Sab Gaavein KabirKabir Singing Workshops

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Why Kabir?

• Kabir is a symbol of the secular, all-encompassing, radical, and living oral traditions of India.

• Kabir is about challenging the existing, by first comprehending it.

• Kabir is about going beyond the ordinary, the visible, and the crowds.

• Kabir is a symbol of a fearless radical who sees critically and is unafraid to articulate it.

• Kabir is an ocean of spirituality, from which for centuries people have been diving in and seeking guidance commensurate with their own abilities.

• Kabir is beyond ego as we understand it.

• Kabir is beyond religion.

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Why teach Kabir

• Kabir has traditionally been handed down as part of an oral tradition

• How will that oral tradition continue if not taught?

• Listening to others singing is not how one internalizes tradition

• For the continuity of an oral tradition, it needs to be propagated systematically.

• We also believe that as much as a journey of sharing externally, Kabir is a guide for an inner journey. For those who seek to introvert their gaze, a thread is needed. We hope to assist several who wish to be on this road, though it is a difficult road and we can not go all the way with you.

• From experience we have learnt that Kabir, as part of a larger tradition of bhakti can also become a great source of peace, in a world of chaos.

• Experience also teaches how Kabir singing can be therapeutic- hope to reach its therapeutic effects wider.

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Can Someone ‘Teach’ Kabir?

Kabir is not to be taught but be just introduced to- and if possible the language explained a little. Kabir is about introverting the gaze and like a light that guides from the outside, the one who introduces us to Kabir, just offers that possibility; or that they will warn you when you are about to lose your way.

Nobody can ‘teach’ Kabir to anyone- it is your own journey really. We just aid you with a musical interpretation; as co-journeyers for some part.

You will teach yourself and possibly teach us too.

But yes, what we can do is to help you in singing it, discuss it, bring it alive in all our minds and create a scenario of joint singing, to once again recognize our common human heritage, in particular - community singing.

Who is it for?For anyone who wants to sing first of all in a limited time with mindfulness about the content.

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Sab Gaavein Kabirlet Those Who want… Sing Kabir

You could be -

• A school or college going youngster;

• An adult who is fond of Kabir’s poetry

• A homemaker, office-goer, senior citizen

• Someone who is curious about Kabir, yet knows nothing about him

• Someone who knows about Kabir, but would like to have your own version of it too

• Someone who wants to experience the transmission of oral tradition

• Someone inquisitive about India and its culture

• Someone wanting to experience Indian music and culture at close quarters.

Is for everyone

Therefore we will tailor it according to your size

Yet not water it down to suit your sensibilities

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Can everyone sing?

• We believe that everyone can sing, more so if they are taught according to their ability

• From our learning of music psychology, we understand that everyone has a ‘musical self’ inside, whether it expresses itself or not

• Everyone sings- but may be everyone does not sing for others

• The important thing for us is a desire to sing, not the ability- ability is acquired over time and with effort.

• We most certainly want those to sing who are ill, depressed, confused. More so because singing is nature’s gift to us and we must respond to our inner instinct to sing

• It is one of Hansadhwani Foundation’s goals to make seemingly complex artistic ideas simple and accessible.

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The Format of the Workshop

• Two consecutive days + one additional session if need be.

• Group size to not exceed 15

• Three hours on both days

• As much as possible we would like to segregate men and women as musical scales are different for both, but wherever feasible we would do a joint session too.

• We induct you after ascertaining your musical level and what you hope to gain from the workshop

• We target to teach you four songs over two days.

• The songs would be decided based your acumen and musical ability. You are welcome to choose the songs, if you so like

• You are welcome to bring in your suggestions, and if we can we will assist you to the best we can.

• What if the musical idea is too complex for you? We will simplify it but not abandon it

In-built Flexibilities

• Though this is a time bound workshop, in the instances where these are held in locations for which travel is necessary, we would be glad to share more than this many songs

• IF there is someone who can learn more, we would be glad to assist that.

• You are free to record the songs in storage devices for future referencing

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About the facilitator

• Prateeksha ‘Saba’ Sharma is a classical musician who also works in mental health

• She has been engaging with Kabir since 1999, when she was 26 years.

• Over the years she worked at Kabir very seriously due to her attachment to the subject- and also interpreted Kabir in the context of classical raga based khayals, music therapy etc.

• She blogs about this at -http://merakabir.blogspot.in/

• Her current repertoire, which always keeps expanding, includes compositions of various other classical musicians, in addition to a minimum of 40 songs of her own.

• She performs Kabir periodically at many national and international fora and shares about it among various groups, including young people , graduate students, conference audiences, as also concert audiences.

• She once had a four CD Kabir album to her credit, which is no longer available in the market.

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In a Nutshell

• A few songs- pada/bhajans, doha or saakhi

• Set within the scope of Indian ragas

• Woven into musical melodies, and chosen according to your ability

• Which are bound within certain rhythmic/tala frameworks.

Sab Gaavein Kabir

Encapsulates these ideas for you in a small, manageable way

Sur- tala- laya- shabad- bhakti

The BIG IDEA is

Sing - Make Music, Spread Joy, Make Peace

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Simplify

…that’s the bottom line

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