I got up in the morning and head off to the bus for Hyderabad. It is a miserable experience each time. I am thankful for when I have at least enough room for my knees to not be in pain, wedged against a seat. Crammed in with sweaty people, you feel the sweat of the person next to you seep into your clothes and mingle with your own. It is even more wonderful than it sounds.After a bumpy ride, I hop out into filthy, traffic in the hot sun and make my way to whatever my destination may be that day. I eventually got to the radio station and Anb was nowhere to be found. He had asked me to come right at 1pm as he had a lot of other tasks and running around to do. He is an excellent musician, very much in demand, as well as supporting his extended family, whilst being completely illiterate. So when he says he needs to do a bunch of things, it is no exaggeration.I sat at the radio station and chatted with a tambura player I saw on stage at Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s Urs musical program in Sewan a few days ago. I told him how much I appreciated his music and was amazed at how he stayed on stage almost the entire night and into the morning playing. Most of the musicians switched out with other folks who played their instrument after a while, and even that was an incredible and grueling amount of performance, but not him. He stayed, except he said for a few short bathroom breaks.He told me about how the current radio station was built during General Ayub’s time and how he had been there since. He had long ago retired, but they still called him for shows and to perform at the station with a myriad of fantastic musicians that came through on any given day. He was very grateful to still be walking on his own two feet, and to be able to perform. It was very nice to chat with him.Anb Jogi had a few tasks to take care of at the radio station, and after a few hours we head out to see the female singers he had been helping to rehearse these past couple of weeks. We were hoping to record in the coming week, and I knew that I needed to check on their progress before hiring additional musicians and setting a date for recording.I felt really grateful that Anb had been coming by and training them, despite all that he was busy with. We sat down in the little bhaituk in the front of the home in what is sort of a musicians neighborhood here, as there are many that live in the area I am told. The singers were mother and daughter. The mother came out and joined us. I asked her to sing the first two verses, Sindhi, then Urdu. It was pretty clear that she had not spent any time rehearsing or even reading the script. Ustad Anb Jogi, was feeding her lines so to speak, by singing them himself so that she could try and match him in her own voice and key.They reassured me that she had not rehearsed much as they had focused more so on the daughter who would be singing a larger piece. The piece the mother was working on, could possibly be worked out as it would be sung without instruments, so there was more room for editing it together. She still needed to rehearse, as I couldn’t direct her and keep reminding her not to skip words or mispronounce them from the script that she was looking at while she sang. I was not impressed, but as long as the more difficult piece was in a better state with the daughter, this could be addressed, with a good deal of work.The mother left and I talked to Anb a bit about my concerns. He reassured me that the daughter had rehearsed a lot more. Eventually she joined us. I asked her to sing the first two verses. I did not think of this as a test. The point was just to get a feel for what they were doing, and then share some of the breakdown of sections to sing so that they did not have to sing the whole thing in one go. Then I could emphasize the emotional cues of each section and that would help her to tighten the piece up a bit more, followed by a few more rehearsals and then recording.How stupid of me.She stumbled through reading the lines. It was not a matter of the mother or daughter not being able to read. It was simply that when you are reading poetry for the first time aloud, you make mistakes. If you read it over and over once or twice a day with a bit of concentration, and listen to the audio references I took the time to record, you can smooth out any challenging parts and get the hang of it. This is what Anb and I had emphasized. They did not need to figure out how to sing the lines, as Anb would feed them that. We just needed them to get comfortable with the words and memorize them to a degree.It was clear that despite whatever “rehearsals” she may have done, she had not taken time to read the script. This was hugely disappointing. It is important to respect the people you are collaborating with. When you go on and on about whatever project it is that you want them to do, it is important to think of their financial needs and pay them some money up front before they begin rehearsals. It is also important to provide materials that can make it as easy as possible to understand the task and focus on their art.This was done, and it was not easy to do. To not bother to read the script they have had for weeks was just too much. How can you rehearse? What do you rehearse without learning the words? These things are out of my control. I do not tend to be heavy handed in micro managing people. I prefer to give them the tools they need and let let them work unfettered. Then I can check in and see how things are going. They failed miserably and I let her know. At times, it seems as if people just figure you are some fool throwing money around like it is confetti and that is how you are treated.I think also that preparation for new tasks is something that some people do and many could not be bothered. For me, prepping work is the real work. I take great pains to prepare and plan work, but that only helps if the people you work with do that as well.This was another low point, just as I was so hopeful to make some progress. All is not lost of course, but this is a challenging set back. I may have to find male singers to sing these parts as there are only 3 women I know of that sing Shah Latif’s poetry and they are way out of the budget of this effort. I wanted to balance the female and male singers in the piece. Particularly, I want Sur Sohni to be sung by a woman, but I can only do so much.There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind today regarding how I feel about this nonsense rehearsal business, but I am not sure it will make a difference. Anb suggested giving them a few more days to try again. I think the real issue is that this process of rehearsing language and taking pains to get it right is foreign to them. To anyone who sings this poetry or any challenging poetry this is perhaps at the core of their work, besides training the vocals. These two singers are good at singing, but this challenge is not something I can force them to step up to.I headed out. Anb tried to reassure me, not to worry. I don’t care to make him feel bad. He is trying, but I also have to call bullshit, just as I did when some of the puppeteers I was meeting, really were not puppeteers, but distant relatives who clearly knew nothing of the art.As important as it is to give people the direction they need to help them do their best work, it is also necessary to make a decision and move on when you clearly have not made the best choice for a particular role.I visited some friends, grabbed the first bit of food I had time to eat for the day, and then took the nasty bus ride back. Waqar, from Zoomin.tv was waiting for me. He travels around Pakistan, recording stories he finds interesting for this channel in the Netherlands. Haider Ali in Karachi suggested that he check out this project I am working on and so he had come all the way from Karachi. I set aside whatever crummy feeling I had for the day and tried to make sure I didn’t make this nice guy who had come to learn about what I was doing feel unappreciated. I know how challenging it is to travel around to strange places and try to work with new people at every step.We hung out, I shared about the project, showed some art work and puppet photos and recorded a short interview. I appreciate the effort that goes into trying to put a small piece together. Afterwards we grabbed some food in the Mess. The staff had made lunch for me, but I was not there, so instead of ordering two meals, we shared lunch and dinner for dinner. It was very good. These are the unsung heroes of this Teacher’s Hostel. We had delicious fish, and separate dish of lentils and karelai.We hung out some more, and then I invited my friend Saqib Syd by as I have been teaching him what wordpress basics I know. I still have to figure the music stuff out, but it was nice to do some positive things.