"Bulleya" (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

sufi rock Sufi rock or Sufi folk rock is a subgenre of rock music that combines rock with classical Islamic Sufi music traditions. It emerged in the early 1990s and became widely popular in the late 1990s in Pakistan and Turkey. The term "Sufi rock" was co ...

band Junoon, released in 1999. It is the first track from the band's fifth album, ''

Parvaaz ''Parvaaz'' (Urdu: پرواز, literal English translation: "flight") is the fifth studio album and sixth overall album by the Pakistani band Junoon. It was released in 1999 and features songs mostly based on the poetry of the great Punjabi Suf ...

'' (1999), recorded at Abbey Road Studios,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and released on

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

. The song is a famous

kafi Kafi ( pa, ਕਾਫ਼ੀ (Gurmukhi), (Shahmukhi), Hindi: काफ़ी, Urdu: کافی, Sindhi:ڪافي) is a classical form of Sufi music mostly in the Siraiki, Punjabi and Sindhi languages and originating from the Punjab, and Sindh r ...

written by the sufi saint

Bulleh Shah Syed Abdullah Shah Qadri ( pa, ; ; 1680–1757), known popularly as Bulleh Shah ( pa, ; ) and Bulleya, was a Punjabi philosopher and Sufi poet during 17th-century Punjab. His ancestors had migrated from Bukhara (modern-day Uzbekistan) ...

. Bulleh Shah is famous for his spiritual and metaphysical poetry, and ''

Bullah Ki Jaana ''Bullah Ki Jaana'' ( pa, بُلّھا کیہ جاݨاں (Shahmukhi), ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹਾ ਕੀ ਜਾਣਾਂ (Gurmukhi)) is one of the most-known Kafi poems written by the Punjabi Sufi saint Bulleh Shah. In the 1990s Junoon, a rock band f ...

'' (the poem on which the song is based) is one of his well-known poems. The song is composed and produced by lead guitarist and founder of the band

Salman Ahmad Salman Ahmad ( ur, , born 12 December 1963) is a Pakistani born-American musician, rock guitarist, physician, activist, occasional actor and professor at the City University of New York. He earned nationwide popularity in 1998 for his uniqu ...

. It is the lead

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on the album, the song uses blending of rock guitars and bluesy vocals with eastern elements like the use of

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

s, raga-inspired melodies and traditional

Pakistani folk music Pakistani folk music refers to the local genre of folk music that originates from Pakistan. Major folk singers *Malika Pukhraj (1912 - 2004) (sang in Kashmiri Dogari Pahari language) *Tufail Niazi (1916 - 1990) (sang in Punjabi language) *Alam Lo ...

. It is considered one of the best sufi rock songs ever recorded by Junoon, and is often performed at concerts. The song is one of the most well known and popular track by Junoon, also listeners and critics have continued to praise "Bulleya" as one of the greatest rock songs of all time in

Pakistani music industry The Music of Pakistan ( ur, , lit=pákistáni mosíqi) includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple ...

. In addition, a new version, named "Bulleya/Lonely Heart", with addition of English lyrics to the song featured in the soundtrack album ''

Rock & Roll Jihad ''Rock & Roll Jihad'' is the first soundtrack album and the eighteenth overall album of the Pakistani band, Junoon. The soundtrack is based on Salman Ahmad and Junoon's musical journey. The album features five new studio recordings along with ...

'', released in 2010. The song has also featured in several other albums by the band like ''

Junoon for Peace ''Junoon for Peace'' is the first live album and the eleventh overall album by the Pakistani band, Junoon. The album was recorded live on October 27, 2001. The concert was a tribute to the victims of the World Trade Center attack and a call fo ...

'' (2001), ''

United for Peace ''United For Peace'' is the second video album and the tenth overall album by the Pakistani band, Junoon. The album contains four music videos from Junoon's previous albums, which include ''Azadi'', theme from '' Jinnah the Movie'', ''Bulleya'' ...

'' (2001) and '' Dewaar: The Best of Junoon'' (2004).

Conception

Background

'' is a

Kafi Kafi ( pa, ਕਾਫ਼ੀ (Gurmukhi), (Shahmukhi), Hindi: काफ़ी, Urdu: کافی, Sindhi:ڪافي) is a classical form of Sufi music mostly in the Siraiki, Punjabi and Sindhi languages and originating from the Punjab, and Sindh r ...

written by the sufi saint

, famous for his spiritual and metaphysical poetry, ''Bullah Ki Jaana'' is one of his well-known poems. While reciting Kafis, Bulleh Shah would go on dancing continuously, till he attained the stage of ''haal'' (divine ecstasy). In his poem, Bullah Shah is expressing the relationship between Man and God. Also, Bulleh Shah contemplates the origins of mankind using himself as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

. He expresses doubts about previously held views of the emergence of humans on Earth. He reasons, by referring to himself, that one can never understand the laws of nature and one's place in the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...

Track listing

Bulleya

Cover versions

*Pakistani rock band

Call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Pak ...

performed a live session cover of Junoon's hit song "Bulleya" on

Indus Music Indus Media Group (also abbreviated as, IMG) is a Pakistani company broadcasting a mix of free-to-air news and entertainment channels via satellite. IMG owns and operates the Indus brand of television channels in various global markets. It o ...

. *In 2005,

Rabbi Shergill Rabbi Shergill (born Gurpreet Singh Shergill on 16 April 1973) is an Indian musician well known for his debut album ''Rabbi'' and the chart-topper song of 2005, '' Bullah Ki Jaana '' ("I know not who I am!"). His music has been described vario ...

's covered a rock/fusion version of the song, which became a chart-topper in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. *In 2009, Riaz Ali Khan performed a rendition of the song at the Coke Studio Season Two.

Personnel

;Junoon *

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

Ali Azmat Ali Azmat Butt (born 20 April 1970) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the lead singer for the influential Sufi Rock band Junoon and for his subsequent solo career. In 2001, he became part of the firs ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Brian O'Connell -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

;Additional musicians *Ustad Aashiq Ali Mir - dholak, tabla

References

External links

Junoon Official Website

{{authority control 1999 singles Junoon (band) songs 1999 songs EMI Records singles Punjabi-language songs Pakistani rock songs