22/12/2022
Voice of Subaltern (Post-Colonial Approach).
Ustad Jan Ali, Ustad Means Master, he is famously known in the region, has been equally pop among different age groups, because of different skills like Singing, composing and oral poetry.
The condition of subalternity is a product of social, class, political and economic configuration, which allows a certain class to maintain its hegemony over society and groups who are denied access to power. Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci in his magnum-opus ‘Notes from Prison Book’ adopted the word subaltern to refer to those groups in society who are subject to the hegemony of the ruling classes. Subaltern classes may include peasants, workers and other groups that were denied access to hegemonic power. Therefore, their existential situation is intertwined with the power relations of a particular society.
A term that commonly refers to persons who are socially, politically and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure.
The subaltern status of Gilgit-Baltistan in the political and economic setup of Pakistan and dialectics of power between culture, state and religion is revealed in the popular songs/poetry of Jan Ali. He unravels the complexities of social, religious, political turmoil and psychological anguish and ‘translate them into theoretical language and the elements of historical life’ to search out signs of subaltern initiative and incipient class identity that could be nurtured and educated into true class consciousness and effective political action. It is this approach which is declared as the task of the intellectual by renowned Italian Marxist Antonio Gramci. Commenting on the political powerlessness of his people in the following words:
نؤ عدالت گا کھیرؤو وائین
نؤ کاغز گا کھیرؤو وائین
نؤ قانون گا کھیرؤو وائین
نؤ پین گا کھیرؤو وائین
سوٹ انصاف جے پعیرؤو وایا
-جان علی
This court also comes from outside
This paper also comes from outside
This law also came from outside
This pen also comes from outside
So where else will justice come from?
- Jan Ali
Jan-Ali refuse and reject the existing Post-Colonial structure, where the justice system is not prevail.
He says that this justice system, the paper work, law/judiciary including pen is also from outside in Gilgit Baltistan, than how you people expect equality and justice from this imported Judiciary.
In his poetry Jan Ali employs Shina genres as a medium to resist radical forces and corrupt elements in society by employing the symbols and metaphors from collective memory. On the other hand, he explicates existential throes of the society of Gilgit, which is caught between tradition and modernity. By doing so, Jan Ali gets the credit of keeping semiotic universe of Shina language secular, which is engulfed in the battle launched by puritan forces against pluralistic culture of Gilgit. This contribution makes him immortal in annals of Shina literature and language.
https://pamirtimes.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/jan-ali-a-subaltern-voice/
