Folk singer MAME KHAN’s voice is the meeting ground for many religious traditions and forms of singing, says Saimi Sattar
I am really glad to be in Delhi because this is the place where my career began,” says folk singer Mame Khan, who released his latest song, Laal Pili Ankhiyan, a little less than three weeks back and which has registered 40,000 hits during this time. Khan looks pleased, dressed in black with a colourful pagdi on his head.
His love for Delhi has its roots in his childhood. “I was 12 years old and I sung Kesariyo Hazaaron Gul for Rajeev Gandhi ji. On August 15, there were 50 children from different states between the age group of eight-12. We dedicated it to him because he looked like a thousand flowers. My career started from there,” he says while sitting in the office of a mall in Noida where he is supposed to perform later in the evening.
He is accompanied by others who will be collaborating with him. “We haven’t rehearsed. Whatever we do is on the spot and is improvised. We haven’t planned for what comes out on stage,” says Khan as he describes what he has in store for later in the evening when he performs here.
Laal Pili Ankhiyan, like Jogiya, is a part of his folk project. “It is a traditional folk song in with a twist. It incorporates the Flamenco melody from Spain which has its origins in Rajasthan.”
Mame learnt the nuances of singing from his father, Ustad Rana Khan, a respected singer. But the musical tradition in his family goes much farther back to 15 generations. But a set-up where the father doubles up as a guru can be a double-edged sword. “It is our tradition that you have to really request the guru to impart his gyaan. If it was someone else, perhaps he would relent but my father never did. He even slapped me on stage once as I went off key,” he recalls.
Brought up in Satto, a village near Jaisalmer, Khan was born into the Maganiyar family and was exposed to their folk music since childhood. Their style called Jangra utilises rare instruments such as the bowed kamaicha and the percussion piece khartal, where the player has a unique theatrical-dance posture while performing. In Laal Pili Ankhiyan, Sindhi Sarangi and drums are used. He also has brought together singers from across the country. Says he, “The idea is to bring together people from different parts of the country because we are essentially one people.”
The idea of integration and Indianness comes through in his singing as well. “When I am on stage, the audience wants to listen to good songs and does not care if my name is Mame Ram or Mame Khan. My religion is humanity and I have learnt this since I was a child and it is there in my blood,” he says, emotions surging high. “I am a Muslim but I have a temple in my house. I sing about Krishna, Ram, Kabirdas and Ravidas. We believe in all religions. My father’s riyaz started with Krishna bhajan,” he says.
Just the way different religious traditions meet in his singing, Khan has also been the meeting ground for many composers. He was spotted at Ila Arun’s daughter’s wedding and recommended to Shankar Mahadevan. He got his Hindi film break and went on to sing Baavre for Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance (2009) where Shankar Ehsan Loy were the composers. “The time that I enjoyed with Shankar sir was amazing. There is a bhajan called Guru Shankar Mahadev and it can be for him as I learnt a lot from him and I still do.”
He has also worked with theatrical director Roysten Abel for Maganiyar Seduction, which had a mass ensemble of more than 40 singers and musicians as well as collaborated with Kaushiki Chatterjee where folk music was mixed for the first time with classical. He says, “Amit Trivedi’s music is organic and fresh.”
Despite having worked with some of the biggest names in the Hindi film industry, it is the audience that he loves performing before as compared to a studio recording. “The love and energy of the audience make all the difference to any performance.”
