Mad Guru

Watch the film - Journey to Sindh - Purchase Music (funds go to musicians)Thanks go out to Suffi Bilal Khalid at the National College of Artsin Lahore, Fatah Daudpoto at the Center for Design Excellence in Jamshoro, Sindh and Saeed Mangi of the Institute of Sindhologyin Jamshoro, Sindh for making it possible for me to connect to the right musicians and record their music.In the end it came down to a 3 hr recording session at the Sindhology Museum with audio engineer Zulfiqar Ali Gopang , 2 DV cameras, 3 mics plugged into them, 5 excellent musicians and a constant loss of electricity.

All the work of reaching and finding Sindhi folk musicians boiled down to one three hour recording session at Sindhology.

I described the emotions of each scene.

Ustad Anb Jogi, in the red and black plaid shirt chose raags and suggested parts for each instrument.

Jairam Jogi was the key here. His fine musicianship on the Murli created the core of the sound.

He is an extremely humble and incredible musician. Honestly, I am in awe that I had the privilege to work with these great artists.

In my own way, I hope that I was able to extend the respect I felt for these gentlemen in the short time we shared.

Here, Ustad Anb Jogi’s dholak creates the heart beat of the score.

Ustad Mohammad Bukhsh’s Pakistani Banjo was an incredible instrument to behold and no less to be heard.

Zulfiqar Ali Gopang had just met me, but his professionalism in recording the music and caring doing it so well speak volumes of him.

The recordings were creatively done on two DV cameras with left and right channel mics in each, giving me 4 track recording.

I gave cues by words and gestures as I watched the film on my laptop, and recorded a backup on an ipod.

Jairam Jogi playing his beautiful murli.

These beautiful photos were taken by my friend Saeed Mangi during the 3 hour recording session at the Institute of Sindhology in Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan.Ustad Anb Jogi Composer/Dholak: from Umerkot, is the grandson of the tabla player Ustad Khamuso Jogi, and trained under Ustad Nazir Khan.Jairam Jogi on Murli: is a seventh generation Murli player.Ustad Mohammad Buksh on Banjo: was born in Talhar and learned under his uncle, Ustad Bilawal Bailjum.Nasir Jogi on 2nd Murli: is from Umerkot.Ibrahim Jogi on TaliZulfiqar Ali Gopang Recording Engineer on MusicI knew from the start that for Gul (flower), I wanted a warm acoustic sound with a raw feel to it. Much like the visuals, that was the energy for this piece. After experimenting with different music on rough cuts of the film, I found the perfect match in Sindhi folk music on a cd by the Iqbal Jogi Ensemble which was called Passion for Pakistan. I knew that I did not want to use a prerecorded piece of music, because I felt that the timing of the piece should not be dictated by the music, as in a music video. I knew it would be far more challenging to hire musicians and create original music, but I felt that it was very important. For all the years that I spent chipping away at the film, it would have been foolish to compromise on the music, which is to vital to a film. A few years later, when I was ready to record music, that Iqbal Jogi cd led me through a journey to find contemporary Sindhi folk musicians, with whom to record original music.Read the Journey to Sindh to learn more about how it all happened.