Early morning, after some tea, Moeez and I head out on his motorcycle. He had asked if I would be interested in checking out a landscape that was a bit different. Sure I was.
Read MoreEid in Nawabshah
I woke up for Eid and Moeez and his family had ironed a nice shalwar kameez for me. I got ready and my little cousin Yusuf was all dressed up too.
Read MoreThose used to be my shoes...
On the last day of fasting for the month of Ramazan, I rested. I woke up for a bit, then slept again
Read MoreLeaving Jamshoro
It was still hard to believe that the recordings were finished. I felt a need to leave Jamshoro as fast as possible, after being stuck there for such a long time.
Read MoreLast day of music recording?
After getting to the top floor, we sat down for a bit as the recording room was being cleaned, then went inside and began setting up with Zulfiqar sahib and Afzal sahib. One of our singers for the day, Rashid Haideri arrived. I setup my camera and recorded short introductions for both musicians. A short while later, Ustad Anb Jogi and Shahid Amjad sahib, the sitar player arrived.
Read MoreRecording a second Jogi Album
One thing I did not have to worry about for this session was the script. Today’s session was just to support a few groups of musicians to create music albums, rather than record for “Risalo”.
Read MoreRecording Sur Sorath
I took all my gear and head to Sindhology. After setup we waited. I hoped that the electricity would not go. We were recording sur Sorath, the longest piece of music in “Risalo”.
Read MoreKitties being silly
At Darya sahib’s place where I am staying, there is a cat and her two kittens that wander in through a hole in the front screen, then walk through the house and exit to the hole in the back screen door. It is kind of funny seeing them wander through.
Read MoreNothing much
There is the stress of whether things will work out in the coming days that looms over me, but I do what I can.
Read MoreTechnical stuff
I spent most of my time dealing with technical issues, but the fact that I had a comfortable space to be in, made it much easier to deal with.
Read MoreNew place
Each new place requires an adjustment, but being out of the heat of the hostel room was a huge and welcome reprieve. Darya Khan opened his home to me, and that really helped to ease my struggles.
Read MoreBig day delay
Lots of musicians coming in...huge power outage
Read MoreRecording Farzana Bahar
Recording Farzana Bahar singing Sur Sohni for "Risalo"
Read MoreThe work before the work
The day was spent preparing for the recording on Tuesday. I needed to book the recording studio, pay fees, make sure everyone there was on board, work on how I could direct the music in terms of getting spots without poetry between the verses where shots I had storyboarded would fit.
Read MoreA good rehearsal
I worked on preparations during the day, before heading in to Hyderabad on the Mehran University bus. If my timings line up, I usually take the Sindh University bus, but let me tell you, this bus was nuts. This guy drove really fast and crazy, but we got there, so that was good.
Read MoreSindh TV
Saqib picked me up in the morning and we head over to Qasimabad to check out Sindh TV. Ustad Anb Jogi had invited me to the tv channel as he was performing for some recordings.
Read MoreFinding a way
I needed to refocus once again on making this project possible after the huge disappointment with yesterday’s singer and his lack of preparation.
Read MoreThe fight for Sindhi culture
I got to Sindhology early for the day’s recording session. Staff came in, but the person who had the key to the recording studio, who had messaged me the night before to ask what time musicians were coming had not shown up. I had replied with the timing and he confirmed, but he was not there so we could not setup.
Read MoreBugs
I spent the day figuring out the best workflow to get the footage recorded thus far put together. There were many technical issues. I found several software bugs and had to piece together a workflow that avoided them. It wasn’t fun, but that is part of working with computers. Once a workflow was figured out, at least I knew it could be used on the rest of the film, so the extra time up front would be worthwhile.Here's a tutorial I put together today.
Read MoreLining things up
Lining things up
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