Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: December 26, 2019 | 
The Sketches Performing with Sindhi Musicians
As I was travelling to and from Lahore last week, the only music I was listening to was The Sketches’ new album, Saanjhi. The transportive quality of their music reminded me of my time in the mountains, yet their melodies capture the spirit of Sindhi musical traditions.
Saif Samejo created the group, The Sketches, in 2001, and they released their first album ‘Dastkari’ (“one’s own creation”) in 2010. Samejo started the Lahooti Live Session and Lahooti Melo in 2013, as an inclusive platform for indigenous underrepresented artists and poets on Sindh and other parts of Pakistan. The next Lahooti Melo is expected to be in January 2020, and will host a plethora of artists, talks, musical performances, video screenings and panel discussions in Jamshoro, Sindh.
The band has a DIY approach to creating their albums. Saanjhi, as well as the second album You (تو), were both recorded at Lahooti Studios. Saif Samejo provides the lyrics, vocals, and melody, Nomi Ali adds in the musical composition arrangements, which include guitars and keys, and Atif Kalhyar provides rhythm guitars. The band also includes Nepal-based musicians Roshan Sharma, who plays classical guitars and the Veena. Umesh Pandit plays the flute and the RPGOs, while Subhash plays bass.
Nomi Ali and Saif Samejo
Saanjhi’s songs are love letters to the province of Sindh, often evoking the culture and landscape of the motherland. During my initial listen, I visualized the vast desolate barren hills, the night sky, spaced out singular trees in the distance, the stillness during sunrise, the setting of the sun on the horizon and wreaths swinging in the warm breeze. As a city-dweller caught up with daily life’s mundane activities and routine, I am unaware of the great mysterious and mystic lands of interior Pakistan.
Lahooti Melo
The remote valleys of the North taught me the value of silence, along with the beauty of native melodies and poetry. The ancient tales and indigenous sonnets handed-down over a long period of time, create a musical language for me. Even though I did not understand Burushaski or Wakhi of the North, I felt every phonetic and syllable when I heard their music.
In the same vein, The Sketches create songs from multiple languages that include Sindhi, Hindi, Urdu, and Siraiki. The urs (death anniversary that marks the reunion of the Sufi with their Beloved) celebrations for Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, the Sufi legend, are currently in their 273rd year, but not many people are aware of his legacy. The Sketches bring us closer to the soulful words of such philosophers, maestros, and saints.
The Sketches Performing in Thar
The opening track “Ishq Laga Mann Jaga” is a meditative and soothing invitation by Saif Samejo as he begins the song by reciting “Sur Suhni Mehar”, also known as Sohni Mahiwal. He draws a parallel between the folktale and rejection of social and cultural constraints, guiding his listener much like the folktale. The female protagonist, Suhni, attempts to cross a tyrannical river to meet her one true love on the other side. The lyrics declare that love can overcome obstacles, and the words coax the listener to surrender themselves and awaken to the natural world of their inner self.
Saif Samejo
The Sketches celebrate multiculturalism and diversity across all their musical endeavors. They operate with a belief that music can unite people and bridge borders, evident from their long-standing friendship with musician Jono Manson from Santa Fe. They have created multi-language songs with him, and he has also re-mastered their album. Currently, The Sketches are signed to Rearts Records with a roster of over 40 Pakistani artists and bands. They are currently managing and distributing their music worldwide on all distribution platforms.
Their music videos are cinematic, with intimate arrangements and birds-eye-view shots that are a direct interpretation of the band. The music and video together create a complex emotional narrative, that is an immersive experience of journeying into Sindh. “Faani Aur Baqa”, a poem by Hazrat Razi Saeen, is the fourth song of the album, arranged as a love ballad with rhythmic fingerpicking and strumming of the acoustic guitar.
The Sketches create music that resonates with the freedom of expression and respect for tradition. They create soundscapes that are historical and modern at the same time, through a collaboration between indigenous instruments of the Indus Valley Civilisation and piano keys and guitars.
Fakir Zulfikar
Other indigenous artists include the last player of Borrendo and Narr, Zulfiqar Fakir, whose atmospheric wind instrument tones feature at the end of the song, Saanjhi. Bhagat Bhoora Lal plays the Khartaal, a wooden percussion instrument that makes a clapping sound, and is featured in “Ram Kalli” (“the wandering ascetics”). This is a duet of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s poetry by Saif Samejo and Bhagat Bhoora, which will have you swaying your head and arms to its enticing beat.
Bhagat Bhooro Lal Kolhi in the song Ram Kalli
The album is a peace treaty, a travelogue, a personal journal into the mind of a true wanderer with its nomadic melodies and folk wisdom that compassionately describe the unbreakable bond between nature and humanity. Saanjhi is available to listen/buy/download on GooglePlay, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Genius, Saavn, Napster, Pandora, Youtube, Amazon Music, Tidal and Shazam.
You may also like:
