08 Monday Aug 2016
Posted in ANAD Foundation, ANAD Khand, Mere Music, Photos
This gallery contains 25 photos.
July 2016 Course Review by Keerat Kaur Sunday, August 7, 2016. London, Toronto The most meaningful realization of this summer’s …
06 Monday Jun 2016
On May 30, 2016, Bhai Baldeep Singh, Chairman, The Anad Foundation, visited the residence of one of the world’s living legend sārangi maestros, Pandit Ram Narayan. Pandit Narayan speaks chaste Punjabi having worked at All India Radio (AIR), Lahore, until the partition of 1947. This visit was more about Pandit Ji hearing some of the ancient compositions of Gurbani and Khandarvani Dhrupad.
Here are some images that Bhai Baldeep Singh took of the maestro and his illustrious son, sarod maestro, Pandit Brij Narayan.
30 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in ANAD Poetry Page, Photos, Postcards from the Journey
Don’t start!
By Bhai Baldeep Singh
Don’t start!
don’t even think to!
close in?
not even in an entire eternity.
For there isn’t a space
—a place wherefrom to begin, nor
a place whereto to go.
There aren’t any steps my friend!
Not one,
nor the second
or the third step.
If you will,
you will start from an
—in an illusion
—a delusion.
Steps aren’t
that one has ever taken
or any
that one can take.
Not one moment
that has ever gone by
or that,
which will ever come.
There isn’t an idea
called wait
nor longing
nor happiness
or a tear forming.
There aren’t colours any
there aren’t grounds beneath
no people
no questions
no answers that
one may seek, or can give.
No singer
no song
none to sing up to
no heroes
nor villains
not many
nor two
but one.
Oneness!
Don’t start!
don’t even think to!
close in?
not even in an entire eternity.
For there isn’t a space
—a place wherefrom to begin, nor
a place whereto to go.
There aren’t any steps my friend!
Bbs
30/10/2014
C-43, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi 110013 India
________________________________________
Note:
Anne M. Stadler posted this one, minutes ago and I got the chance to read David Whyte‘s poem “Start Close In” and also saw the photo and then, a few others that I really liked. Well, reading his poem prompted one outta me. I am a nobody as a poet nor a photographer, at least not yet but here is a photo I took the other day aboard a Lufthansa flight, Monday that is, not knowing where I’d use it, if at all, and lo, I saw David’s “steps” —I just could not resist. Courtesy to David Whyte’s, his poem reads as follows:
START CLOSE IN
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
START CLOSE IN
River Flow
New & Selected Poems
Many Rivers Press © David Whyte
Brick Path, Langley, WA USA
December 2013
09 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in ANAD Events, ANAD Foundation, ANAD Khand, Photos, Rāngli Sath
Tags
Anad, baldeep, Behl, bhai, celebrities, dhrupad, dhurpad, entertainment, Fort, Foundation, gurbani, gurmat sangeet, Haiku, hofstra university, images, Kapurthala, Khand, kirtan, Lodhi, love, Mandeep, Mann, music bbs, Nirvair's blog, pakhawaj, Punjab, raga, singh, Sultanpur
Punya Baithak XVI: Raga Bilawal – Images by Harnavbir Singh and Manpreet Singh Khalsa.
24 Monday Jun 2013
Posted in ANAD Khand, Photos, Postcards from the Journey
Sunday, June 23, 2013 in Florence, Italy.
It was a visit planned in a day – a few of my students wanted to sing, so I came along – had a darshan of the city and then the darshan of some very fine music and musical notes. My students, Beant (Stephania) and Deep Inderjot (Chiara), who planned the visit to the city are seen together in a photo I took in a cafe earlier today.
Notable was my visit to the ancient Roman theatre called Teatro Romano Di Fiesole – Wah! I sang an alaapic sequence in Raga Tilang for a few minutes – there was a nice applause even.
Then we went to Maiano to a very special place where they produce very high quality wine, olive oil, spaghetti, etc. Of course, I bought two bottles – of very special olive oil.
Here are some telephonic images:
24 Friday May 2013
There was a funny President of DSGPC in 1998 and he would not allow us to film at the Damdama Sahib Gurudwara, Nizamuddin East. Raghu Rai and his wife Gurmeet Rai, then a dear friend, gave us space to film my documentary “The Sacred Music of the Sikhs” for a couple of days. They lived near Khan Market in those days.
Gurliv Singh has volunteered 6 months for Anad and among the transparencies and negatives he has been scanning, I found this image.
12 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted in ANAD Khand, Photos
Friends, I am merely talking of framing paintings! Hari Om Lal runs a massive enterprise called Sharma Framing House at Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi. He has been the favoured framer for artists like M F Hussain, Krishen Khanna, Swaminathan, Manjit Bawa, Paramjit Singh, Sidharth and now also for Hardev Singh.
Artist Hardev Singh is Anad Conservatory’s first artist-in-residence. Since October 1, 2012, he has been stationed inside the Sultanpur Lodhi Fort, the site of the conservatory. His stay has been mired with some difficulty – with the Station Head Officer (SHO) forcibly opening up the gate to allow visitors to pass through, totally disturbing the serene and artistic environs around Hardev Singh’s workplace. It is always an issue when people who are supposed to serve and facilitate try to pretend as masters. The SHO is such a fine man otherwise who loves animals and his drinks. I was very sad that he had tried to intimidate Anad Foundation’s local staff – an issue which I will be addressing with him in the next days. Nevertheless, Hardev Singh has painted a lot and I drove to Delhi with 57 paintings done by him at the fort – in water colour, oils and sketches..! Packing and then carrying them all in the Toyota Innova was quite an ordeal though.
Nearly 45000 Rs (about 800 $s) stood wasted for 37 paintings were framed by a local carpenter who really botched it all up for he had never done framing before. Windows are like frames, for the world sees you in it and you the world outside, but they aren’t frames. My staff at the fort only informed me when the wood had been bought, and cut. The mounts, the best that were found in Jalandhar city, were shiny hence pathetic. The end result seemed like a great singer entrapped in the midst of ordinary accompanists!
Yesterday afternoon, that is on Monday, February 11, 2013, I went to Sharma Framing House and requested Sujit, the younger brother of Hari Lal, to do a sample frame with an off-white mount. The traffic was much and I remembered Pasquale, a brother-in-law, teaching me in the summer of 1995 to exclaim “Ma, che traffico!” in Napolitan when caught in such a situation. You can try it as well but the traffic remains. At about 7p, I walked to the waiting car and drove with a brownish frame clad Raga Vadhan painting as the difference showed – aesthetically and weight-wise. The glass was a mere 2mm instead of the 4mm they used in Sultanpur Lodhi. The Italian wood used nowadays by Sharma Framing is very light in comparison to the Kail wood used by the local carpenter, which was much heavier also for it yet retains much moisture. Expect the Kail wood frames to warp this summer. I thought, as I waited for my turn to pass the traffic lights at Ashram Chownk, to try and securely pack the Kail frames in fives to limit their warping. Once home, I got to confer with Maurizia, with Paolo Pacciola and his danseuse wife, Luisa Spagna, joining in with their suggestions. They all voted for the new frames, but they aren’t cheap.
Picking up Artist Hardev Singh from the station was an ordeal too. We took nearly an hour to find him! He didn’t wait for Parminder at the platform but started walking towards the ‘gate’. He asked a lady for the exit – she pointed to the Ajmeri Gate side – we were were searching for him on the Paharganj side as planned. It was proving impossible to speak to him over the phone for the noise. After the search operation had run for three quarters of an hour, I asked Parminder to go looking on the other side and that’s where he was. How he had thought there was only one exit! Parminder and the Artist eventually took an auto-rickshaw for it would have been an ask for him to walk all the way to the Paharganj side! Once home we spent sometime reviewing the two framing options. Hardev Singh liked the new frame. Although he was reluctant to do the new frames for the added cost burden on Anad Foundation but the qualitative difference was huge. Moreover, the carpenter had used some poor quality plywood on the rear-side of the frame which can become termite infested damaging the paintings.
Here are some images from the visit to the framing place:
First stage when the frames get cleaned up and sanded.
Stage 2 when the wooden stock is colour dyed or varnished.
Stage 3 when the artisan make the mount – we had chosen an off-white coloured mount.
Stage 4 when the artisan measures the mounted painting and calculates the size of the frame.
Stage 5: Frame lengths being cut.
Stage 6: Glue is applied
Stage 7: Staples
Stage 7: Staples II
Stage 7: Staples III
Stage 7: Frame and mounted painting readied for the glass mounting.
Stage 8: Glass cut I
Stage 8: Glass cut II
Stage 8: Glass cut III – cleaning
Stage 8: Glass cut IV
Stage 8: Glass cut V
Stage 8: Glass cut VI – cello tape secures the mount with the glass
Stage 8: Glass cut VII – final check before fastening the rear panel
Stage 8: Glass cut VIII – Rear panel being fastened
Stage IX: Final touches.
and Pronto..!
03 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in People, Photos, Postcards from the Journey, Reflections
A few months ago, I finally got a professional scanner with an aim to scan thousands of negatives, transparencies and prints that had been lying around unattended. Two of Anad’s volunteers, Akshay Sharma – a neighbourhood kid, and a computer engineer with serious photography interests, Gurliv Singh, a nephew, had very kindly accepted to do the ‘job’. Every now and then, my heart quivers at ‘re-discovering’ and perhaps in some way, revisiting, moments of my life when I had the privilege of being mentored and tutored by some of the finest ‘farmers’ of the 20th century South-Asia.
Maharaj Bir Singh, the younger brother of the Maharaj Jagjit Singh (1920-2012) by two years, the previous head of the Namdhari Sikh Darbar, Bhaini Sahib, was an extraordinary – a beautiful man —what a mentor – what a philanthropist..!
As he introduced me once to some of the Haryana State political top brass and aides of a certain political party, who had to wait for two extra hours because he and I, were singing and playing on the second floor: “Do not be fooled by his humble appearance – by his loosely tied turban, kurta and kashehra“, he had surprisingly said, “he does photography – so did I, he did flying – so did I, he plays pakhawaj – so do I, he sings dhrupad – so do I..!” One of those present was the young and promising Kumari Shelja, who has since served as Cabinet Minister, Government of India.
He was as if humility, compassion, love and generosity incarnate. For a few years, the first stop he would make after reaching Nizamuddin Rail station from Bangalore, where he would be visiting his son, would be at my Nizamuddin residence – be it any hour of the day or night. We would take turns – playing pakhawaj, singing, playing dilruba. Sometimes, he would recall a few compositions and teach them (as in image-I, below). He would sometimes write a letter with notated down compositions – saying I learnt this from so-and-so ancestor of yours or from another maestro.
Reviewing some of the recent scans the two volunteers at Anad have recently done – I found these images (Photos by Maria Maurizia Costanzo from January 1997), which I share as I eagerly await for more, and more…
I remember learning the Be-aaR composition from him. Most probably, January 1997.
Singing compositions that he learnt from Bhai Kaloo, the Rababi exponent from Anandpur Sahib.
‘That look’ as I would await his next sudden-strike – he was a very naughty warrior-musician..!
Shortly after, I visited him at his place in Jeevan Nagar, District Sirsa, en route to Ganganagar where lived Bhai Ratan Singh from our village. Those years, I traveled with my cameras, instruments, a/v recorders all loaded (in the station-wagon).
The evening session we had, past dusk, is etched in my memory – perhaps my finest raga sri rendition till then, with Maharaj Bir Singh playing some scintillating stuff on the pakhawaj —was perhaps one of those times when, under the stars and skies, just about everything clicks. He also played some dilruba that evening with the honour to accompany him on the Jori all mine. Here is an image I took as he played:
01 Friday Feb 2013
Posted in ANAD Khand, People, Photos
While driving towards Sultanpur Lodhi, I saw Professor Kartar Singh on the highway waiting for a bus just past town Khmano on Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway. I had to make an abrupt stop and reverse the old lady Innova in order to block the bus which was about to be driven away. I got him off the bus for he had already climbed inside and was looking for a place to sit. I was half worried with an eye on my vehicle to make sure nobody ran away with it, as we see sometimes in the movies – motor vehicles of all kinds being ripped off leaking folks.
We were soon belted and rolling at 75mph. Instead of Ludhiana, at about 4:40 PM, seated inside the Qila, Sultanpur Lodhi – the site of the Anad Conservatory, I was interviewing him with some of the local press reporters also joining in. During the conversation, while telling him that I do not know what this ‘light music’ actually means, I demonstrated a composition in a ‘small’ rhythmic cycle, which was mostly centered magically on one note only. Since, I understood the value of this composition, singing hadn’t been the same. One can have an extraordinary composition but singing less than extraordinarily or singing an ordinary composition extraordinarily..!
He is a fine man and one of the finest contemporary composers in India. Already a recipient of the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama (Sangeet Natak Akademi)’s Akademi award (2008), he, alongside Bhai Sahib Bhai Gurcharan Singh and Maharaj Baba Jagjit Singh Ji, was made the Tagore Fellow of the Akademi.
As usual, the huge parrots provided background songs. Here are some images taken by Jatinder Singh Bhamra using my little Leica:
29 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Anad Luthiery, Photos
On Wednesday, January 23, 2013, I drove from Florence to Vicenza to meet again with master Gut-string maker, Mimmo Peruffo. I had visited him in June as well when we had calculated and identified the strings for the Rabab made on the specifications of Guru Arjan Dev Ji’s 16th century Rabab. I had made pair of those, one of which was made for my student, Harbhajan Kaur of Millis, MA, while the other, which is yet to be varnished, will be in the collection of Anad Foundation and most probably played by Luigi Hari Tehel Singh. The Rabab I carried with me was the replica of the late 17th century Rabab of Ustad Basat Khan, which was in the collection of the legendary Sarod player, Radhika Mohan Moitra. This collection is being cared for by his youngest disciple, Somjit Dasgupta, who was also featured in the first ever publication (2005) of the Dhrupadi or Hindustani Rabab published by Anad Records Pvt. Ltd.
Years ago, when I had visited Mimmo Peruffo the first time, I had carried a lot of samples of the gut-strings made by him. I had tested quite a few on the Rabab but it was now time to establish what will be the standard suggested stringing. The instrument is sounding fabulous now – the sound is much larger than it was before and it is now tuned to D#.
I was accompanied by Banipreet Kaur from Australia who documented the visit on her camera while cameraman Jasbir Singh joined us form Vicenza where he had been visiting his family friends after the 34th January Gurbani Kirtan intensive retreat. Here are some glimpses of the visit taken by Banipreet Kaur and a few by yours truly.
Unpacking the Rababa.
Luigi Hari Tehel Singh’s handiwork..!
The calculations begin with Mimmo Peruffo
Mimmo checking the strings being currently used by Luigi.
Guts can produce art work and not mere music – Aristotle by Mimmo Peruffo..!
It is a fine line – choosing the right thickness for the right tautness.
Tuning…
“How the heck can you do that..?”
Mimmo loved the sound of the strings – it is interesting that our babies are married to each other; my handcrafted Rababa and his handmade gut-strings..!
Finding solutions for he did not have any stock of a particular kind of gut-string, which he discontinued two years ago – a pity..!
The right tension..?
Final instructions for the artisan from Morocco.
Metal wound gut-string being made.
What precision..!
It isn’t just art but a lot of science but isn’t art science and science art..?
I wasn’t glad with the round wound – Mimmo tries flattening with metal mesh – it sort of worked but I have to continue to look for the right solution.
One jitters when mounting the first string..!
The new strings needed wider passages.
Manual flattening of the sixth string being attempted.
Drilling the holes wider.
Mimmo’s chance to see me at work.
After the gut-string guide has been widened, the holes needed similar fate.
Widening the holes in concerned knobs.
Stringing the sixth…
It is not just the tuning of a new string but so much more.
Banipreet Kaur got a guided tour of the gut-string making facility.
Early stages of production – Mimmo has recipes since the 12th century onwards..!
Mimmo is awesome at his work – here he is analyzing the guts 🙂
So much more than mere cleaning and twisting of the guts…
Tying the knot.
The first twists…
Drilling the third gut-string passage.
Stringing the fourth gut…
Rababa has guts…
Final tuning…
Time to pay the hefty bills..!
What an instrument – the Rudra Been or Hindustani Rabab..!
It is always a joy to fiddle with it some – to play it some…
When the Rabab drowned me in its nectar yet again..!