Naina Piya Se (Audio CD)

The Sufi is one who moves towards the Eternal Truth through the sheer bliss of Love and Devotion. This Tariqat, or the Spiritual Path demands not only perfection but also giving up on all worldly distractions as necessitated by True Love. The Sufi thus shuns all but the face of his Beloved, the Almighty.

Naina Piya Se is a fusion album where the leading vocalist Rashid Khan has sung some traditional and Sufi compositions of Amir Khusrau and Baba Hazrat Raaz Barelvi. Symbolizing the merging of the two souls is the blend of the Indian and western sounds in this uniquely contemporary album. The entire poetry is from the female point of view that of the Nayika and each song expresses various emotions of love, pain, surrender, sacrifice, longing, separation and ecstasy of a love. The orchestration done by the arranger Tejendra Narayan Majumdar for this album is surprisingly radical.

Rashid Khan is a master of techniques and characteristic features of the Rampur style and apart from Khayal and Tarana he is also adept at singing thumris of his native Uttar Pradesh. Rashid Khan has a flair for tonal variations and rhythmic dynamics but above all, he has, in abundant measure, that rare quality called taaseer — the indescribable ability to create a genuine impact on listeners. This ability has endeared Rashid Khan to connoisseurs and laymen alike. Till now an outstanding Classical artiste, Rashid, for the first time attempts an unusual album like this one.

Music Arranger: Tejendra Narayan Majumdar
Music Composer and text: Wajahat Hussain Khan
Assistant Arranger: Snehashish Majumdar
Accompanying Musicians
Munna Bhai — triselkto
Deepankar Acharya, tabla
Kundan Saha - dholal/maadal/duff
Babloo Biswas — tabla/dholal/thavil
Suman Das — tabla
Bishwanath Das - dholal/tumbay/congo
Somnath Ray — ghatam / percussion
Subhash Mandal - synthesizer
Uday Kumar Deb - flute
Gopen Dey Sarkar — acoustic drums /octopad
N etai Lal Chakraborty — sequencing / synthesizer
Prashonto Ghosh — bass guitar
Deb Shankar Roy — violin
loy Chakraborty — dholal Prasun Chatterjee - lead guitar.