Postcard 38: The Gift of Rāga Bilāwal

27 Friday Jul 2012

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There’s something about the shabds in rāga suhi. The sweet melodies have a touch of longing, circling, sometimes lost, knowing the state of separation. These songs describe the bumbling, deluded ego self, distracted in a murky, swampy whirlpool, harrassed by the body’s five rulers and their relentless tax collectors. Peace, love and attainment come by remembering the One, meeting the sādh sangat, the blessing of darsan. The melodies are not melancholy, though, instead like the one who sees the whole circle, good and bad, accepting the ever-present sorry human state, even while also appreciating the possibilities of peace and contentment.

Although rāga suhi is in the bilāwal ang, everything changes when you turn the page and begin singing rāga bilāwal itself. For me it seems to ascend light as a breath of fresh air, uncomplicated, a refreshing breeze, a splash of clear water. Perhaps because these are all shabds I have heard and sung before, and some have gone through a deeper learning process, old friends. There is a joy of meeting, a dance of celebration in the melodies and the bāni. In these shabds there is a mention of the previous pain, but the dwelling of the shabd is in the state of union and attainment. These are happy songs!

At the end of the bilāwal chapter, there are three shabds which are blended rāgas, each a state of humble bowing, recognizing that any relief from human error comes not from our effort, but from kirpā, from grace. It is not me, it is You! This is gratitude, remembering that the joy found in rāga bilāwal is simply a gift to receive and to share.

Postcard 37: A Review of The Albuquerque Kirtan Course

22 Sunday Jul 2012

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Nirvair's blog

Harbhajan’s first moments with her Rabab…

The kirtan course started with the students gathering and reconnecting. Those that arrived early helped with the shopping and set-up. The group had been invited to sing at the Albuquerque gurdwara so the first morning was spent preparing for the sangat. That evening Bhai Baldeep arrived and after carrying the newly crafted rabāb by hand from India to Italy and then New Mexico, he presented the beautiful instrument to Harbhajan Kaur. She immediately began playing the rabāb and the two became close companions for the remainder of the course.

During the kirtan course the daily schedule begins at 5:00 am with morning riyāz. Sur practice with scales and exercises in various rāgas strengthens the voice and increases fluency. One new student asked why we do this practice and I told him it was the same reason Michael Jordan would shoot more than 100 free throws every day even during the height of his career. Every endeavor requires a mastery of the tools of the trade, a continual honing of the craft.

A moment in class…

After the morning break for breakfast, rest and housekeeping, the class resumes at 9:00. One group meets for singing and another group meets for percussion. Students share what they have learned with each other. Sometimes it is the young people who teach the older people. The presence of the teacher, Bhai Baldeep, ensures that there is plenty of new knowledge shared, review, refinement and correction of previous learning, and plenty of laughter. Along with musical practice, information and inspiration is given so understanding of the path of kirtan can grow. After the midday lunch break, class resumes in the late afternoon. Sometimes the instrument practice continues into the late evening.

Here is some inspiration from Bhai Baldeep from the Albuquerque kirtan class notes:

Life is farming, after death is harvest.
If you’ve got the roop of the rāga in your mind, anything you say will be rāga atmak.
When you go into orchard of rāga you pluck a few flowers for a reason for your bouquet.
Kirtan is the prime jewel of meditation of Guru Nanak.
Aural tradition, then oral tradition.
Every new generation must re-learn the intangible heritage in order to re-live it.
Every rāga is a village or a home, with a few people in it and each soul has a heart, mind, thought process. Each note is a person, how does each respond to a particular topic? Each tān is a thought. How does each note attend to it?
Learn the ability to withdraw ourselves from the expression, only then the Guru’s expression can occur.
We have mal, we carry dirt, our own accumulations, it’s trash…We don’t learn how to sing a song, we learn how to not interfere in a song that already may exist. We learn how to subtract, to remove ourselves. That is unique about gurbāni versus other bānis. The purpose is different.
Let the rāg happen, in that moment transcend.
Nād yoga carries chit, the whole being high, not just vocal cords go up.
Cleanse the vehicle and hitch a ride in it.
With what face do we present to the Guru when we sit in the Guru’s court?
Kirtan doesn’t make you a musician, it makes you a sādhu.
Sing the meaning, live the text. We must attend to the text, it is our guru (it is different for dhrupadia and khyāl singer). My mind must be bathed in today’s hukam.
Stretch notes one note at a time to increase range.

Keerat Kaur (right) shares the Tukhari Teeka (from the London ON January 2012 course) with her elders…

During this retreat we visited more than a dozen rāgas. We learned new exercises and patterns for building skills. Practice of alāp revealed the sruti of the rāga, the movement of the rāga and the structure of alāp itself. All of the practice is a preparation to be able to sing the gurubāni and the shabds were delivered by Bhai Baldeep with sensitivity and awareness, music and meaning, accompanied by pakāwaj and strings.

For me the classes reinvigorated the personal practice and were “magically” aligned with the focus I had been giving rāga tilang, the desire to stretch the vocal range, and the interest I had been cultivating to explore alāp practice. On the last evening students reflected on their experience and one word that was heard again and again was “family”. This group has become a kirtan family, bound by love for each other, love for kirtan, love for the One.

Postcard 36: Raga Tilang

16 Monday Jul 2012

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Nirvair's blog

3 practice cycles converged in rāga tilang today. One is a daily practice that cycles through the 31 rāgas of Siri Guru Granth Sahib, a second practice embarks on a review of the syllabus from the kirtan course with Bhai Baldeep Singh which just ended in Albuquerque, and a third practice, this Gurubani Sangeet project, reaches a milestone with the last shabd in rāga tilang, also the last shabd in Volume I.

Below is a poem that came a few years ago after another encounter with rāga tilang during one of the kirtan workshops. Rāga tilang is a rāga that was loved by the Sufis and its sweet melodies invoke whirling in union and love of divine.

Taking a day to relax with family before heading home after the kirtan course, what better place to dance in the elements than under the blue skies of New Mexico? Cooling breezes, expansive canopy, breath of fresh air. Flowing Rio Chama, Placid Lake Abiquiu, torrential buckets of rain, healing water at Ojo Caliente. Brilliant sun, streaks of lightening, terrestrial fire warming the hot-springs deep underground. Red cliffs, mystic Black Mesa, cleansing mud, the minerals of Mother Earth, an alchemy to soothe body, mind and spirit.

Raga Tilang
Nirvair, 7-17-06, Knoxville, Tennessee

Arms as wings unfurled to fly
I dance
Gaze fixed on the open sky
I dance

Measured steps in rhythm turning
I dance
Music stills the mental churning
I dance

All creatures with one voice resound
and circle round
To dance
Holding just one thought of you
Circle all life through
And dance

In this spinning world of your creation
You dance
Life is love’s manifestation
Your dance

Postcard 35: Camping in Albuquerque

06 Friday Jul 2012

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In the class…

If you walk into our village, which is a house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the first thing you might notice is the sea of shoes by the front door. Then you would probably notice the noise. You would hear the sound of drumming from the living room on your left and the voices of children playing, shouting and running up and down the stairs. You would hear the voices of the bibis chatting in the kitchen and you would smell the aroma of roasted garlic, onions and spices escaping from the pots on the stove. There may be teenagers and computers on the couch or some concerned Sikhs deep in conversation at the table, focused on the welfare of the Sikh panth, considering measures that will help.

Then you may notice the sound of voices singing and if you follow the music down the stairs you will find yourself in a room filled with men and women, Punjabis, Europeans, Americans and Canadians, young and old, singing along with tanpura, taus, pakhawaj and rabab. Electric cables are everywhere and a photo would make a good advertisement for Apple because nearly everyone is using an iPod or laptop to record the day’s singing class and the sound of tanpura is resonating from an app on several iPads and iPhones. In the front of the class there is a whiteboard charting the notation for the vocal exercise in practice. Bhai Baldeep Singh sits at the front of the room singing along or offering instruction. Sometimes the music stops and the teacher begins a new series of exercises, or talks on a relevant topic, often accompanied by plenty of laughter. When the singing shifts to the singing of shabds the little sangat really comes alive. Learning from the repertoire of an oral tradition that extends from the Guru times, the students drink the bani nectar.

Our little village may look confusing to newcomers who are perhaps accustomed to a different kind of classroom setting in a different kind of school. This kind of learning happens in the context of living an ancient tradition. This kind of sangat is not without its challenges. When the sangat meets, all the hearts come with intention and focus to connect with something divine. But along with a purity of heart, human travelers carry the ego baggage wherever they go. Sometimes the stories we’ve been telling ourselves get challenged when we meet up with those who see differently. Even in sangat colliding egos can feel painful. Sangat is like a pool where you can see your reflection. If you look inside and see a mess it might look like the water needs cleaning. Or is it just a reflection? Doing the inner work clears the water.

We’re a village of nomads and in the past decade-and-a-half many wonderful families have allowed us to set up our camp in their homes from coast to coast in North America, and earlier this year in India. It’s an unusually generous household that welcomes dozens of strangers to fill their home for nearly two weeks with activity and sound from pre-dawn to late night. We are grateful to be welcomed by our Albuquerque hosts. And if you should ever want to come to this village, we will welcome you with open arms.

Photos by Sadhu Kaur (Maria Fiuzza)