By Priyanka Singh and Beena Sarwar
“It’s the energy of affection that’s most essential, not the love of energy,” mentioned Dhaka-based feminist Khushi Kabir, quoting her late buddy, iconic South Asian feminist Kamala Bhasin. It’s pressing that we counter the politics of hatred and religion-based violence in South Asia with the shared love for music throughout the area, she mentioned.
Khushi Kabir was talking at an occasion she hosted final weekend, organised by Southasia Peace Motion Community or Sapan, titled ‘Mystics and Music: Southasia’s Legacy of Love’. She is among the many founder members of this coalition of people and organisations working for peace and social justice within the area, and for a visa-free South Asia.
This was the eleventh month-to-month dialogue held as a part of the Sapan collection ‘Think about! Neighbours in Peace’ organised by a band of volunteers together with the writers. Dozens collaborating on-line from throughout the area and abroad unanimously endorsed the Sapan decision on Ukraine introduced on the finish by one other Sapan founder member, Lalita Ramdas, a peace activist primarily based in Alibag village, south of Mumbai.
“The scenario is likely advanced,” mentioned Ramdas. “However you will need to keep in mind that, as at all times, it’s the harmless who’re caught in a disaster not of their making.”
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United with Ukraine
Her husband, former Indian Navy chief Admiral L. ‘Ramu’ Ramdas, can also be a Sapan founder member. The Sapan declaration expresses solidarity with the individuals of Ukraine and requires South Asian governments to urgently collaborate to facilitate evacuation of worldwide college students and employees from the area.
The occasion started with tributes to host to the stalwarts to South Asian regionalism, together with human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir, who handed away 4 years in the past in February.
The famend oncologist and writer Azra Raza, primarily based at Columbia College, New York, learn out the Sapan founding constitution and quoted stanzas from poets Ahmed Faraz and Ali Sardar Jafri to affirm the concepts of peace and friendship.
Dr Raza additionally commented on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and underscored the necessity to “not solely stand as much as this senseless slaughter but additionally look into our personal backyards”. This is the reason, she mentioned, she stands with Sapan “now greater than ever”.
Journalist Kanak Mani Dixit in Kathmandu moderated the primary occasion, a panel dialogue showcasing musicians Parvathy Baul from Kerala/Bengal, Vidya Shah in Delhi, Saif Samejo from Sindh who was in Colombo, and Ani Choying Drolma, a Nepali Buddhist nun of Tibetan origin who joined from Mumbai after a efficiency.
Sufi music
The dialogue highlighted private connections with individuals and locations throughout South Asia. Since 2016, Saif Samejo and his workforce have organised the Lahooti Melo in Sindh — Lahooti means traveller, a seeker with no vacation spot. The worldwide Sufi, rock and folks competition brings collectively musicians from across the area and the world. On the occasion, Samejo spoke about his deep reference to Nepali music and tradition.
Recalling his expertise listening to Pathanay Khan in Multan a few many years in the past, Dixit mentioned he felt closest to Sufi music then regardless of the language barrier. Following up on Samejo’s presentation, Dixit’s proposal for a South Asian music competition to be held in Kathmandu acquired an enthusiastic response.
Parvathy Baul prolonged ‘bosonter shubhechchha’ (spring greetings) to these gathered for the net occasion and talked concerning the position of the Baul custom in instructing individuals about love, bhakti (devotion), give up and dwelling in concord. The occasion additionally coincided with the tirodhan dibos anniversary of Parvathay’s guru, Sanatan Das Baul, who handed away on February 28, 2016.
Strumming her ektara one-stringed instrument, Parvathy introduced a musical rendition of a poem by Khuda Baksh Shah, the well-known exponent of the nice Sufi poet of Bengal, Lalon Shah Fakir. Laden with metaphorical references, the lyric goes: “You’re the image of the human physique. You sound the attractive music. Let there be ektara in everybody’s coronary heart.”
Music & individuals
Delhi-based Hindustani classical music exponent Vidya Shah launched her venture ‘Ladies on Document’ celebrating ladies singers from the gramophone period. She mentioned music shouldn’t be relegated to a sideshow in efforts for peace in South Asia, for it had a central position to play in bringing individuals collectively. Music is “a thread that weaves international locations and communities by lyric, by voices”, she mentioned.
Accompanied by a tanpura, Shah sang a folks tune ‘Rang Rang De Chunari’ celebrating the thought of sharing by rang (color) and chunari (a fabric piece/masking).
Members additionally watched a part of Shabnam Virmani’s not too long ago launched documentary ‘Don’t fall in love with those that wander in boats’. The Bengaluru-based musician and filmmaker, identified for her work generally known as the Kabir Undertaking, introduces the viewers to the mysticism of 18th century Sindhi Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai.
Because the movie suggests, South Asia’s mystical traditions – whether or not Sufis or Bauls or poets of the Nirguna Bhakti motion – join individuals and locations throughout the area. These taken with Sufism are sometimes directed in direction of the ‘Kashful Mahjuub’ (revelation/unveiling of the veiled), a treatise on tasawwuf (Sufism) by Daata Ganj Bakhsh, the revered eleventh century Sufi poet born in present-day Afghanistan. All 12 months spherical, hundreds go to his last resting place in Lahore, also referred to as ‘Daata ki Nagri’ or Daata’s metropolis.
Sufism & devotional music
The paranormal traditions of South Asia transcend apparently inflexible spiritual boundaries. The verses and ideas of Sufi poets like Kabir resonate in numerous types of devotional singing and folks music, from Haryanvi folks music (‘ragni’), bhajans, to Sufi qawwalis (devotional music). Baba Farid’s verses discover a place within the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy e-book of Sikhs. Bauls, the mystic minstrels of Bengal, are additionally influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.
February marked the three hundredth delivery anniversary of one other revered Sufi poet Waris Shah of Punjab, famous the host Khushi Kabir. Waris Shah’s lengthy poem Heer Ranjha is itself an iconic tribute to the ability of affection.
In his dialog with Ani Chyoing Drolma, Dixit mentioned the music would assist South Asia attain the standing of a ‘beyul’, a refuge of peace and serenity within the Himalayan Buddhist custom. Ani Choying chanted the Buddhism hymn ‘Om Padme Hum’ (The jewel is within the lotus, referring to the Shakyamuni), then sang the favored Nepali tune ‘Phool Ko Aankha Ma’ (Within the eyes of a flower) by well-known Nepali-Newari poet Durga Lal Shrestha, composed by award-winning music composer Nhyoo Bajracharya.
Doctor and activist Dr. Fauzia Deeba from Quetta, primarily based within the US, and researcher Pragya Narang from Jamshedpur, India, introduced the ‘In Memoriam’ slideshow, paying tribute to a few of South Asia’s late peace visionaries and commemorating lives misplaced over the month.
Homage to Lata
Among the many most distinguished current transitions was that of singer Lata Mangeshkar. Sohana Ahmed, a musician and trainer in Dhaka with a Ph.D. in Hindustani classical music from Delhi College, paid homage to the late diva with a Bangla tune initially sung by Mangeshkar.
Members attending the net occasion on Zoom and on Fb included distinguished activists throughout the South Asian area, like educationist Baela Raza Jamil and activist Khawar Rani Mumtaz in Lahore, dancer and actor Sheema Kermani in Karachi and historian/filmmaker Uma Chakravarti in Delhi.
In her closing remarks, Lalita Ramdas reiterated Sapan’s imaginative and prescient of a South Asia the place individuals could be free to fulfill throughout borders. “The private is the political,” she emphasised, sharing her family’s story – daughter married to a Pakistani who hasn’t been capable of go to India for the final 5 years as a consequence of visa issues.
Many joined Ramdas when she began singing ‘Hum honge kamyab’ (the Hindustani model of ‘We will overcome’) because the session ended.
*In regards to the authors: Priyanka Singh is an information analytics guide and researcher in New Delhi. Beena Sarwar is a journalist and editor from Pakistan. Views are private. By particular association with Sapan
Supply: This text was revealed by South Asia Monitor