Audio Visual Material on Khusro

At the moment this website does not provide much audio-visual materials related to Amir Khusro, but I have compiled here a sort of guide to what work has been done in the past in recording and presenting Amir Khusro's heritage of music and poetry on audio-visual media. Since the Hindvi and Farsi qawwalis ascribed to Khusro have been sung by almost all traditional qawwals of the sub-continent, and their recordings are easily available in the market, I have not listed them. Following list includes only some exclusive work that I could lay my hands on and have enjoyed. Some (specified) materials may be available on request at a premium. But most of these are out of print / stocks.

Much of the work on Khusro in the modern times was done in and around 1975, when Amir Khusro's 7th centenary celebrations were held world-wide, specially in India and Pakistan. There were seminars, publication of special volumes, poetry collection, production of a number of films and music recordings etc. Some of the audio-visual work was as follows :

• Amir Khusro: The L.P. record by HMV, India (Music by Murli Manohar Swaroop) 1975.
  It has many classical compositions like khayal and tarana by Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Pratap Narayan and Kankana Banerji, folk songs like sawan geet by Krishna Kalre, Sudha Malhotra and Diraj Kaur etc. and some qawwalis like rang and qaul by Shankar Shambhu. (Out of print).
• Amir Khusro Dehlavi: A set of two audio-cassettes produced by Heritage Films, Bombay, presented by the legendary Dr.Zoe Ansari (sometime around 1975). In an impeccably scripted and dramatic voice, Zoe Ansari tells the life history of Khusro, mixing here and there with strains of some beautiful music collected from "five countries" where Khusro's poetry is popular (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the then USSR with its Central Asian muslim states, and of course Iran). Khusro's associations with his patron kings are told with a backdrop of war sound-effects and all. There are some rare qawwalis in the voices of Pakistan's Qutbuddin and Bahauddin qawwals, who I think were the greatest qawwals alive in the twentieth centruy.This would be a real collector's item for any Khusro fan, but is sadly out of stock. It probably was never sold in the market, but sort of distributed amongst friends. A couple of copies were left at the National Amir Khusro Society, New Delhi, where I managed to get one set in 1996.
• Amir Khusro: A documentary film (16 mm B&W) by Films Division, Bombay 1975-76. Some candid footage of early Urs celebrations of Amir Khusro, and some really old qawwali recordings. (Possible to get a copy from the Films Division, Mumbai).
• Amir Khusro: Another documentary film (16 mm colour) produced by Amir Khusro Society, Delhi. It relies heavily on Mughal miniature paintings to tell a dramatic story of Khusro's life. A rather mediocre film.
• Khusro Dehlavi, Hasan Dehlavi: A small 33.3 RPM record of Khusro's and his contemporary Hasan Sijzi's Farsi ghazals beautifully sung by the Iranian singer Huma Partavi (unspecified Iranian records company). It has three of Khusro's Ghazals : Dilam der aashiqi, Abr mi baarad and Aashiq shudam wa mehram ein, sung with Iranian Santoor accompaniment. (Availability unknown. I got it copied from someone in Iran Culture House, New Delhi).
• Amir Khusro: A television serial in 13 parts by Doordarshan, New Delhi (India's premier TV channel). A fictionalized account of Amir Khusro's life. In quality this can be clubbed in the list of many such historical and mythical serials commissioned by Doordarshan. Music by Ustad Iqbal Khan Nizami. (Could be available from Doordarshan, New Delhi).
• Sur Bahaar: A series of television features on Amir Khusro by Pakistan TV. Its compering was thoughtful, but the actual presentation of songs and music by Pakistani artists was done in rather garish and glittering studio settings - typical of most studio-based music shows on Indian/Pakistani television. The video cassettes of this programmes are also sometimes shown/distributed in PIA flights.
• Anhad Garjay: A set of 4 audio and one video cassettes by SAHMAT, New Delhi, featuring many Indian and sub-continental artists presenting poetry and music compositions of many Sufi- Bhakti poets, including Amir Khusro. Some of these artists are Ghulam Husain Niyazi, Jaffar Husain Khan, Ustad Hafeez Ahmad Khan and Kankana Benarji etc., and the compositions range from classical to folk and qawwalis. These cassettes are easily available from Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), New Delhi.
• Boojh Sakay to Boojh: A series of four documentary videos produced in 1997 by Doordarshan, that analyse the legend of Amir Khusro in four spheres, that is, his poetry, his political aspirations, his sufi connections and his music in contemporary contexts. This can be made available by us.
• Basant, Sufi Sama: These are two short films produced by me for educational telecast of Indian Television. Both are based on legends related to Amir Khusro. Can be made available.
• Khusro Baani Video I & II: Almost 6 hours of video recordings from various platforms like the Dargahs and other public places, of devotional as well as classical music ascribed to Amir Khusro.

I am currently working on a CD/cassette version of some qawwalis and classical compositions of Khusro by Indian artists that I had recorded during my filmmaking. This will soon be available. I must admit that I am not familiar with much of audio-visual work done on Amir Khusro in Pakistan, especially by organizations like Lok Virsa. I would be happy to include any related information if someone could help me locate such work.

[ Other films / videos by me ]

© Yousuf Saeed, 1998