Review: Ali Sethi's Chandni Raat Is An Emotional Treat For Music Lovers

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Ali Sethi’s latest song Chandni Raat is a deep song that takes out the treasure chest of recollections for those people who have to face the distress of longing.

Directed by Sarmad Khoosat and Awais Gohar, Chandni Raat has been composed using only three conventional instruments. These includes the violin, horn and piano which is almost 130 years old. The important thing to note is that musicians have not used any digital instrument.

 

Produced in Los Angeles by Grammy-winning musician Noah Georgeson (‘Narcos’ OST), this Urdu ghazal builds upon a famous ‘sher’ or couplet from the late Saifuddin Saif:

Chandni Raat badi der ke baad aayi hai

Lab be ik baat badi der ke baad aayi hai

(It’s a Moonlit Night after all

I wish to tell you something after all)

Lahore-based lyricist Shakeel Sohail added the remaining lyrics and give it a more deep meaning.

The music video shows a glass house with broken windows that portrays depressing atmosphere. One can see many stranded characters waiting inside it with their luggage. Just before the end of the video, all people come together while sharing the peace, unity and the gloominess changes in to light. Reaching to find each other for comfort, support, kindness, these characters shows solidarity.

If you are a keen watcher, you will definitely relate these characters with diverse segments of Pakistan’s society. All people have their own personal stories that echo the ghazal’s classic themes of Wasl (Union) and Firaaq (Separation).

“I trained in ghazal singing for many years, and one of the things I noticed was how lightly people had begun to take the genre. Young people think a ghazal is a sad love poem! Actually the great ghazals are full of powerful messages — about love, war, God, social justice — that go all the way back to the Sufis.”

"Chandni Raat is actually talking about the emotions through a beautiful music. The music video has already received a great deal of praise from Pakistan as well as India’s audiences, who have interpreted it as a call for togetherness and peace in a time of conflict.

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