I did none of the above. Instead my journalistic skills deserted me and all I could mumble was “You gotta be kidding me!’ But Sitar maestro Shujaat Khan was dead serious, and that is how, I, an amateur, recent upgrade from bathroom to living room singer after discovering the karaoke, ended up on a beautiful album Raastey.
The album has been a true labor of love stemming from a passion for good music and good poetry for the co-producers Kamal Hyder and Zafar Hamdani, both business entrepreneurs, one from India the other from Pakistan. Zafar Hamdani, says that on a recent trip to India he picked up a book which encompassed 500 years of the best Urdu poetry ever written. The two then read through the book and chose 12 poems that they both were deeply touched by. Kamal has been friends with Sitar maestro Shujaat Khan for many years and is also an accomplished sitar player himself.

“We thought, India and Pakistan were one nation to begin with and today slowly the doors are opening again towards better relations. The roads we are traveling are hopefully going to converge. We wanted to honor this new warmth that the two countries are beginning to share with each other,” according to Kamal Hyder. The idea of having Pakistani lyrics set to music by an Indian musician came to both producers as a way of honoring the new connectivity between the nations. “The obvious choice was Shujaat Khan sahib,” says Zafar Hamdani and adds that the key reason was the fact that the maestro is not just an amazing sitar player but has a beautiful velvety singing voice.

Kamal says the poems were then short listed to 6 by Shujaat Khan on their request. “ He is the one creating the music and we wanted him to choose what inspired him.” The maestro made his choice and the theme of the six ghazals reinforced the message the producers were trying to convey-about a journey that has its twists and turns but after the trials of finding the right path are over, both the journey and the road become so much smoother. “ We even shot the cover depicting a girl walking on a road with her back towards us as she looks ahead and not back, moving forward. Khan sahib is such a talented man, the first ghazal was set spontaneously to music in my living room, as he hummed and played on words,” says Kamal Hyder. 
Ghazals are usually romantic renditions dedicated to the beloved. The lyrics can be melancholy, full of joy and romance, a dedication, a longing but each ghazal always carries a message. This is an interesting cd for several reasons. Shujaat Khan is known for not just his music, but his impeccable choice of quality lyrics and this album is another testimony of his excellent taste. The other interesting thing is that while the producers were thinking of big name female artists to sing with the maestro, Shujaat decided on local talent to sing the duets with him. “That has given the album a fresh spontaneous sound,” says Kamal.

I was one of the two fortunate women who sang with Shujaat Khan, the other being Nitu Kohli, an engineer from the Bay area who has won several singing competitions and has a voice resembling Chitra Singh’s. 
For me, it was an interesting exercise and I cannot begin to thank Kamal who is based in California and Sandeep Savla who is so well known in Atlanta for not just his musical genius but his generosity of heart, for helping me out.

The song recording was just as I mentioned in the beginning. I went to visit Shujaat Khan at Kamal’s house and was taken to this state of the art recording studio which belongs to Kamal and placed in front of the mike and asked to repeat the lines after the maestro himself. I was hearing both the lyrics and the music for the first time. Both Kamal and Sandeep were an epitome of patience, as they walked me through the paces, when I was singing and not grumbling and fighting with Shujaat for making me do this. Sandeep was very sick that evening when we wrapped up the final recording in his state of the art studio. He was coughing and feverish all throughout but would not let me off the hook until he felt he liked what he heard.

This album is a global effort. Co-produced by an Indian and a Pakistani, set to music by and sung by Indians, created and crafted in The Bay area, Atlanta, Canada and India. The producers have been kind enough to agree that parts of the proceeds of the album sold by Kavita media, my company will be given to a charity of my choice, which in this case is the one run by Saraswati Jain who was featured here recently.
Since its release in the later part of November, the album has become a huge attraction for both South Asians and other ethnic communities. Every one is mesmerized by the sweetness of the sound of Shujaat Khan’s sitar. A top notch Korean community leader says she doesn’t know what attracts her to this album but her day begins with it. A bunch of Gujaratis who bought the cd tell Kamal the same thing-they begin the day with this album.

And my song? I was very nervous when I sang it, but now when I hear it, it resonates with beauty-resplendent with Shujaat’s genius as a musician, the beautiful lyrics that I had the honor of singing with him. The entire album has become a gift of love, laughter and hope that this journey undertaken by the maestro’s music as I walked a little of the path with him, transcends the barriers India and Pakistan have put between themselves.

To listen to the sampler and to purchase “ Raastey’ go to Kavitachhibber.com