Over six years, documentary film maker Shabnam Virmani travelled with folk musicians who have been singing the songs of Kabir for generations. It was a deeply personal journey which she undertook in search of spiritual exploration after the Godhra riots. The experiences which emerged from the quest led her closer to the 15th century mystic poet and took the form of Kabir Project that has now brought to the city “Kabir Festival Mumbai”.
The second season of the three-day festival began on February 17 and features 28 to 30 music artistes from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and several other parts of the country. They bring for Mumbaikars an opportunity to experience a “confluence of mystic poetry, dance, music and film” that celebrates the message of the saint-poet. The festival is being held in auditoriums, schools and colleges across the length and breadth of Mumbai — from Nariman Point to Borivali and Masjid Bunder to Vashi.
The travel initiative also resulted in four documentary films on the folk musicians who sing Kabir’s verses. The films were screened on the first day of the festival which also brings several recordings of folk as well as classical musicians committed to the words of Kabir.
Two noted musicians in the documentary films, Prahlad Tipanya, a Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner who combines singing and explanation of Kabir in the Malwi folk style from Madhya Pradesh, and Mukthiar Ali, from Rajasthan’s semi-nomadic Mirasi community, will perform along with other folk singers such as Mooraala Marwada and Bhanvari Devi. Virmani, too, staged a vocal recital with Namrata Kartik at the YB Chavan Auditorium on Friday evening.
One of the highlights of this season is the story-telling session titled “Akhat Kahani” (untellable story) in which three sisters — an author, a singer and a Bharatanatayam dancer — individually narrate how Kabir has affected their lives. They then together sing the songs of the saint made popular by Hindustani classical singing legend Kumar Gandharva.
Pankti, who is also one of the organisers, says the festival is an organic process that functions through a community which does not involve commercial marketing. The donors are people who “genuinely felt for the cause and believed in Kabir's work and poems.”
Not only was the festival marketed in schools and colleges, the organisers also tried to promote it by distributing pamphlets to autorickshaw and taxi drivers around Marine Drive, Lokhandwala and other places close to the concert area.
The festival aims to bring across Kabir’s teachings that came out in the form of his poems. His poetry being a reflection of his philosophy about life, his belief of oneness with god “must reach to the people free of cost,” says Pankti.
The passion for poetry has brought together volunteers from different walks of life to assist the Kabir Project that works as a community movement that also organises workshops by these artists every month. The movement is similar to the one that consists of various Kabir yatras across regions and villages where people attend in thousands to listen to Kabir vani (the word of Kabir).
On how it feels to perform at such events, Mukhtiar Ali, who has kept alive the oral tradition of Sufiana qalaam, says, “Dil ko shaanti milti hai aur bhai-chaare ki bhavna jaagti hai (It gives peace to my heart and a feeling of brotherhood develops).”
All events are free and admission is first-come, first-served. For details, visit www.kabirproject.org