Back Story | The Sufi Poet(ess) of Hazratbal

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"I Knew You Would Come"

At the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar during my just completed Sufi Saints of Rajasthan & Kashmir Photo Expedition-Workshop , we came across a middle-aged woman devotee, clutching a well-thumbed Qur'an, praying and meditating in solitude. Her prayers became more audible as I approached her, and she seemed oblivious to being photographed. Her face was streaked with tears, as she was totally immersed in her devotion.

The Hazratbal shrine and mosque is on the western side of the Dal Lake, and is an important place of worship for Muslims. This shrine blends Mughal and Kashmiri architectural styles and dates back to the 17th century. It contains a relic, the Moi-e-Muqqadas, believed by many Muslims of Kashmir to be a hair of the Prophet Muhammad. This relic is shown to the general public on very special occasions, such as the recent observance of the Isra and Mi'raj; the ascension of Prophet Mohammed to Heaven.

Through our guide and interpreter, Nizar Malik, we learned she had traveled quite a distance from her village to pray at the shrine, and that she had been foretold of meeting us in a dream.

Unprompted, she launched into a plaintive and devotional song in Kashmiri...which, to my ears, sounds very similar to Turkish, sprinkled with some Portugese. In reality, Kashmiri has thousands of words Persian and Arabic due to the arrival of Islam in the region, however, it remains basically an Indo-Aryan language.

For more of my monochrome photographs from Srinagar, see Kashmir's Sufi Soul.

I was told her song is a devotional poem to the Prophet Muhammad, and how his light shone over El-Tor in Sinai, where Moses received the tablets from God.

Aziz Ahmed, The Srinagar Unani Hakim

"Arak Kelab". Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"Aziz Ahmed, The Unani". Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"Dame-Jeanne Bottles". Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"Aziz Ahmed, The Unani". Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Across from the Sheikh Hamdan mosque in Srinagar, I noticed a small traditional store (top photo) with a sign in Urdu script which, in Arabic, read "Dogs' Sweat"! However, on further clarification, it was a store owned by a vendor of rose essence, and the sign actually meant "Sap of Roses"....quite a bit of difference.

I entered the dingy small store, and introduced myself to the owner Aziz Ahmed, a Kashmiri unani who's been practicing this dying profession since inheriting the business from his father, and his grandfather before him. The store had been standing for many generations, and still has a wonderful array of antique bottles and jars; some of glass, others in ceramic, imported from England during the Raj. Some larger ones called dame-jeanne (or demi-john in English) have capacities of up to 15 gallons. I know that because my maternal grandmother used to buy similar bottles in Cairo, and convert them into beautiful floor lamps for her home.

But what is unani? It's a form of traditional medicine practiced by Muslims, and first arrived in India around 12th or 13th century with the establishment of Delhi Sultanate and Islamic rule over North India, and subsequently flourished under the Mughal Empire.  Unani is the Arabic word for Greek, and it's based on the teachings of Hippocrates, hence the term.

However, Aziz hasn't really practiced it for a while, and it's a profession that is slowly but surely disappearing. He survives by selling rose water used to wash the Sufi shrines, and kewra water used for flavoring various foods, sweets syrups and soft drinks. Extracts of these two florals are also used for perfume...so the unani may have turned into a attar (a perfume seller).

Listen to Aziz Ahmed telling me (in accented English) about the demise of his business:

Ustad Meraj, The Qawwali Master

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

In the late 13th century in India, Amir Khusro of the Chisti order of Sufis was instrumental in merging Persian and Indian musical traditions to create qawwali as we know it today.

Ustad Meraj Ahmed Nizami is the elder descendant of a disciple of Khusro, and belongs to its well-known discipline known as "gharana". His extended family has been performing qawwali for the past eight centuries, and as such Khusro's style has passed unbroken across seven centuries and thirty generations.

Accompanied by my friend Kaushik Ghosh, himself a talented photographer, an aficionado of Sufi traditions and who generously arranged this meeting, I walked the narrow lanes and warrens of Nizzam Uddin neighborhood until we reached Ustad Meraj's second floor apartment.

It was there that the elder icon of qawwali told us of his personal life story, and then favored us by singing a few minutes of this traditional devotional music form of South Asia. A faltering voice, perhaps weakened by age, but nevertheless a virtuoso of the harmonium.

Here's a clip from the whole interview and performance I recorded whilst with Ustad Meraj.

RØDE i16: 360º Surround Recording

I'm fascinated at how the iPhone is (and continues to be) an essential component in most photographers' arsenal of tools with new accessories and apps.

I was recently tempted by RØDE’s iXY microphone for the iPhone, but now the company has produced  the RØDE i16 which consists of sixteen individual gold-sputtered cardioid condenser capsules, allowing the user a high amount of freedom to record in either surround, stereo, mono, or anywhere in between.

The company claims that the software inside the RØDE i16 will allow the cancellation of background noise through phase manipulation of the other channels, working much in the same way as noise-canceling headphones, and may be more effective at recording dialogue than a traditional shotgun microphone.

The i16 is available with both Apple Lightning (iPhone 5, iPad mini) and 30-pin connections. Both are shipping now, with a MSRP of US$399.

For more technical details, take a look at RØDE i16  home page.

Have a good look at the picture above. This looks like the most unwieldy device I've ever seen. So it sounds like an April 1 Fools joke. We'll see.

RODE iXY Microphone For The iPhone

It certainly appears the iPhone is becoming the all-in platform for multimedia photographers with the newly announced RODE iXY microphone by the Australian company. The press release claims that this stereo microphone for the iPhone (and iPad) with  the 30- pin connector allows high quality recording at sampling rates up to 24-bit/96kHz,  and that it's the only microphone on the market to do so.

The iXY is supplied with a foam windshield for outdoor recording as well as a reinforced protective zip case, and is sold for $199 on the RODE Store. The initial launch stock has sold out at the time of writing this post, but the company is expecting further shipments soon.

There are two apps available from Apple's iTunes for the RODE iXY microphone. The free version and the $5.99 pro version. The latter allows audio recording features such as gain, input, boost levels, high/low-pass filter options, equalization effects and much more.

I'm not sure how this device will fare against the stiff competition from the TASCAM PCM iPhone app and much cheaper Tascam iM2 microphone ($30), or against the portable audio recorder TASCAM DR-40 ($135) or the ultra cheap Zoom H1 ($90). Perhaps the fact that users won't have to carry two devices (iPhone and audio recorder) and its high sampling rates will be determining factors.

That said, I view the iXY more as a microphone for DSLR videographers than as a handheld audio recorder.

Note: I have no relationship with TASCAM (nor with RODE for that matter) other than being a consumer.

TASCAM PCM iPhone App

I've just discovered this lovely app by browsing the web, and it's the TASCAM PCM Recorder, which is free and turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a portable stereo recorder.

It has input and output level faders with an “on-screen” meter to check levels, and includes high and low EQ and a limiter to prevent overload. Pretty neat, isn't it? I tested it very briefly at home, and intend to test when Hurricane Sandy is out of the way...perhaps with the musicians in Washington Square Park.

It records in WAV format, and these audio files can be uploaded to Soundcloud as well. It seems it's only for iPhone (iPad and iTouch as well) for the time being. TASCAM also produces the iM2W, a small microphone designed specially for the PCM, which effectively turns the iPhone into a field recorder. It retails for $59, and might provide better audio quality than the built-in iPhone mic.

This is certainly worthwhile to consider, especially for those who are interested in joining my photo expeditions-workshops and/or my class at the annual Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...especially the latter who often are on budgets.

I shall recommend this alternative to buying an entry-level recorder, provided those interested already have iPhones. I expect the quality won't be much different between the two devices.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with TASCAM other than being a consumer.

Tascam DR-40 In Santa's Bag

Having received Santa's approval, I walked into B&H the other day (by the way, it was packed...as in really crowded. The line for the cash payment option at the cashiers almost extended to its front door!) to explore my options for an upgrade in my field recorder.

I currently use the Marantz PMD620 which I've had for a couple of years. It has served me well, but has begun to show its age (or rather its use). The only issue I've had with it is its small screen, and when I need to change settings whilst in the field, I find difficult especially if my hands are slippery with sweat (as in Kolkata, for example).

Oh, all right...I admit it. The PMD620 is really perfectly fine but I wanted a Xmas gift. End of story.

So after deliberations, I sprang for the Tascam DR-40 Field Recorder, which features built-in condenser microphones that are adjustable depending what the sound source is. Ambient would require the microphones to be wide apart, while an interview from one source would benefit from the mics to be adjusted closer together.

The B&H sales guy suggested I also bought the power supply (it only comes with a mini USB cable and a 2gb SD card) but since I'll be using it outdoors, I wasn't interested. It's much cheaper than the Marantz PMD620, but is also larger. As I can't open the box until Xmas, I can't compare them side by side. I held the Tascam at B&H, and it's a handful...which is what I wanted. The Marantz felt a little flimsy. I suspect the sound quality won't differ much, despite the directional microphones...but I'll soon find out. I will still use the Marantz when I need to be discreet whilst recording...pretending that it's a iPod or something.

Incidentally, Tascam is a division of TEAC Corporation which, as most audiophiles know, is a huge name in the audio world. I recall having a TEAC high-end cassette recorder, along with a heavy-duty TEAC amplifier some years ago.

Amy Winehouse: Unique Talent

Here's Amy Winehouse in an acoustic version of Love Is A Losing Game. She sang this sad song with only a solo guitarist, and it demonstrates her impressive range of vocals. She had a incredible future, but it was not to be.  

One of my favorites is her "Me And Mr Jones"....another great song.

(Via One Voice-One Guitar)

New: Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

Since I'm about to start teaching my class Multimedia For Photographers at the incomparable Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, I am glad to have caught the news that Samson (Zoom) has announced the H2n, a portable audio recorder that incorporates five built-in mics, and one 3.5mm external mic input, for a variety of sound capture scenarios, and for the anticipated street of $199.

It will come with a bunch of accessories including an audio editing software, and an optional accessory pack with lots of goodies.

It may well be time to retire my Marantz PMD620 after all! But it will have to do until the H2n is released in September....which may allow me to get it before I travel to Kolkata on my Cult of Durga photo expedition.

New Nikon ME-1 Stereo Microphone

I guess it was just a question of time before the camera manufacturers would come up with microphones that can be used with their digital DSLRs.

Nikon's foray in this field is the Stereo Microphone ME-1, an compact stereo condenser microphone that features a hot shoe mount, a 3.5mm stereo output connector, and a removable windscreen, as well as a "noise dampening components designed to minimize noise resulting from AF operation," according to Nikon's press release.

The ME-1 is meant for use with Nikon digital cameras that incorporate a stereo audio input jack, including the D3S, D300S, D7000, D5100 and P7000. The new microphone does not require a battery; instead, it draws power from the connected camera.

The issue with any camera mounted microphones is that every whirr, click or hum that the camera makes in its normal operation is picked up.

Via Rob Galbraith DPI which reports that its estimated selling price of US$179.95 in the U.S.

New Tascam DR-05 Digital Audio Recorder

Good news for budget-minded multimedia photographers! Tascam has released the DR-05 portable audio recorder for $99.99, and is aiming straight at the comparable Zoom H1. It records WAV or MP3 files at rates up to 24-bit/96kHz to microSD or microSDHC cards, and has integrated microphones and speaker. It's powered by two AA batteries or an optional AC adapter. It sports a threaded 1/4 x 20 mount for convenient tripod mounting.

The Tascam DR-05 can be seen on and ordered from B&H Photo-Video (which offers free shipping on this product).

More details of this new entrant in the budget handheld audio recorders can be found on its manufacturer's website.

While I'm still happy with my Marantz PMD620, I am on the lookout for a replacement that's smaller, lighter and that would take less space.

I should also note that there were some reports that the Zoom H1 had battery longevity issues.