Music moves hearts. For Nisa Azeezi, perhaps the only woman qawwali singer in Kerala, music is her universe. Nisa has been enthralling audiences across the State with her soulful rendition of lyrics of legendary Sufi saints. Her two albums, an Urdu one – ‘Jazba-e-Dil' (meaning exuberance of the soul in Urdu) and ‘Ethra Madhuramaay Padunnu Nee' in Malayalam have also been well received. In her 10-year journey in music, Nisa has sung on over 200 stages.
Born to sing
Born into a family that breathes music, her path was well drawn out even before she began training in Hindustani music. “My father, M.A. Azeez, used to run an orchestra called Rag Tharang in Malappuram. He envisaged it to be training ground for his nine children. So, after school, we all used to gather in a small room doing our homework and practising music,” says Nisa. Azeez, lovingly addressed as Azeez Bhai by music lovers of Malappuram, was an active presence in the Communist movement in those days, when its drama and cultural activities captured the imagination of the common man.
“I learned a bit of everything then. My father used to take me for programmes while I was a child. Tirur A.E. Vincent, a noted Hindustani musician, used to come to our club to train my father. Listening to them, I too started to sing. At the age of 12, I was formally initiated into the world of Hindustani music,” recalls Nisa.
In those days, for a Muslim girl hailing from Malappuram, pursuing such an interest outside her home was perceived to be beyond the limit. Many family members even advised Azeez Bhai to teach his daughter Urdu or Arabic instead and find her a teaching job.
But his faith in his daughter's talent was strong and that was how Nisa enrolled at Chembai Memorial Government Music College in Palakkad, and stayed at her ancestral home while pursuing a diploma in Ganabhooshanam.
“When I practised Carnatic music at home, there used to be many curious faces outside, listening to me rendering Devi sthutis!” says Nisa, with a laugh. She also got an opportunity to sing at Kalpathy Temple during the period. “I went to sing in my normal attire, complete with a ‘thattam,'” she remembers. Nisa recalls another incident where she sang a Sri Rama keerthana for her friend's grandmother during a visit to a Bommakkolu.
“The grandmother later told me that she could feel the devotion in the keerthana. That is why I feel music has no boundaries of religion, class, or even language,” says Nisa.
Perhaps this is why Nisa chose to specialise in qawwali music, one of the many streams of Hindustani music, and a lighter and more devotional way of singing.
“Qawwali extols a love for God that is pure and heart-warming. Sufi saints of yore made it popular as qawwali was their way to reach Allah, the ultimate. They said there was no need to be afraid of God, They taught to love him with an unconditional spirit,” explains Nisa. Noted Pakistani singers such as Nuzrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen have brought qawwali international fame.
“It is never about religion. Qawwali transcends all barriers and purifies the mind. It is a vehicle for the altruistic philosophy of Sufism. I attempt to blend qawwali and ghazal – an even lighter form of Hindustani classical music,” says Nisa. She also talks about legendary poets such as Jalaludheen Rumi, Mirza Ghalib, and Allama Iqbal who wanted people to look within themselves before reading tomes or worshipping the unknown.
“My husband, Mustafa Deshamangalam, a well-known documentary filmmaker, is my driving force. It was after marriage that I began to train in Hindustani music professionally,” Nisa says, who did a course in it at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai, and was later taught by Ustad Ummer Bhai. She is also a disciple of Sarat Chandra Marathe, a noted Hindustani singer based in Kozhikode. For the past five years, she has been training under Ustad Fayaz Ahmed Khan of the Kirana gharana.
Ustad Rafiq Khan of Mangalore is her teacher in the Gwalior gharana and she travels there to learn from him once or twice every month.
On composing songs
Nisa also sets the tune to some of the songs she renders. “It's now a way of life for me. In MES Higher Secondary School, Tirur, Malappuram, where I teach, I myself compose most of the songs that I teach. I even composed the prayer song at school,” beams Nisa.
So, would she like to try a hand at film music? “Not particularly. If any offer comes my way, I may try,” she says.
“I want to keep on learning Hindustani music. In the process, I want to popularise qawwali and ghazal in the original forms here in Kerala. Along with Urdu verses, I want to render qawwalis in Malayalam, because I feel music helps to rejuvenate oneself,” says Nisa.
