Remember when news of Ustad Naseeruddin Saami collaborating with Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan made headlines earlier this year?
Well,
the project finally started taking shape last week when Ian flew in to
Karachi and the two have been inseparable since. Although they are faced
with a language barrier, it didn't hamper their connection; their hotel
room jamming sessions are a testament to that.
The duo
just needed one sitting together with their instruments to get a feel of
each other's music aesthetic, and everything instinctively fell into
place.
As the Grammy winner said, there was an instant connection between the two as soon as they got into their element.
However,
their chemistry shouldn't come as a surprise; they each come with their
own prowess and mastery in the field of music. Ustad Naseeruddin Saami
is the leading representative of the oldest tabla gharanas, the
Delhi Gharana of music. He traces his roots back to Mian Samad Bin
Ibrahim who was the principal disciple of Amir Khusro in Delhi in the
13th century. Ian, on the other hand, has worked with musicians all over
the world; from Italy to Cambodia. His collaboration with musicians
from Rwanda and Mali for an album called Tinariwen won him a Grammy for World Music in 2011.
It took two years of back and forth with Ali Sethi and Zeb
Bangash for Ian and Ustad Saami to finally meet this month, which has
now led to the final work on their music for the multi-CD album planned
for a 2019 release.
Images caught up with the music
legends for an exclusive Q&A and here's what the duo had to say
about their upcoming venture.
How do you communicate your ideas and thoughts with each other given your language barrier?
Ian Brennan: Interestingly enough, Ustad
Saami has expressed his belief in information being passed from heart to
heart and not through the intellect. And I've always felt the same way
with music, that people should listen to music in languages other than
their own because it's good for them neurologically and they're often
times able to pay attention to the emotions [of a music piece] and not
worry about the other aspects. 
We decided to come here
and we decided to do it in his home instead of a studio. The intention
is from the world perspective to do a debut that's very substantial,
which is very difficult for record companies to do. Our intention is to
make a statement that this isn't just another world music record and
this is not just another singer.
The importance of this is for people to understand the
diversity. Most Americans in the modern day react to Pakistan with
negativity or fear. This is common to most Muslim countries.
This
album will not be for the benefit of Pakistan, you guys are fine. It's
for the benefit of the rest of the world, to understand we should have
more interests, we should have more understanding of people.
Images: So you hope to change people's perception of Pakistan through this album?
Ian: That's how it starts and most change
starts with artists and that's usually the best way because it's not an
intellectual argument. If somebody hears something and they're moved by
it or if they're moved by a human action or a performance of some sort
then it becomes harder to reconcile their prejudice with that.
I
just think it's perverse that people would define an entire culture by
one singer and that's essentially what usually happens. One of the
things we're trying to do is to help people distinguish [music] and not
hear this [album] as something [from] the past or hear it as something
in the present and not just go 'Oh that's Middle Eastern music,' like
this generalised category. To me these are not world music records,
these are records that are narratives and that are vocally oriented and
great vocals are timeless and rare.
"Most change starts with artists. If a person hears something or sees a performance or human action and they're moved by it, then it becomes harder to reconcile their prejudice with that." — Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan
The importance is that we can put the emphasis so squarely
on his voice and the complexity of what he's doing that people can hear
past that. The beauty is that you set up a microphone, you hit record
with him, his family and sons, and we could've recorded the little
warm-up in the hotel room last night. So we can't really go wrong in
that sense.
Images: What were your thoughts when you were approached for this collaboration?
Ian: I have great respect for vocal
tradition. There is a Pakistani-American singer whom I worked with for
20 years on and off. He always said something that I thought was very
funny: "India had a region that was known for vocalists, it's a great
region and it's known as Pakistan."
Ustad Saami:
(Nods head) It's the truth. From Sindh to Punjab, their voices have a
sweetness, a softness, a melody — what can I say beyond this?
Images: Ustad Saami, how do you feel about this collaboration and what do you hope to achieve from this?
Ustad: I've been to India and many other
places, they all felt it (our music) but when I went to Europe and
America, these people (gestures towards Ian) noticed it the most. I
cannot express my happiness at knowing that these people felt it more.
I wish to spread our music beyond borders, beyond Pakistan
and not because I wish to immortalise my name in history, but because I
want to grow Pakistan's name in the world. People should know about our
music.
I feel I have a moral duty to pass on my
knowledge of music, everything I have learned must not die with me, it
must be passed on. Otherwise the few people who practised the true art
of our music will die and take that knowledge with them.
Ian:
Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world that a small number
of people outside of Pakistan might care about. Even those people who
listen to music that's not in English are more prejudiced than they
realise and that's the danger.
And Pakistan has always
been sort of a pet peeve for me, that the entire [country] is sort of
represented by one individual - one singer. So I felt this project was
particularly adventurous. Absolutism is a very dangerous thing, and
Pakistan is a huge country and a powerful country, and emerging even
more for people to not understand the complexity and diversity of its
cultures. I think it's dangerous for the people that don't understand
it.
It's kind of a curse in the sense that Pakistan is
viewed by some people as being musical but they can't tell you anything
beyond what they listen.
