(photos thanks to Saqib Syed)In the morning, I was up, writing a few more notes on the script so that I could give proper story based guidance for the emotions of each scene. That would reflect in the way it was sung and the way the instruments were played.One huge relief was that Saqib had kindly agreed to take my camera and photograph. Not only that, but he would go get some fresh bread and additional food to add to what we picked up the previous night. I know that directing the musicians is an all consuming task, and I am not even completely directing them. Ustad Anb Jogi is the one getting the group in gear musically. My job would be to closely follow the script as they sang, give story cues and make sure we recorded what I needed.Anb was supposed to come by at 9am. I was ready then called him. They were just waking up. I had his dholak. I told him to meet me there. I ate breakfast, as I had not been able to eat the night before. I just could not get myself to eat. I picked up my gear and his, then walked the fifteen minutes of sweat dripping heat to Sindhology to get things prepared. I met with Zulfikar Ali Gopang sahib, the audio engineer and friend I have worked with in the past. I sat down and expressed a number of my frustrations. We had a good conversation about it and it did make me feel somewhat better. He has recorded many musicians and knows most of them that way, so he has dealt with a lot of challenges.Jamaluddin Faqir sahib and his group arrived an hour early as they had planned to stop in to see Mehboob Ali Shah sahib, but he was out of the city, so they came straight to Sindhology. They brought in their gear as the audio folks were setting up. I went down to take care of the official paperwork and fees for use of the recording facilities. Saeed Mangi sahib helped me take care of all of that in proper fashion. It took a bit of time, then I grabbed some water bottles and was heading back when Saqib showed up. I had asked him to come by at 11am and not sooner, to not waste his time.I handed off the camera to him, setup my laptop and started working with Ustad Anb Jogi on the logistics of how we could most efficiently get the takes we needed. It was hours of intense concentration on my part, but also on the part of each musician, audio engineer and photographer in the room. Jamaluddin sahib had hand written the whole Sindhi script for Sur Karayal out in his notebook, which I thought was fantastic. Similarly, Abdur Rahman Abroe had written the entire Urdu Sur Karayal in Sindhi letters, so that he could more easily read it. I was much relieved by their preparations.I had divided up the script into more manageable chunks, where we could stop at major emotional shifts or convenient spots in the story. This would make it easier to tackle several pieces that I would have to edit together later. We worked on my short film Gul in the same way years ago and that seemed to work well.At the beginning of each section, I came closer to the singers and we double checked the starting and ending verses. Then we briefly talked about the basic feel of that scene, which Anb translated musically. Anb had on the spot changed the raag they were working in as they had chosen raag Sohni and we did not want two sections with the same raag. These are things that I would be helpless at trying to change without Ustad Anb Jogi and without the musical skill of everyone present in that room.After a Sindhi section was sung once or twice, Jamaluddin sahib stepped out for a moment and Abdur Rahman Abroe took his spot and tried to do something that worked similarly in Urdu. That is not an easy task, and he really stepped up to this at the last minute when we called him. Urdu is not his first language. He is far more comfortable with SIndhi, but he worked hard and consulted someone near him regarding the Urdu script, so there were only a few spots where we needed to help him, which is perfectly reasonable.There was a good bit of back and forth regarding what I needed, what they felt would be best musically and then trying to get each section in Sindhi and Urdu to be close in length. That is a big challenge and my job editing then mixing the music will be very challenging. It was a grueling process. It was hot and each of us was dripping sweat in the studio. At one point besides the water some angel sent us a crate of cold sodas. We took a few breaks here and there, but I was also under the gun to somehow get everything done within a reasonable time round about closing time for Sindhology, which is unfortunately around 2pm. I felt a lot of pressure balancing each of those things, but that is the nature of the work.The musicians did a fantastic job and I made sure they were well appreciated throughout. How else can you get through all these challenges? Thanks to all the help, I think we managed to balance things out well. Everyone seemed happy and no one seemed to be driven to frustration. We finished the work on time, then head downstairs for a few short video introductions for each musician. After that, we head to the hostel mess for some food.I was exhausted and so was everyone else. Saqib went to get fresh bread and some more food. I went in the kitchen and started heating up the food I picked up the night before. The room with the dishes and microwave was locked. It turned out the person with the key was away and unreachable. The one thing I had asked for was dishes. Another obstacle. I looked all over the kitchen and grabbed any plate, bowl container I could find. The burners are always on, so I washed all these random containers then heated up food.Daulat of the mess staff chipped in to help. Then Ustad Anb Jogi dropped in the kitchen to see how things were and jumped in to help heat up bread. Eventually a few more members of the mess staff helped us out and bit by bit we served up some hot food for everyone. We had only one glass, so I grabbed whatever glasses and dishes I had in the room, washed and served those. I had a bag of mangoes, so I cut those up and shared too. I think it all worked out well. Saqib came by with resupplies of bread and food. We managed to feed everyone properly, said our thank yous and goodbyes then head our separate ways.Saqib hung around to help me out and hang out a bit after before we head our separate ways to get some rest. I was glad he had a good time and was absolutely invaluable to making the day possible. Now to prepare for tomorrow, and get some rest. I hope we can somehow get through the longer piece in time. We are starting two hours earlier, so let’s see what we can do.I lay around for a few hours. Sleep did not come to me, but I felt better. At night Saqib came by and we chatted for a while. After he head home, I saw Zulfikar Ali Gopang sahib had called. I called him back and learned that a staff member at Sindhology had died of heat stroke so everyone there was going to the funeral. There have been a great deal of deaths all over Sindh due to this heat wave, a lack of electricity and water for many. I have heard numbers as high as 1,000 deaths across Sindh due to heat stroke. As difficult as my room can be due to heat, I’m not laboring out in the sun, or living on the sidewalk.I called Ustad Anb Jogi to inform all the musicians that the session was cancelled. I felt sad for the family of the man who died. We’ll reschedule the recording when the musicians are back in town after some performances they have.