Shamshu Jamal - In Memoriam (1936 - 2019) | The Ismaili Canada

My community

Shamshu Jamal - In Memoriam (1936 - 2019)

Published March 19, 2021
Main image

Shamshudin Noordin Jamal was the unofficial music laureate of Canadian Ismailis from the South Asian tradition.  His music was referred to as “magical”, and he was called a “wizard on the harmonium”.  His singing evoked feelings of longing and yearning, and he penned easily understandable yet expressive lyrics.  Above all he was known to be kind, humble, humorous, and generous – having shared his talents with so many in the hope of inspiring and enabling other musicians to carry on in the tradition of performing and producing devotional geets, ghazals, and bhajans.

Shamshu was born into a musical home in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  When he was young his father Noordin Jamal taught him the rudiments of Indian ragas and how to play accompanying instruments, which drove Shamshu to seek out more.  With no formal training being available at the time, the majority of his skill was self-taught through research and practice, and by the time he was in his teens he was widely regarded in the community for his talents.  Along with artists like Aziz and Shamshu Tejpar, and Mehdi Bawa, Shamshu composed renditions for over a hundred ginans while in Dar es Salaam, enriching the treasury of the musical heritage of the Indian subcontinent’s Ismailis.

In 1973, as part of the larger emigration of Ismailis from East Africa, Shamshu and his family settled in Vancouver.  He began to perform with other newly relocated members of the South Asian community, not just Ismailis.  For such a displaced community settling in a new land his sounds were a welcome reminder of home and warmed hearts.  Here he also began to teach music.  He taught his students to play raags on the harmonium, vocal culturing, as well as rhythm. Some of his students were his own children, including his son Riyaz who accompanied his father on tabla, and his daughter Rosemin who sang with him for his albums commemorating the Silver and Golden Jubilees of Mawlana Hazar Imam.  They, in turn, have passed on the gift of music to their children.

The initial settlement of Ismailis in Canada in the 1970’s came with many challenges, not the least of which was a stark separation from the homes and lives they had established in East Africa over generations.  Back home, Mawlana Hazar Imam offered constant guidance, accompanied often by his physical presence – but now half way around the globe, uprooted to a foreign land, the future seemed uncertain.  By 1978 the imminent arrival of the Imam for his first visit with the newly settled Jamat in Canada brought feelings of hope and fervent anticipation, as the community eagerly sought the Imam’s guidance for how to build their future in this new land.  It was this milieu that inspired Shamshu’s most famous composition, “Maara Mawla Canada Padhaarshe”.  Literally translating to “My lord is coming to Canada”, the deeper meaning which Shamshu captured in this geet expressed what words often could not – the yearning of the Jamat to be reunited with their Imam and their aspirations for what was to come.  Mawlana Hazar Imam also personally expressed his appreciation of the recording in a letter to Shamshu Jamal.  Since that time the word “Canada” in the geet has been replaced by Jamats around the world with their particular locale and sung in anticipation of the Imam’s arrival there – a testament to Shamshu’s lyrical ability to pen phrases that transcend their original time. 

In the year 2000 the Government of Canada’s Council for the Arts recognized Shamshu’s accomplishments and contribution to Indian music in Canada, and awarded him a prestigious grant to pursue advanced music studies in India.

Shamshu’s live performances were widely sought after.  He shared the stage with artists such as Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj, Pandma Shri Swapan Chaudhuri, Padma Shri Zakir Hussain, and Shweta Jhaveri to name a few. He continued to perform live in concert into his eighties, ever developing his distinctive vocal performance style through which he engaged his audience.  He was also renowned for performing folksongs like “Aavta Jata Jara” and the bhajan “Tame Aavi Te Duniya”.

Since his early years in Canada, Shamshu was always keen on passing the gift of music to younger artists.  One notable performance was in 1982 where he performed alongside his students who were all under the age of 25, including his son Riyaz on tabla, his daughter Rosemin, and Tajudaullah Bhaloo (the daughter of renowned Ismaili singer Khursheed Nurali). A second such performance was in 2015 at the Roundhouse in Vancouver, where many of the artists were under 30 years old.  These performance opportunities acted as springboards for the burgeoning artists, jumpstarting many of them to record their own singles. 

Shamshu Jamal’s ultimate legacy is the foundation he laid for musicians and singers in the Jamat and the diaspora – so much of what has been accomplished would not be without his contributions to music.  A born talent, caught in the turmoil of continental migration and settlement in a faraway land, his voice helped ease the tension of that time and reminded those who were unsettled, then and now, of the value, healing power, and joy that can come from keeping alive our traditional song.

 

Special thanks to Aly Sunderji and Professor Karim H. Karim for being individual sources for parts of the content for this article, and to the family of the late Shamshu Jamal for providing some additional input.

Shamshu Jamal - Hame Koi Gham

Burnaby, BC | November 2014

The Ismaili

Contact Us

His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Canada

49 Wynford Drive Toronto, Ontario M3C 1K1 CANADA

Tel: +1-416-646-6965

Stay Connected

Subscribe to the Al-Akhbar newsletter today. Join over 40,000 people who receive weekly local, national and international news.

Sign-Up

Download the iiCanada App

Download on the App Store Download on the Google Play