Another night of staying up late trying to think of backup plans in case some of the musicians do not work out as I am recording music for “Risalo”. My internet wasn’t working and my phone balance was low too, so I walked through the oppressive heat to the society across the highway to add balance to both.It is very hot. I just checked and it is 104 degrees fahrenheit or 40 degrees celsius. No wonder I’m dripping with sweat out there. I picked up a few bags of fruit as well. I really need to take better advantage of mango season.
Once I returned to the hostel, I checked in with Puran Bhatt regarding the puppets. I always appreciate his clear communication. He’s a very nice person, and on top of that he thinks through whatever input I have and shares his own ideas then helps by providing various solutions to problems. Today we were working on how to get our head losing puppet to effectively be a dancing puppet as well. Considering the challenge of communicating via phone and email to get all of this worked out, I have to say, I feel fortunate to be working with Puran Bhatt on this project.I caught up with my wife now that I had internet again. We each shared challenges and fun things about our crazy projects and journeys, both hoping we would join each other soon. Ustad Anb Jogi called me. Two groups of musicians wanted to record right away. I love how there’s all this waiting and all of a sudden when someone decides, it all needs to happen now. Okay great, I thought. I needed to make arrangements for recording. I was also deeply concerned whether one of the singers would work out. If it did not work out, I would be wasting a good deal of money and would need to prepare and record with someone else later. I did not have any options that were guaranteed to work out any better, just a potential backup if I needed to rerecord with someone else.I called two people I needed to reach to secure recording time and facilities. Neither phone was answered. I realized they were probably busy, but I needed to get on this, so once again, another trudge in the heat over to Sindhology. My recording engineer friend was out, so I walked over to Sayed Mangi sahib’s office. He had been in a meeting, and there were still more people waiting in his office to speak. He graciously gave me the permission I needed. I updated Anb Jogi on the phone. Sindhology was closed on the weekend (saturday and sunday). The musicians have been on me about recording before wednesday as there is a darga they will go to then, though the ones in a hurry had not done much in terms of rehearsal to make me feel confident. That caused some sleepless nights for me.After some water and tea, I head back to the hostel to work on some more logistical issues. There is a bunch of back and forth in this process of coordinating each person I need for these recording sessions. Finally, due to various conflicts in availability, we settled on two recording sessions. One would be on monday and the other on tuesday. I admit, I had to double check that mangal was indeed tuesday. Hey, I’ve got the words for thursday through sunday down, I just need to get monday through wednesday down. This is a funny problem that comes up at times with large numbers and days of the week.Ok, with that done, I went back out into the heat to run a few more errands in the society. I am definitely nervous about how the music will go, but I have done everything I can on my part and thankfully others are there to help as well.
Later, in the afternoon, I caught the University bus in to town to pick up DV tapes which is what the music and video will be recorded to. Once in the city, I was passing by Radio Pakistan, and dropped in to visit Ustad Anb Jogi. The poor guy was exhausted from performances the night before and all the travel he ends up doing. It was very hot out, and we were both drenched in sweat. He was clearly exhausted. He brought up the work we are doing regarding “Risalo” and there was friction on the part of the female singers and their family regarding my choice to give one of the chapters to another singer.I was more than willing to explain for the umpteenth time to them why I was not satisfied with the singer only just barely, and with mistakes, being able to read the first line of the script each time I went to visit them, before and after paying for rehearsals for them. If there is one thing I can’t stand, it is nonsense. I work very hard to prepare my end of things and make sure to provide all the guidance my collaborators might need. Generally I’m polite and understanding, but once I hit my threshold of nonsense, that’s it.After weeks of pleading and pushing for them to show me that they were prepared to do the work, without results, I had several sleepless nights figuring out alternatives. My mind felt much at ease after handing off that chapter to the other singer who actually appreciated the material. This drama leaves a lot of uncertainty as to whether the other singer is still on board to try, and even with her I am not convinced that she has prepared enough to do the work. It really bothers me that there has to be so much uncertainty, which leads to a lot of stress, despite giving ample time, explanation, resources and payment. I have a backup plan for that chapter as well, in case things don’t work out with this singer.Next, I went over to Haider Chowk and picked up a couple of packs of DV tapes for the hopefully upcoming recording sessions. If this was a typical audio studio, I would have a lot more to be stressed about. Being that it is a cultural institution that is really supportive of what I am doing, I have a lot more flexibility and less stress on that end. Imagine if I had to book time by the hour at a traditional audio studio and on top of that rely on the unpreparedness or possible cancellation of musicians then?My friend Saqib was working in the area, and I caught a ride back to Jamshoro with him. I sent out a script via courier to a singer to prepare the Urdu verses for a chapter as the musician I had given it to decided to just prepare Sindhi and ignore my request to prepare Urdu as well. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. The whole point is to get this poetry out to the world, and if I don’t have an Urdu version, that cuts out all the Urdu and Hindi speaking people who are illiterate all over South Asia. While that does not cover everyone, it does greatly expand the reach for this film. I don’t even mean that in a monetary sense, but even if it gets pirated and handed around, it will communicate to far more people. What point is there in making this film and not reaching greater parts of South Asia with it?