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allah megh de, khari neem ke neechay from Ramchand Pakistani

Ramchand Pakistani
Allah megh de pani de chhaya de re tu
Allah megh de


The actual song is a Bengali folk song first recorded by Bangladeshi vocalist Abbas Uddin Ahmed in Calcutta for Gramophone Company of India in the 1940s. This song of a certain magical charm became an instant hit. And it has remained popular since then and has done a lot of traveling.
The lines from this Bengali folk song have earlier also been used famously in Hindi films like Palkon Ki Chaon Mein and Dev Anand’s Guide. I had previously written a post about the origin of the song Allah Megh De and was again reminded of it when I recently heard a new rendition of this famous Bengali folk son.

This time the lines have been beautifully used in a song from Mehreen Jabbar's film Ramchand Pakistani. Music for the song has been given by Debojyoti Mishra who earlier gave us the soul stirring song Mathura Nagarpati Kaahe Tum Gokul Jaaon for the film Raincoat (2004) directed by Rituparno Ghosh. In fact it was the subtle beauty of this song that made Mehreen Jabbar choose Debojyoti Mishra as Music Director for her film. That explains how a Bengali folk song ended up in a Pakistani film that tells a true story of a seven year old Pakistani Hindu boy who along with his father accidentally crosses over to India from his border neighboring village, located in stark sparseness of Thar Desert, at a time when war like tension runs between the two countries, and spends five years in an Indian jail while his mother on the Pakistani side of the border doesn't know anything about their whereabouts and what ill fate has befallen them.

Allah Megh De in this film has vocals by Shafqat Amanat Ali (son of Pakistani classical singer Amanat Ali Khan and also the Lead vocalist of Pakistani Band Fuzon ) and Indian Classical singer Shubha Mudgal.The song is nice but again it is the Chorus singing of Allah megh de pani de chhaya de re tu that brings in a special edge to the song.

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Enjoy the song:
video link

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There is actually another wonderful folk soundtrack in the film: khari neem ke neechay. It's a really old recording done by Sindhi folk singer Maai Bhaaghi for Karachi Radio. A lot of people wonder about the language and dialect of this song - Is it Sindhi? Is it Rajasthani? Is it Marwari? Is it a mix of the three?
The song khari neem ke neechay Hekhli is actually in Thari language. Thari is a variant of Marwari dialect of Rajasthani language and is spoken in western parts of Jaisalmer and Barmer districts of Rajasthan in India and eastern parts of Sindh province of Pakistan.
Couldn't find much information about the folk singer Maai Bhaaghi except that Lata Mangeshkar was a big fan of the late singer. Had to really dig this info. out from the Sindhiworld!
Enjoy the song!
video link


Besides this folk song there are two more great folk songs in the soundtrack for the film:
Yaar Dadhi Ishq Atish Lai Hai by Ustaad M Jumman and Tarrin Paunda by Allan Fakir

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Comments

  1. Shafqat Amanat Ali had quit Fuzon quite some time back. He has now gone solo and recently released his debut solo album - Tabeer. I didn't know much about him, but happened to be at the release concert in Delhi.

    I hope to watch Ramchand Pakistani soon.

    Nice post. Keep more flowing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I first heard about this band I remember telling myself, 'What an odd band name - Fuzon!'

    Almost decided not to hear their music! But, then a friend recommended it and I loved the sound.

    Too bad Shafqat Amanat Ali quit. Thanks for the info. Soumyadip !

    ReplyDelete

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