenges.I made calls and plans to visit friends to say thanks before I left and to return borrowed things. Many times when I have been working like crazy to finish something, there is a lot of excitement and some feeling of not knowing what to do all of a sudden when it is done. I didn’t feel that this time. Things had been so extremely difficult that I was glad to clear my mind and not think about doing anything.Several friends dropped by to visit and then I dropped in to see a few that were headed to another friend’s wedding. After that, Saqib and I head over to see Mehboob Ali Shah sahib, the wonderful sufi friend who had shared so much wisdom with me in our many visits together. We went to his bhaituk and waited with several people. He came out and it was really sweet to see him. For my benefit, he spoke in Urdu. He congratulated me on finishing the music and asked about what I was doing next. I shared my plans and then as always he shared some precious thoughts and wisdom through storytelling. He is a master storyteller.He talked about the importance of Haq or truth and how it was more valuable and rewarding than any type of monetary achievements. Though one may suffer a great deal for it, truth was the ideal to strive for above all else. I thanked him for his time, wisdom and encouragement in what had been a very challenging process for me in Jamshoro. I felt utterly humbled when he thanked me for coming to visit and for sharing. Honestly, it is such a deep feeling of love and gratitude, like a cup endlessly overflowing with water that I can’t even put into words. Here is a fantastic human being to whom countless people come to hear the wisdom he shares on Shah Latif’s poetry and his father’s. Yet he takes such an interest in everyone and has now qualms in learning from everyone around him.As always, his words of encouragement and praise and appreciation for my efforts had me bowing my head and just blinking and murmuring thanks. His words have a way of lifting you up as only someone who genuinely cares can do. It did wonders to strengthen my resolve to continue with the next phase of “Risalo". I always leave there with riches beyond my expectations, from the humility and grace of a man who embodies the beauty of Shah Latif’s poetry and message.Saqib and I hung out for a bit at my room, before he head out and I fell asleep.

Recording a second Jogi Album

Saqib Syd taking session photos and video.

Ustad Anb Jogi

electricity out break.

with Jairam Jogi and his son.

Recording days are always busy. There is a lot of preparation and much to handle throughout the day. Logistically, I always hope that people will get there on time, and that we can be productive during a stressfully short time frame available at Sindhology. There is also the danger of people making things more difficult with petty factions and groups within the institution. Besides that, the electricity could go, or old equipment could give out. All of this nonsense makes for a very difficult time recording.One thing I did not have to worry about for this session was the script. Today’s session was just to support a few groups of musicians to create music albums, rather than record for “Risalo”. There was a group of Jogis with whom I had worked before, a few marwari singers and assorted instrument players. We wanted to record albums for both groups and a solo album on dholak with Ustad Anb Jogi. It was an ambitious amount of recording to do, but since people were performing what they already knew, it was not impossible.We started by recording a few solo pieces. Somehow things invariably take longer than expected. Though we were unable to record material for 3 albums, we did get 2 albums worth. The musicians really have no idea how much work I am going to put into this in order for them to, I hope, receive more money from sales. Perhaps if they did, they would not apply so much stress and pressure during the process. Each is being paid more than most tv channels around here pay. I’m doing my best, but there is a general attitude here that people push for extra money as hard as possible, without being able to have empathy for those they are working with. I try and explain the ground realities and risks that I am taking, and what it means to my own future to make these sacrifices now. It does not matter.These are not bad people, but everyone is still responsible for how they respond during given circumstances. It makes me less excited to push myself so hard to put together the music and promote them, yet they too are a product of their society. If anything, they are being crushed at the lower end, but unlike many have, worked to develop skills that are unique and beautiful. At some point, my efforts become more about trying to do my small part to build a better future that keeps this culture alive. If things can get better, perhaps people’s mindsets can change a bit.We shared a nice meal at a dhaba down the road, thanks to Darya Khan’s suggestion and transportation help.

Recording Sur Sorath

Mohammed Hasan with his surando

banjo

Ustad Sodho Jogi singing Sindhi and Abdur Rahman Abroe singing Urdu

Chacha

Zulfi sahib setting things up.

the recording setup.

I took all my gear and head to Sindhology. After setup we waited. I hoped that the electricity would not go. We were recording sur Sorath, the longest piece of music in “Risalo”. Hasan Mohammad, the Surando player was coming from far away with his Banjo player as was Abdur Rahman Abroe, who would once again sing the Urdu verses. The surando is increasingly becoming a rare instrument. Master musicians like Hasan Mohammad are rare and this much loved instrument is at risk of vanishing.It does not take that much to support these musicians. If only the organizations, receiving government funding in Sindh allocated the designated funds to benefit them. If only the Sindhi tv channels created programming that gained a wide enough audience on the merits of their quality to pull in advertising money, rather than making musicians pay to have their music aired. If only the general public placed any kind of importance on their cultural heritage in monetary terms. I’m doing what I can, but I am not an organization.The recording session went really well. It was more difficult to judge how the bits we recorded would come together, but I feel like there were many special things about today. The mere presence of the surando brought a lot of excitement to everyone in the room. It is an all too rare and cherished treat to listen to this beautiful instrument these days.Today, I was even able to get overtime which helped us finish this long piece of music in a day. That was a huge win. Though I was exhausted at the end of the session and a bit unsure of how all of it would come together for the film, this was a much needed bit of success.After the session, we all had a meal together at a local dhaba. It was such an effort and stress to get to this point, that my feeling after recording was more of just exhaustion than even joy. Thanks as always to by friend Saqib Syd for the session photos and for just being there to help.

Kitties being silly

At Darya sahib’s place where I am staying, there is a cat and her two kittens that wander in through a hole in the front screen, then walk through the house and exit to the hole in the back screen door. It is kind of funny seeing them wander through.I spent the day trying to get the VTR working, to digitize some tapes. No luck there. The day passed slowly. In the evening, Saqib and I met at the hostel when I went for dinner. The hostel staff was leaving for their Eid holidays the next day, so if I was able to finish my work as hoped, before Eid, it would be the last time I saw them. There was another kitten at dinner time. I fed it some food.I took a photo with Daulat, and thanked him again for all the hard work and food. I was glad that he and his brother were going home to their village for several days. They really don’t get any time off, and their lives are very difficult.Well, there goes my source of food. Hopefully, I can finish up soon and move on from here. It is difficult to imagine finishing all the work that I hope to get done during the next 3 days of recording sessions, just because absolutely nothing has worked as planned up so far.

Nothing much

Between working, going over to the hostel for meals or getting visits from Darya Khan with food and a smile between all the many responsibilities that keep him busy, or hanging out with Saqib Syed in the evenings the time went by in these past few days.There is the stress of whether things will work out in the coming days that looms over me, but I do what I can.

Technical stuff

I spent most of my time dealing with technical issues, but the fact that I had a comfortable space to be in, made it much easier to deal with. Preparing footage and editing was made more challenging because the formats were a bit unfamiliar, so I had to figure out how best to work with it. The DV videos actually had 4 channels of audio. I realized that my initial edits were wrong because I had converted clips and they had become stereo tracks.This kind of stuff is what you can expect to deal with in the course of a project. It took time to look at all the pieces and then figure out the right way to put it all together. I even put together a tutorial for anyone that may be in a similar situation, dealing with miniDV tapes with multitrack recordings.Yes, none of this is particularly exciting, but getting the pieces to fit together properly let’s me get to that next stage of making something beautiful.

New place

Each new place requires an adjustment, but being out of the heat of the hostel room was a huge and welcome reprieve. Darya Khan opened his home to me, and that really helped to ease my struggles.I was able to set things up, rest and work on editing. I have days to wait before the next recording session, but with the company and help of friends, things are possible.

Big day delay

My last night in the comfortable ac room, and the electricity goes out early in the morning. After that, I could not sleep and the electricity did not return. It was hot and uncomfortable. I gathered my things and head to the hostel. The electricity was out all over, it seems. This did not bode well for my recording session. There were several groups of musicians coming in. I tried calling the power company, but there was no response. I think their office opens at 8:30am.What to do? Do I tell the musicians to not come? Some have come in from far away, so this is going to cost me. It was a bit early, so I could not reach any of the audio folks to see if we could run the cameras on batteries in some other space for this session. Perhaps the electricity would come back just in time. I tire of these constant obstacles…but I guess it could always be much worse.The day was spent at Sindhology, waiting as musicians trickled in. I felt very grateful for their patience and bad for this problem that was out of my control. They all seemed quite understanding and insisted on waiting for several hours to see if the electricity returned. There had been a major outage over night and our area was one that had not been fixed yet. Information was unreliable and tough to come by. People around talked about electricity being gone everywhere in Sindh and Balochistan. Where they got this information, I did not know, but friends in areas around us said they did have electricity.So, we sat. We talked. I got to see Jairam Jogi, the fantastic murli player I worked with on my short film Gul, as well as on the Girnari Jogi Group album. I also got to meet people I had only seen in the footage I edited for that album, like Anb Jogi’s father, Bhiko Jogi and Mawa Khan, the harmonium player.These musicians just want to come in and work. I appreciate that. Unfortunately, despite looking into various options, we really could not find a suitable way to make that happen. Instead, I consulted with Ustad Anb Jogi and we paid the musicians half their fees, with the rest upon recording the following week. We would try to finish all of our recording tasks in the first three days of the next week, just before the Eid holiday. It seemed possible, but I am surprised at the number of challenges at each step.Darya sahib and Sikandar sahib invited me for dinner in the evening. I was happy to take them up on that. I have several days to go before I can record again. I’ll have to work on some editing in the meantime.I felt tired after being at Sindhology for so long. After saying goodbye to the musicians, I head back to the hostel, saw my friend Hisam, hung out with Saqib for a bit and then went to sleep exhausted.I dreamt I was home. It was a good feeling. Then the phone rang and I woke up. The room was hot and there wasn’t much I could do, but lay on the floor and try to get through another day. Sikander sahib dropped by my room. I pulled myself up, showered and then we head over to Darya sahib. We went out for tea and Saqib joined us. They were very sweet in offering their help to me in any way possible out of a love and appreciation for Shah Latif and what I was attempting to do. That really meant a lot to me. It certainly boosted my spirits. Darya sahib also offered me a place to stay, to get out of the hostel room. We got my things and I shifted over there.Afterwards, Saqib and I went to Sikander sahib’s place for dinner. He is a talented artist with a lot of beautiful calligraphy pieces. It was a lot of fun to look at his work and chat about poetry. It was nice to see the little ones running around and being silly too. I feel humbled by such sweet people. These morale boosts from people that step in at just that key moment to help pull me through are vital. I stayed in my new found home, thankful to be out of the oven hostel room.

Recording Farzana Bahar

I had to take care of some early morning tasks due to early Ramazan closures and internet issues the day before. I walked over to the society area, took care of my errands, then had Saqib get me. We head over to Sindhology and several of the musicians were already there. I felt bad for being late, but explained the tasks I needed to take care of and they seemed ok with it.We chatted a bit, then I head upstairs as they waited for a round of tea. Two musicians were on their way. The room had been cleaned and the sound gear was up and ready to go. Eventually the musicians came up stairs, but there were still two missing. We lost an hour to that, but got things going once they arrived.It was amazing to see Ustad Anb Jogi guide each of the musicians and the singer through each raag and portion of the music. He was, as usual very much on top of and aware of how best to utilize each instrument to create the strongest impact in regards to the story I was trying to tell. I figured out some less obtrusive gestures that could signal the singer to wait after a verse or for the musicians to continue and then fade out. I kept the stop watch on my little phone going to help me work all of that out. It was grueling to concentrate on each word in the script as Farzana sang, and keep track of timing so that both language versions could have some hope of matching well enough once I mixed and edited the pieces down. As always, Saqib Syed was there to take fantastic session photos.Darya sahib had invited his friend Sikander to the session. Sikander sahib helped with pronunciation of Sindhi words where needed. In addition, he brought his little daughter and son, who had memorized many verses of Shah Latif’s poetry. During breaks. it was adorable to hear them recite Latif’s poetry.We did a lot of hard work, but the session went well and we got through more of the script than we had anticipated. If not for the delay in the morning in some musicians’ arrival, we could have finished it.I spent the rest of the day digitizing tapes and preparing for the next day. There are so many logistics to work out. I also had to move out of the nice air conditioned room at my friend’s place as his nephew who is normally there is returning. So, once again, I lugged my things down the street to the oven that is the hostel room. I feel thankful for whatever time I did have at the room. It really helped.

The work before the work

The day was spent preparing for the recording on Tuesday. I needed to book the recording studio, pay fees, make sure everyone there was on board, work on how I could direct the music in terms of getting spots without poetry between the verses where shots I had storyboarded would fit. I did not want to make the work more difficult, and yet, I needed to have a good grip of the timing between verses for many key story elements.I worked all morning, walking back and forth to work out all the arrangements. There were countless challenges, and many brick walls. By the end of if, I was very tired and had only accomplished part of what I needed for the next day. Some key things would have to be taken care of first thing in the morning due to early Ramazan closures.After the rehearsal the night before, things were looking up. My wife, in Rajasthan was also working on getting the puppets I wanted, so there was a lot of conversation and photos back and forth to pick the puppets I need for background characters in the stories. There were many internet issues, slow connections etc. It was pretty tough. The whole day, I felt like I was constantly juggling 3 tasks at a time and making progress on any of them was a monumental effort due to all the obstacles.

A good rehearsal

I worked on preparations during the day, before heading in to Hyderabad on the Mehran University bus. If my timings line up, I usually take the Sindh University bus, but let me tell you, this bus was nuts. This guy drove really fast and crazy, but we got there, so that was good.I needed to send a script to a musician via courier, but the one in Jamshoro was closed. I called in and learned that there were some branches in the city that would be open. First I picked up a bunch of DV tapes for recording music, then I walked all around and found a TCS (courier) branch, only to learn that they were closing for the day. They sent me far down the street to search for another branch. Walking down the street is in most places, no big deal, but in Hyderabad, you walk around sewage, piles of trash, half built road materials, broken roads, insane traffic from all directions, heat and dirt. It is really not fun. I made it, and sent the script on its way to a singer in a farther off corner of Sindh.After that, I made my way back to Majeed Soomro’s office and hung out with my friend Saqib to wait for Ustad Anb Jogi. Once he was done with recording for the Sindh TV program for the day, we would head over to rehearse a singer. Eventually we head out of the office, then Saqib joined me. He was so kind that he offered to just hang out in the city and wait for me, even knowing it could take several hours. I insisted that if he was going to stay, he would have to join, so that he could at least check something new out.We head over to the musicians home through winding lanes, dodging bulls, children, motorcycles and other people. Inside the baithak (sitting place) in the musicians’ home, we sat and waited. They came out and greeted us. Ustad Anb Jogi was coming straight there from working a grueling day at the station. I felt bad for him having to do all of this even though he was tired, but we really needed it, and this rehearsal is what was supposed to be taking place before, but did not.We sat down and rehearsed for hours. It was like magic. Farzana had been working very hard to get comfortable with all 11 pages of the script. Ustad Anb Jogi guided her on how to sing the verses. He basically composed the whole chapter, as I gave story cues for different sections. We went over the entire script in both languages and Farzana sang each line as Anb composed it for her. Her brother was practicing with us on the harmonium and there was definitely a lot of excitement in the room. She had really connected to the material and found herself trying to express the story in her singing.It was a long night, but we all left feeling like this was something special that we were trying to create. That was amazing. Anb, Saqib and I grabbed a very late dinner at a little dhaba in the area, then ate some mangoes, Anb’s namesake (anb means mango in Sindhi). It was fun to hang out for a bit, but we were all pretty tired. Saqib dropped me off and we all called it a night.

Sindh TV

Saqib picked me up in the morning and we head over to Qasimabad to check out Sindh TV. Ustad Anb Jogi had invited me to the tv channel as he was performing for some recordings. That was all I knew. After a little looking around, we found it in a neighborhood.Ustad sahib met us at the gate and in we went. There was a nice room setup with some large backdrops for a program on Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. How perfect! It was a Sindhi language program, where they would be discussing the poetry of the poet whose work I am adapting into a puppet film. There were a number of musicians there and technicians preparing for the show taping. Ustad sahib had brought some juice for me, which was pretty nice. He introduced me to Razzak sahib, who was running the show. It was a labor of love, showcasing the most beloved poet of Sindh. We spoke a bit about what I was up to and we inquired about recording. Razzak sahib graciously offered to do anything he could to help. Unfortunately, the setup was like other sound setups I have seen here. The separate tracks coming in from each mic to a mixing board and are recorded only as a single mixed track.I really need multiple tracks so I can control the mix. Sindhology has been the perfect setup for that. Not only do I get a multitrack recording, but I also get video which is great for promoting the musicians and putting together DVDs for their music albums. Still, other options in various cities were offered as well, and all I can say, is that I am humbled by the support people have offered with big hearts, to help promote a project on Shah Latif’s poetry. Every bit of encouragement helps me along my way.The program started and though the discussion was in Sindhi, I felt like I understood at least 60% to 80% of it. It was mostly general discussion of themes in Shah Latif’s poetry, citing specific examples. It was a primer of sorts on Latif. It was nice to sit back and watch the process. During one of the longer breaks, Razzak sahib introduced me to the Gaddi Nashin of Shah Latif. He was very kind and appreciative of what I was trying to do. Waqar Hussain Shah sahib felt deeply about the responsibility of conveying the message of Shah Latif to the world.The electricity would go out at times, and the generator would be switched on and then off once it returned. The discussion seemed longer than necessary. Hopefully they will edit it down some and intercut the music. We were all pretty sleepy by the time the discussion ended. The musicians requested more tea to get them started again. It is pretty fantastic that non commercial programs like this one are being made. The musicians performed several beautiful pieces of Latif’s poetry with guidance from a music director.A sitar player who had bailed on a recording session without telling me came and introduced himself to me towards the end. I knew who he was. He is very talented, but professionalism and reliability is pretty important too, if not more important than sheer skill or talent. I greeted him nicely and did not mention anything about what had happened, as I had called him during that session and expressed myself on the situation already. He apologized for bailing, and I complimented his performance. While there are many musicians, it is still a small circle of professionals.I spoke to Ustad Sodho Jogi who I have met thanks to Ustad Anb Jogi at the radio station several times. I heard him sing during a proper performance, for the first time that day. Anb and I were planning on asking him to sing one of the chapters for the film, as the singer I had been talking too was really bad about answering the phone, and talking about the actual work. I really could not afford to spend more money on this project without getting work accomplished. The project has a very tight budget and I am likely to be close to broke by the end. It is a huge risk, but also an opportunity to try and do something I care about, while I still can.Anb and I visited a female singer I hope to record soon. She had been rehearsing and the material was out of her comfort zone, so we were certainly concerned about getting her ready. While she does not have the same command of this material as other singers who are accustomed to singing Shah Latif’s poetry, she has a great voice and clearly she was much smoother with the material than previously. With some effort, it could even be possible to pull the music together. I only have faith that this could happen, because Anb Jogi is there.Anb insisted on feeding me before I head back to Jamshoro, after we left the singer’s home. We sat down at a dhaba and discussed all the many pieces of the music I need for this project. We worked out a bunch of logistics. Ustad sahib had suggested that I should record some tracks with a singer from the eastern side of Sindh, out in the desert. This would be an album in addition to the work on the film. I am trying, where possible, to record additional material that can showcase the diverse music of Sindh in some small way and support these musicians. Of course, it helps promote the project as a whole as well, but most importantly it puts these artists on the map in a deliberate way to promote them.Getting back to Jamshoro proved more challenging at 10pm. There were lots of people and vehicles all around, so it was safe enough. I hopped on a little vehicle that is a cross between a suzuki pickup and an auto rickshaw. For 10 cents, you get a bumpy ride through crater filled streets, often filled in with sewage. I took that to where I usually get the bus back, but after a while it was clear there were no buses coming.I took another 10 cent ride and eventually made my way to a spot from where I walked half a mile to another intersection and waited for a bus back to Jamshoro. It took a while, but a bus finally came and it was packed with people hanging out the side. I squeezed in and managed to be on the inside with elbows at my head and other armpits near my face. After all that waiting, I was really glad to be on a bus, with all its bumps and being squished.It was tiring standing there. Eventually we got to the railway tracks (phaattak). I hopped off and searched out a shared rickshaw. The problem was, that because it was late, it was taking forever for passengers to fill up. It was just me and another guy waiting for what seemed like forever as the driver tried to call over more customers. The shared ride is cheap, so they try to fill up the whole vehicle before leaving. That can take time, but there was no one coming over.Eventually, I got tired of sitting there in the dark, and walked to the rickshaw behind me and paid him to just take me all the way home. What a tiring day! I felt good though. There was potential to get a good deal of recording done next week. I got back to the room and sat down to check my email and see what my wife had sent me regarding puppets in Udaipur.Najib sahib brought by the firewire cable and adapters that Hameed Magsi sahib had so kindly sought out for me in Karachi and then delivered while I was at Sindh TV. I looked over at the DV deck courtesy of Shahid and Tariq sahib, in the comfortable room and started digitizing some tapes.