Sardar Ali Takkar English Interviews !! Sardar Ali Takkar New Englis Interviews
Sardar Ali Takkar English Interviews !! Sardar Ali Takkar New Englis Interviews
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00:00Hi, it's Border Crossings and I'm Larry London and today we have as a special guest in our
00:05studio one of my colleagues, a fellow broadcaster here at the Voice of America from Radio Diwa.
00:11We welcome a wonderfully talented radio host and I understand musician as well, Sardar
00:18Ali.
00:19Welcome, Sardar.
00:20Thank you, sir.
00:21Thank you very much.
00:22It's nice to have you in our studios and see you're right down the hall from us and you're
00:26hosting a program which is called what?
00:28What's the name of your show?
00:30I host three programs.
00:31One is about the mysticism and the other is the history, the music history and the third
00:37one is the literature history.
00:38Wow.
00:39All the three programs are on research basis.
00:42They are research programs.
00:44So for example, if I go to my one program, mysticism, it is an international idea.
00:55You see, this is the commonalities are there in this program.
01:01So this is very important for the present day that we should have the religious harmonies
01:06in the world.
01:07Yes.
01:08Yes.
01:09On that basis, this program is very nice.
01:10The mysticism and the other is the history of the music.
01:15So music is also an international subject.
01:17Yes.
01:18Yes.
01:19That is also very interesting.
01:20And the literature.
01:21So we compare our literature with the world literature and the history of our literature
01:25we present to the target region.
01:29So it is really very, all the three subjects are very interesting subjects.
01:32And you're a superstar, I guess, back in Pakistan.
01:36That's originally where you're from.
01:37Yeah.
01:38Yeah.
01:39I'm from Pakistan and from the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan.
01:42I am Pashtun and I have one hundred and twenty five music albums in the market.
01:49Wow.
01:50I have that.
01:52And initially it was really very, very, very difficult for me because I was singing the
01:56poets who were progressive poets.
01:59They were moderate poets.
02:01And this Pakistan and Pakistan and Pakistan media, radio and television.
02:05I was not allowed to sing these, these, these, the poetry of those people.
02:10So I was banned all the time, maximum of the time I was banned on radio and television.
02:14Troublemaker, huh?
02:15Troublemaker.
02:17Can you believe it?
02:18That for recording, I have gone to Afghanistan to record these, these, these poets.
02:23Wow.
02:24And it was, it was, it was a very strange period.
02:28The Russians were in Afghanistan.
02:29You see, at that time, it was very dangerous to travel to Afghanistan.
02:33But there was no way with me to go there and just, just record the poetry of these people
02:38because even their books were not, we couldn't find their books there.
02:42Wow.
02:43It was really a big problem for us, you see.
02:45Now, are you, are you amazed now that you've lived here four years, I guess, four years
02:50ago now that you've lived here, are you amazed at, at the lack of knowledge Americans have
02:56about what goes on in the Middle East and the, you know, the naivety that people have
03:00here because you had to travel, as you say, from Pakistan to Afghanistan and, you know,
03:04to just to record some music and, and it's hard to get it played because of the nature
03:08of your music.
03:09That if you talk to people here in America, we're really not familiar with all of the
03:12struggles that people go through.
03:14Yeah, yeah.
03:15You are very right.
03:16You are very right.
03:17We, we, we, we have a lot of problems in the area, you see, for, look at this, when a singer
03:23cannot sing on his, on his national television, on his radio.
03:28Can you believe it?
03:29I got the presidential award from the president of Pakistan.
03:33And I supposed to speak on the radio, but I was banned on radio at that time even.
03:38It's a joke.
03:39See, and it's strange how it worked out because now you have your own program.
03:43You have several programs and you're on the Voice of America.
03:45So you had to travel 8,000 miles to get a program.
03:50Just to get the program and just to, to, to, to talk to my people.
03:55You're talking to your people.
03:57Sardar Ali is our guest here on Border Crossings.
04:01And I read an interesting story about you in the Tribune, which is a part of the New
04:05York Times.
04:07And they talk about a song that you have created and written, and it's becoming very popular
04:12in Pakistan.
04:13Yeah.
04:14And it's a song that is, well, it's dealing with a political issue, a sensitive issue
04:19that affects all nations, all countries.
04:22It's rights, women's rights, and right of education, and the story centers around, you
04:31know, the young girl, Malala, who is the going to be the youngest recipient of the Nobel
04:35Peace Prize.
04:36Yes.
04:37And so why don't you tell me, you know, why, why did you decide to make a song about her
04:41and about her, her plight?
04:42The problem is, we are, we are in the region that we are suffering these things, these,
04:47the education problems.
04:48They are, they are, our schools are damaged.
04:50They are damaging our schools.
04:52They are not allowing our children to educate.
04:55You see, all these are the problems.
04:57I am artist.
04:58I am very sensitive person.
04:59When I came here, I just established my home studio.
05:02I am doing all this recording from my home studio.
05:05I have recorded 22 songs for children.
05:09There are educational songs in it as well.
05:11And Voice of America is releasing very soon that the children's songs too.
05:14So that is also a big, you see, that will be a big thing for the area that I have collected
05:20or I have done research on that.
05:21And I have recorded 22 songs of the children's songs, the nursery, the rhymes type songs,
05:27you see?
05:28Yeah.
05:29And which we were singing in the streets in Pakistan and in Pakistan.
05:33So that I have recorded here.
05:35So, and along with this, I have recorded educational songs for the children, you see, for the male
05:42children and for the female, for the girls.
05:45So I have recorded that as well.
05:47And especially we are doing a program in the name of Bibi Sherina, in which we encourage
05:54the woman to talk to us, to join the mainstream of life, you see?
05:59So I just recorded this song especially for the woman rights and for the education.
06:06So I recorded this song and we were, on a daily basis, we are playing this song in Diva
06:11Radio program, recording the woman education and the woman should come up in the society
06:19and they should join the mainstream of the society.
06:21So the song is not about Malala, it's more about her message.
06:25This is about, we dedicated the song to Malala.
06:28Yes.
06:29Especially because it is also for the education.
06:31Right.
06:32Malala is also struggling for education, for peace.
06:34We are doing the same thing.
06:36So we are in the same boat, me and Malala, we are in the same boat.
06:39Yes.
06:40And for those that may or may not know, Malala is the young girl who has been, you know,
06:45dealing with the Taliban issues and her family has had to deal with, and then she was unfortunately
06:51the victim of a shooting innocently.
06:53She had published something on a blog and it resulted in a terrible tragedy.
06:56And thankfully, she's now healthy and she's speaking out about this and she's an ambassador
07:02for, you know, for human rights, for, you know, young people's rights.
07:06And that's wonderful.
07:07So I'm going to give you the chance to sing the song right now.
07:10What is it called again?
07:11It is Thibi Bishirini, You are a sweet woman.
07:14I have dedicated this song to Malala Yousafzai.
07:16You are a sweet woman.
07:18This is the title of the song.
07:19I love it.
07:21And I say to the society, look, if you give a chance to her, she will change the world.
07:27So these are the words of the song, different, different, different, but anyhow, these are
07:32the main things.
07:33The main point, the main points, that if I love her, that she should be educated and
07:40she will change the world.
07:41That's right.
07:42She spoke out.
07:43She paid a price for it.
07:44She spoke out.
07:45She's still speaking out.
07:46And she will be honored.
07:47And you'll be there at the Nobel Peace Prize.
07:48Yeah.
07:49I'll be there.
07:51I will be singing there on 10th and on 11th, two days I will sing there and I will pay
07:56my tribute in front of Malala.
07:58In one song, Malala says, I will stand with me.
08:03She will stand with me, along with her family.
08:05And we will sing together a song, an anthem-like song for our country, you see?
08:10Oh, my country.
08:11It's a song like this.
08:12Wow.
08:13That's fantastic.
08:14Has she heard the song, your song from her?
08:17She has.
08:18What does she say about it to you?
08:20She's listening to me all the time, you see?
08:25She told in the interview, in our interview, that I only listen to the music of Sardar
08:30Ali.
08:31Wow.
08:32What a compliment.
08:33Very nice.
08:34Yeah.
08:35And she has telephoned.
08:36She has directly called me, that you should come to the ceremony and just sing in front
08:41of the whole world.
08:43All right.
08:44Well, the world is listening right now.
08:46Sardar Ali, if you would sing us the song, we'd love to hear it.
08:49Sure, why not?