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“We thought about having bass and brass and such on the
album,” says Najma, “then decided to keep things as simple as
possible.” A wise move: Rishte takes on an epic quality as Lucas’s
guitar builds huge, shimmering patterns of sound while Najma’s
multi-octave voice rises above and floats in the ether of an almost
psychedelic East-West trance music.
“Gary was a dream to work with,” says Najma. “He’s got so many
ideas and employs so many pedals to create very interesting guitar
textures. There was no pushiness, no bossiness, it was really cool – we
produced it together and kept it simple. Not only because of our lim-
ited budget but the idea was to keep it as simple as possible.”
Najma’s experience as a ghazal singer helped shape Rishte.
“A ghazal is a ballad, a poem, with a fixed rhyme and metre. It’s
the poetry that’s really important. In India the poets write the
poems and the singers take a poem and put a melody to it. All
my albums have been based on ghazals – and on Rishte there
are several ghazals. Take the song Daaya: if you took away the
guitar I could perform that as a traditional ghazal. Parda is simi-
lar with a Sufi aspect. With that song I was coming from the
qawwali aspect.”
n its dynamic, no-fuss approach to building an East-West
I
bridge, Rishte is very successful. Both Lucas and Najma
appear very excited by the album and are hoping to tour to
promote it. “We did a trial gig last May in New York,” says
Najma. “It was great if stressful – three other bands were
also playing on the same bill – but we really kicked ass, the three
of us! I think it will go over very well everywhere. I played it to a
couple of people in Bombay and they believed people in that
city will respond to Rishte. Pakistan has only bad news it seems
these days but I must say that the music scene in Pakistan is crazy
– so open, so wonderful. I think it will be well received here.
Although to be successful in India and Pakistan we will have to
make a video as everything functions from video.”
“I’ve been playing guitar since I was a little boy in the early
1960s,” says Lucas, “and for a long time I kept a day job and just
did music as my passion. I only went full-time professional in 1990
– a lot older than most musicians – and I’ve since realised that
music is my destiny. My role in life is to make music for people and
I really want to take Rishte on the road.”
My final question to Najma: what does Rishte mean? “Rishte
means relationship – a bond between brother/ sister/ wife/ hus-
band etc. – and that was the first song I wrote to the music that
Gary sent me. It’s about a relationship. Actually, most of the songs
on the album are about relationships – not so much about lovers
but to your past history.”
Rishte could then, I suggest, also reflect on the artistic bond
between an American Jewish guitarist and a British Asian Muslim
singer. “Yes,” says Najma, “this is a new relationship and a new
adventure for both of us.”
myspace.com/worldvillagerishte F
Najma photographed for fRoots in 1987
Photo: Dave Peabody
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