Magic!
Under - Art, Literature, Media, Music, My Musings, Poetry, TypographyBack in December 1999, I wrote to CC Carpenter II that how fascinated I was with his poetry and requested for his permission to use some of it in one of my projects. I got his reply and permission after three attempts. It has been over 9 years since I had last contact with him – his website, his work is no longer online. I could only dig out 2 emails from that time in my inbox without any contact details, the email address not working anymore – I couldn’t trace him anywhere actually!
To be honest, I don’t remember much about him now – in fact I never knew much about him at the very first place, but his words are still scattered all over in many of my finished / unfinished projects. Back in 1999 I was searching for many answers for one question and somehow found CC Carpenter’s poetry online. It simply clicked. I had done ‘Nut, Bolt & Sparky’ earlier that year and was looking for another substance. His work opened up several windows in my mind. I found a rhythm in his poetry and started to look for a sound that can match it.
It took me over three years to find something that can go with his words. Pakistan produced many great folk singers – remember Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan? He is just one of the legends that the world knows, but, there was another one, Pathaney Khan, who passed away quietly three years after him. Pathaney Khan’s voice added life to CC Carpenter’s poem ‘Magic’ with a melodious tune of Reshman (another folk legend) in the background.
I assembled the whole piece in May 2003 but, I’m only been able to write about it now – after six years to be exact!
I took for granted all the things
You said to me.
And now I see that you’ve taken
It all away from me.
…
Poetry:
Magic by C. C. Carpenter II
Featuring Voices:
Pathan-e-Khan (Mai wi jana jhok ranjhan)
Reshman (Aksar shab-e-tanhai mein)
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