Sunday, June 22, 2014

Tark-e-Arezoo Kerdam - Ustad Sarahang - ترک آرزو کردم،



Tark-e-aarezoo kerdam, ranj e hasti aasan shod
Sokht par-feshani haa, kin qafas gulistan shod

Aalam az junun-e-man, kerde kasb-e-homvari
sel e gir d sar dadam, koh-o-dasht, daman shod

Bar safa-e-dil Zahed, in qadar chi meenazi
Har chi aayena gardid, babe khod-feroshan shod

Mirza Abdul Qadir Bedil

Today I went out looking for an audio CD by the Afghan classical singer Ustad Mohammad Hussain Sarahang. There are three Afghan grocery stores around our neighborhood here in Quebec and to my delight I found a CD entitled "Tarke Arezoo" in one of these stores.

The first track in this wonderful collection is a 6 minute tarana by Amir Khusraw which I will post later. When I searched on youtube I discovered that the rare qawwali "Tark e Arezoo Kerdam" was of course there all along. Hope you enjoy Sarahang's endearing style as much as I did.

ترک آرزو کردم رنج هستي آسان شد ترک  
سوخت پرفشانيها کاين قفس گلستان شد

عالم از جنون من کرد کسب همواري
سيل گريه سردادم کوه و دشت دامان شد

خامشي بدامانم شور صد قيامت ريخت
کاشتم نفس در دل ريشه نيستان شد

هر کجانظر کردم فکر خويش را هم زد
غنچه تا گل اين باغ بهر من گريبان شد

بر صفاي دل زاهد اينقدر چه مينازي
هر چه آينه گرديد باب خودفروشان شد

عشق شکوه الودست تا چه دل فسرد امروز
سيل ميرود نوميد خانه ئي که ويران شد

جيب اگر بغارت رفت دامني بدست آريم
اي جنون بصحرا زن نوبهار عريان شد

جبريان تقديريم قول و فعل ما عجز است
وهم ميکند مختار آنقدر که نتوان شد

برق رفتن هوش است يا خيال ديداري
چون سپند از دورم آتشي نمايان شد

(چين ناز پرورد است گرد وحشتم (بيدل

دامني گر افشاندم طره ئي پرشان شد




English Translation - Musab Bin Noor


Forsaking all desires, the sorrows of existence becomes easier to bear,
destroying the urge to spread my wings, transformed my cage into a garden

The World has been levelled by the force of my madness
The flood of my lamentations has submerged everything; mountains, deserts and valleys.

The silence in my bosom has spawned a cacophony of noise
I planted the Self inside my heart, like the root that sprouts into a reed-bed.

Wherever I cast my eye, thoughts of myself interrupt me
Every petal, every flower in this garden reminds me of my tattered garment.

O pious one, why such vanity over the clearness of your heart?
What are mirrors for, other than to satisfy the vanity of the preening and the vain?

Your love is polluted with complaint, that’s why your heart remains disconsolate to this day
Let hopelessness flood over your heart, so that the House becomes vacant and desolate.

If we have torn our pockets in desperation, let our hands rend our cloaks instead
O madness, whisk me away to the desert, where a new Spring awakens.

We are subservient to Fate, humility pervades our words and deeds
We have been given just enough Free Will to realize that we are helpless.

Are my senses departing at the speed of light, or is it the thought of seeing You?
Like Harmal-seeds burning on charcoal, I see a flashing light in the distance.

Bedil, the dust of my terror and desolation has been well nurtured and protected
If I spread my cloak and release it, your tresses will be left disheveled and unkempt.

5 comments:

SilentSea said...

I just wanted to tell you that I'm spending most of my waking hours on this blog. Thank you so much for archiving all of this material.

Unknown said...

What an amazing recording..both the kalaam and the fankaar. I've heard of Ghalib and Saigal being extolled as a supreme combination of poet and singer but Bedil and Sarahang should rank no lower.

Thanks a ton for posting this...but Bedil's traditional "issues" about complexity of meaning and convoluted imagery poses an even bigger challenge to someone like me.

While I get some farsi, the fact is that I am entirely self taught and books, online courses and softwares gear one up for contemporary farsi...then when one hears bedil..or reads him, the number of possibilities get multiplied or closed out at random, leading to so many possible tracks of meaning or none at all depending on the "brain space" available - one has to just wind up or is blown away!

May I request you for a favour..would you be able to share a translation that you believe is accurate?
As always.. love your blog and think that it is amazing that you are able to do so much to get new people hooked on something that is so clearly your passion.

Many many thanks for this..and all the other fantastic stuff you have done so far in this blog

Tasawwuf said...

Dear Ajith,

I'm haooy to learn that you are enjoying the contents of this blog.

A young friend, who happens to be a medic in Pakistan, has graciously helped translate.

You are right about Bedil being complex and frankly also quite sophisticated in his thought. Not the easiest to interpret and my own knowledge is rather limited too. So while Musab has done a fine job and given his time for the love of the kalam, I'm sure there are other ways to interpret this one too.

I'd be happy if anyone out there would be willing to submit more comments on this.

Warm regards from Canada. It's Canada Day today.

Arif

Unknown said...

Thank you both so much!!!

Musab was supposed to disappear for a while shortly, so if he found time to do this, I guess it means that much more to me.

Its great to see this on the same page and indeed as you say again, some resonates some doesnt..but then that's what bedil would do anyway.

Cant thank you enough...

Admin said...

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Regards,
Nasir Naqvi