30 learnings for artists from a Poet; Mohammad Muneem Nazir (Alif)
SamaChar from a poet and songwriter (Mohammad Muneem Nazir (Alif) on creativity, risk, identity, and the artist's journey - conversation on The Gyaan Project.
If Ghalib had gone to a therapist in BKC - Will he be healed? The therapist would have fixed the man and killed the poet.
This week’s SamaChar is slightly different. Instead of sharing 4 Q&A from past episodes, I am sharing my 30 learnings from a Poet - Mohammad Muneem Nazir (Alif). We spoke about poetry, pain, philosophy and art in episode 265 (Feb 2023). The episode ends with a beautiful recital from him. Do tune and listen to the amazing conversation.
Mohammad Muneem Nazir (Alif) is a singer, songwriter and poet who sings and writes in the Kashmiri, Urdu and Hindi languages.
Micro Gyaan (from a poet to all artists).
A poet is anyone who can transport you from one state to another. If a thing has that capacity, it is poetry for you.
Ghalib could have gone to a therapist in BKC. What you do with your pain is your choice.
If you decode the magic, it is not magic anymore.
Do not try to control what your art does to other people. If you try to control that, you will have a lot of anxiety.
As a creator, the choice is only yours. You can create to be liked by the audience, to express a piece of yourself, or a bit of both. It is your choice and there is nothing wrong with any of it.
It does not give you any high if you cannot take risks.
Fans get hooked on a certain version of you. When you change your style, you face rejection. That is the cost of growth.
You are not born an artist. You get comfortable in the skin of an artist because you choose it.
A prerequisite for any artist is the comfort in wanting to express yourself.
Experience is the biggest thing to acquire. Experience of making mistakes, experience of doing things, experience of riyaz.
Creativity is a feeling, but there are tangible ways and rules to express it. If you know the rules, you can break them.
If you do not know the rules, you are lost. You have to know how to sing in key to be able to sing anything.
Even poetry has mathematical balance. If it does not have that balance, it cannot be called a ghazal.
Sometimes the masters will not tell you how to crack it. That hustle to figure it out yourself is part of the learning.
Music and words are something people can take back home.
Presenting your work is like serving a meal. When do you put the dessert cup, when do you put the tea cup. That sense comes from the experience of making mistakes.
Sometimes your work makes people uncomfortable. Sometimes people may leave. That is part of sharing what you believe.
Ishq-e-Majazi (worldly love) is often the doorway to Ishq-e-Hakiki (love for the divine). Your earthly passions and desires are the path.
How you react to things is the most beautiful thing. That comes with training.
Be okay with not being okay.
If you decide today you are an artist, you are an artist. The journey from one person to 15 lakh people liking your work is a matter of time.
You do not know who you are, you decide who you are. You do not have to take permission to be yourself.
The greats - Muhammad Ali, Steve Jobs, or Virat Kohli - They were already that thing in their minds before they became it in reality. Identity precedes achievement.
We often do not do things because we are scared to fail. Imagine what magic would happen if you and the universe decide to take this decision together.
Allow yourself to be nothing and to be everything.
Everybody has a different process to find their muse. Some run, some need dim lights. As you grow, you figure out what your muse is.
What you think in a language, it is very easy to express in that language. The ring of a language cannot be explained in another language.
What you cannot express in words, you show visually. What you cannot express visually, you say in words. Where one stops, the other takes it forward.
You aspire to be inspired daily. The day you do not feel like doing your work, force yourself to do five minutes more. That is when you understand your strength and passion.
If you cannot explain it simply, you have not understood it enough.
Mohammad Muneem Nazir (Alif) ends by saying, I’m learning from wrongs. What I have to say may not work for you. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
Do tune into the full conversation:
What do you think of today’s SamaChar? Please let me know in the comments if these takeaway are helpful and please share in your network.
