Poetry isn’t necessarily an area of interest but every now and then I do enjoy reading verses of Urdu poetry posted on social media without any context. I don’t get what they mean. But the word play does act like an intellectual stimuli of sorts. Or maybe its just me being a pretentious twat to myself. Not sure. But many Pakistani poets have gained a very huge following among the youth, thanks to social media reviving their verses every now and then, through memes.
Jaun Alia is one poet in particular who has garnered a lot of popularity with the internet generation in recent years
With his long hair and apathetic facial expressions, if Ghalib was the Jim Morrison of Urdu poetry, Jaun Elia is surely Kurt Cobain. His work has for some reason has been gaining momentum with millennials. There are several fan pages of the guy spread across Facebook. Lets just say his work is inspiring a whole new generation. This one rock band in particular took that inspiration to a different level.
‘Nishtar Park’ an upcoming Pakistani rock band has just released a song influenced by Jaun Elia’s work
The song titled “Puraney aur naye Sawal” is based on the poet’s ghazal “Umr Guzregi Imtehan Mein Kya“. “His personal life and writings are both commonly associated with themes of pensive sadness, defeatism and purposelessness” Ali Raj who is the vocalist for the band told MangoBaaz. The title itself is borrowed from Jaun Elia’s January 1962 editorial of ‘Insha‘ magazine.
“The song, however, attempts to subvert those stereotypes about him and uses a country folk inspired tune that is thematically opposite to the popular understanding of the ghazal“, added Ali.
It’s not just Jaun Elia that the band is inspired from. Nishtar Park had previously released a song called ‘Kuttay‘ based on Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s nazm of the same name
The nazm itself was based on Allama Iqbal’s Tariq Ibn Ziyad Ki Dua. “The song contains two verses from Iqbal to highlight the contrast. Iqbal talks about the conqueror and those who fight in the name of God and Faiz talks about the downtrodden and the destitute” said Ali.
Additionally the band has compositions that contain poetry of the likes of Majeed Amjad, Noon Meem Rashid, Nasir Kazmi, Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Akhtar Sherani
What do you guys think of the two songs? Tell us in the comments.