Interview of Saif Samejo by Zain Shah

Zain Hyder Shah. Roll Number: 2K14 MC 104.                                                                              

Saif Samejo is the founder and lead vocalist of one of the most popular Pakistani band Sufi/Folk/Rock band The Sketches. He was born on 23 January 1984.  He is considered as the one of the most popular voices that gave a new birth to the departed old identity of Sindh and its Sufi poets as well as brought a soul in a long declining life of Sindhi media. He is the founder and producer of "Lahooti Live Sessions" a weekly activity where different musicians from Sindh gather at Samejo's place to play live music and later release them on social media.

Q: Who is Saif Samejo? The world knows him as Sufi Singer but what he’s beside this little information?                                                                      
A: Saif I believe is a seeker of truth even though a seeker but not seeking. It is similar I wake up, I sleep I get time to do music. If there is no time I am busy at my work. Sometime sitting alone and doing nothing. So the reality is same as public see us in concerts and social gatherings is a genuine side too.                                                                                                                                                                                  
Q: What is Sufism, can you describe it in common words?                                                                                                       A: Sufi thought and ideology teaches about humanity. It talks about the rights of humans and it make us realize that except human there are birds, Insects, animals and tress though they do not communicate with us but when you become exactly the human it makes you to feel pain either it is of human, trees and animals. Sufi inspires me because there is no religious extremism for Sufi. It inspires me because there is no caste and color difference and Sufi is out of all this nonsense. Sufi tells a person that you are just being what you are, since you feel more, you realize more and you understand more. Technically you are more responsible for the things surround you. Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai makes you realize that you are not only one other things are around too, they all have equal rights.                                                                                                    
Q: What has influenced you to sing Sufi poetry in the time when young artists are so far from Sufi poetry?                                                                                                                                                                            A: I had a very interesting experience in Pano Aqil in my childhood, I spent my childhood there. When we come back from school usually my mother used to go to relatives. I remember I used to stay at temple which was just wall to wall from my home. My home was situated in between the homes of Hindus and the temples were around too. I grew up in a Muslim family but they are not extremist but concernedly very much Sindhi. I grew up seeing the temple activities. When my mother had left we stay at temple. I saw the temple bell ringing. I saw how people comes and pray, how innocent they are, how lovely they are. I wake up early in the morning and go to the mosque for reciting the Quran. So, I saw how innocent we are. Prayers were so similar not so different, celebrations were so similar not so different and even human are exactly similar just like Hindu and Muslim are dividing them. I was in harmony with these temples. I started feeling my relationship with the temple and I felt my relationship with the mosque too. It gives me a thought that temple is so precious for me because humans lives there. The human built it with the same cement which had been used in mosque same soil but society is making differences. I grew up listening to English music, Urdu music and Sindhi music .I grew up with this life style and later on I came to University the band was formed the idea of the band was Rock and Roll. We were playing Rock music, Pop and Ballots, But the Sufi poetry was so in to me since I was growing up by started reading to Sachal Sarmast, Bullah Shah then I started reading Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and I was in love with the character of Momal, I was so much spiritually in love with that lady. I wish she could be here. These innocent feelings were doing something with me that I was falling in love with all this. When division had been started Madarsas were built which started spreading hatred. I thought at that time I should sing to the people who were against discrimination, who taught the true meaning of being human. I started singing Shaikh Ayaz and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai they wrote only about humanity. I wanted people to know this beautiful side which is not written in their syllabus. My thought was let them listen some good which comes from my heart rather listening something which is manipulated. I think I should be real and real people will love me. I want to live with this innocence and with the beautiful time I had. I just want to have this fragrance in my soul.                                                                                                        
Q. Any difficulty you and your band faced in the beginning since it was delivering Sindhi poetry. It was not so popular in audience had so much problems in getting the main idea?                        
Ans: I wanted to be a Rockstar since it was my 20’s. When we started music we faced a lot of difficulties. Channels were not playing our songs because it was in Sindhi. I was so stubborn I wanted to air my music in Sindhi and later it happened but at that time Sindhi media were not playing it because of low quality and neither Urdu media was. We got on facebook. Since I understand more the idea of either a person grow up day by day or become evil. I was so stubborn which I feel now was my negative point but at that time I thought I was right. I was greedy to become someone. I wanted to pressurize everybody to listen to our music. Now I realize it was all fine I did not need them, I only have to work and leave on people. I feel now let it go naturally like the poetry we sing let every individual feel it naturally rather I say to the people. I let it go naturally from couple of years before this we all were young and rebellious but right now I feel it was not revolution thing I was doing, it was the thing every common person does with something somewhere and I do it with music. I wanted to deliver the message of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sheikh Ayaz and writers like them who wrote in Sindhi at that time I was thinking like Sindhi but later on I started thinking like human. If you remember the Bhoro Bheel issue at that time I changed my name on facebook I wrote Bheel in the last of my name and later on I saw persons who thought Bhels are so low class has changed their name which was so good and then we together a lot of people at Bhoro Bhel’s village so it was all musical activism and then we composed a song called Darawar. It was on Bhoro Bheel and against this Shia and Sunni thought. Which was against this Mullah thought which were creating so much troubles. I consider myself if I do that and somewhere and I am then link with society than my activism is music. I sometimes think beyond than this and yes to make myself a better human music and poetry help me a lot.  
                                                                                                                             
Q: Sufism mostly has been sung in the classical genre but the Sketches sung it in the rock genre mostly. Is this is a trick to attract audience?                                                                                              Ans: Music is only music. We sing Hafiz Nizamani’s poetry “ko aa Rehman ja paase ko, ko aa Bhagwan ja passe” that is rock music but poetry is on Sufi thoughts. Similarly, we sing Shah Abdul Latif Bhiati’s waai which is mostly acoustic, soft, kind and folk. Sufi is a thought and idea it is not a genre. I am doing music as it is to me, I won’t do anything which is not natural to me I have done what I love and what I really like which is so close to my heart so whoever fan will read your this interview they should know whatever they have heard and listen is genuinely from my side. It is not fabricated not a personal agenda. I will do what I love and that is what I learned from Sufi.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Q: Saif Samejo has grown in middle class family. Can you share the struggle behind this success?                                                                        
A: My family was well, my father was a good listener of music but he never wanted to see me as Musician. He wanted me to be a Police Officer because a lot of my maternal family was in to Police. My father wanted me to be powerful so I can protect my family. Everybody wants to be powerful kind of Social numbs. I did preparations for CSS but all at once I throw the books. I did not like the idea of some five or Six thousand people participating for CSS and they all are reading the same books. They are answering same questions which is no more different from each other. They are just what syllabus are telling them. If they tell something ideologically which is their personal opinion they will be failed I mean what kind of exam. It is not even letting you to be yourself. I don’t think a Police uniform or an Army uniform makes you a gentleman. I did not want to write anything fake and fabricated in to the question paper. My mother then gave me some forty to fifty thousand rupees. I went to the studio and made a video, couldn’t make a video because the video director took my money and ran away I was finding him and when I found him I beat him with anything. I beat him not only because of money since that money came from my mother it was so much precious to me a mother who taught me Sindhi. My mother who gave me lori in Sindhi who introduced ALLAH to me in Sindhi. Later on I came to know few of my friends were involve in this whole case I quit my friendship with them. Struggle was emotional but I believe the development of real Saif was a big struggle because when I introduced music my personal development was very much necessary and initially with very low quality audios with very low quality videos. Which I now hide from them they are terrible. But let people see that is how I was. I started it to satisfy my soul to continue as activism. This Lahooti session which we are doing is to bring real musician and when I listen to them I feel like I am nursing. In my life I feel like Rockstar is nothing, you only have to be real so I realized I am yet not doing anything it is like you know when time and space helps you and sometimes nature conspires.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
Q: How come a student of literature turned to be a Sufi singer?                                                              Ans: Syllabus is nothing, it only gives you information. It cannot teach you. This literature was of course the kind of subject which I wanted to do as I wanted to do CSS and then it cannot help me somewhere it is something else, but yes since you are in literature and read novels, books, poetry, prose and everything that connects you with arts so literature have some role in arts. My literature side has nothing to do with music because I was into it before joining to University.                                                                                                                                                                  
Q: If one day you wake up and came to know that GOD has gifted you to fulfill your one dream, what it would be?                                                                                                                                      Ans: Right now what comes in my mind is I will talk and do something for the rights of animals.  Secondly with all this innocent thing these days we all believe people in minority though they are not. Christians and Hindus are not in minority they all are equal human like I am but since this State and Government has divided people in so many things I really want that these things should be eliminated in human history, this is a country of Hindu and Muslim is in minority or this is a country of Muslim and Hindu is in a minority. I want to make an equal image of everyone.                                                                                                                                                                                      
Q: The Sketches  reached touched the success, what was the reason of sudden break up?                                                                                                                                                                                              A: People comes and go I believe. May be tomorrow I will not be here but these people who are in this band has always wanted that it should be continued as it is and it is quite natural that now probably the popular image in the band is Saif Samejo tomorrow somebody else will be. It had been immense possibility.  Secondly, there is no break up I believe it is just a different journey. Somebody who is in the band, now if he is not easy with the band as an individual he have rights of agreeing me disagreeing me liking me or hating me so everybody has rights to continue their journey. Sometimes brothers leaves home and built a new home. We started in 2002 or 2003 we had two band members before there were three people, I, Ismail and Ameer Hyder we formed the band now both are gone that does not mean band stop, Band continues after sometime Naeem joined but after couple of years he was gone. He was the third person going after then a lot of people joined and they were gone but band is still there. I believe this individual journey is very important. Human to human there should not be break up we should be easy on that but I wish they continue doing music if they really are link to music so they should not break up with the music. Break up with band or break up with me is quite normal.                                                                                                                                                                              
Q: Which is your most favorite Surr of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                A: I love all the Surr of Sassui, her struggle is quite interesting. I like this Marvi too who is patriotic and standing against the King in an argument and won. I like the Rai Daich story too much when he plays Surando. I like the Mokhi character very much who serves vine to the society, thieves and to the many people. But right now I go with Saasui.                                                                                                                                            
Q: Saif have you ever done any social work?                                                                                            Ans: I don’t like this Social work word actually rather than you are doing something for you as apart from NGO though as an individual my answer is yes but since the social work is very political. I have done things which I wanted to do for somebody, tribe or collective people and sometimes I wanted to do but I did not. I have been to Nepal recently and we have been to Thar and spread love there. It made me happy that once I was at traffic signal and gave a doll to a baby girl which is also a blessing and a one simple doll made her happy. Sometimes if a dog is sitting in street feeding him makes your days. Someday you plant a tree and some birds come and make their nest, you are making something amazing. We have some birds here they come and eat my plants even they get in to the air condition from the hole and destroyed everything. I try to create some way so they could not go there because it is not even good for them. I will not kill them or make them away from here I love their presence it makes me feel like you are not alone, the presence of somebody else is very important. We keep growing plants. I believe it is Interesting to live in this phase.                                                                                    
Q: Which culture has enlighten you the most?                                                                                         Ans: I like American culture very much because they are polite and straight forward at the same time. However, they are the barbarians which harmed Nato-Americans but since this new esteem is coming from them in the modern world I am liking them. I am not talking about what American State is doing, I am talking about the common people. I also love Nepali people, I have been in to Nepal and the people there are so much in to each other and they are close to the nature. Nepal has inspired me a lot.                                                                                                                                                                                    
Q. What message you want to convey to the Pakistan?                                                                              Ans: I just want to answer this in two words. Spread love.

This practical work was done under the guidance of Sir Sohail Sangi, 
Department of Media and Communication Studies, University of Sindh.  October 2015