Partners in Rhyme

In early 1980s,when ghazal was at its pinnacle,Ustad Ahmed Hussain and Ustad Mohammad Hussain sang Main hawa hoon kahan watan mera and made a mark for themselves by being different from the dominating breed of singers like Penaz Masani,Talat Aziz and Jagjit Singh. They sang harmonies — not a usual style in ghazal. “The beauty of a ghazal is that every word,every couplet resonates with life,bares its soul,reveals what lies beneath all those layers and gives a glimpse into the enigma behind the mystery. Ghazal gayaki is an ode to life itself,” chorus ghazal Ustad Ahmed Hussain and Mohammad Hussain as they take seat at Kava in Sector 26. The Jaipur-based duo was in the city for a concert by Naad Foundation,a public charitable trust.

The two say that they took up music for its spiritual and curative powers. “The commercial aspect came in much later,that too to sustain the music,” says Ahmed Hussain,who confesses,that with time,they have had to change their format and form of singing and add more instruments to it. “But the soch,the thought and the niyat remains the same,” they say.

With 50 albums to their credit,the musicians feel that any form of music or art calls for a guru,and for a lot of riyaaz. “It’s a long and difficult journey,one which does not find takers easily,” they say. At their end,they make sure that they encourage new talent,especially poets for what is a ghazal without some souful poetry. “We have been singing Jaipur-based Dinesh Kumar and Hari Om’s couplets for a long time. Like a singer,the poet too has to go through his/her own trials and tribulations,see life from close quarters,feel it,understand its language and expression and then give words to it,” says Mohammad Hussain,who along with his brother has recently released two albums titled Khwaab Basera and Baz-e-Ehsaas.