42nd Gurbāṇī Saṅgīt Intensive Retreat

January 8 – 19, 2017

To mark the 350th Birth Anniversary of Sahib Sri Guru Gobind Singh, the Department of Tourism (Government of Bihar, India) with the Anād Foundation, New Delhi,  invites you to participate in the 42nd International Gurbāni Sangīt & Nāda Yoga Intensive Retreat, with a particular focus on the Gurūbāṇī of Sāhib Srī Gurū Teg Bahadur and Dasam Bāni of Sāhib Srī Gurū Gobind Singh.

Since 1996, the prime exponent of Gurbāni Sangīt and Nāda Yoga, Bhai Baldeep Singh (BBS) has taught around the world inspiring and sensitizing students and audiences to the unique heritage of the Gur-Sikh Panth, Bhakti Marga, and Sufi Parampara as celebrated in Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib. 

In the summer of 1997, BBS began holding biannual retreats at the request of Bhai Sāhib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji and Bibi Sāhibā Inderjit Kaur in Espanola, New Mexico. They had asked Bhai Sāhib Baldeep Singh to share the rich heritage bequeathed upon him by some of the greatest maestros of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with a select group of their Kundalini Yoga students. It is a promise that Bhai Sāhib has honoured over the years, teaching not only a dedicated group of students who have studied with him without a break for twenty-one years but also those from across the globe who have joined in the years since its inception.

Review

42nd Bi-Annual Gurbāṇī Kīrtan Retreat Review

January 25, 2017

Gurbani Keertan is the Sikh Dhrupad Musical tradition that has been cultivated and passed down by generations of Keetrtaniās. It is a tradition that holistically embodies the teachings of the Sikh Gurus, Sufis, and Bhagats through forms of musical expression. The Gurbani Keertan Retreat, led by Bhai Baldeep Singh of the Anād Foundation, has been held bi-annually for over two decades. Bhai Baldeep, dubbed the Renaissance Man of South Asia, has spent the past thirty years researching and reviving the many facets of this age-old tradition, from luthiery to the ancient modes of nād yoga, and the revival of percussion, to name just a few. 

The twelve-day intensive learning program has been established and continues to expand its group of students from six continents. For its 42nd happening, Gurbani Keertan Retreat was hosted by the Bihar Government’s Department of Tourism in commemoration of the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. This was the second retreat to take place in India, with the first Indian retreat having taken place in 2012 at the 12th century Qila ruins of Sultanpur Lodhi, Punjab, the place where the music of Guru Nanak began to flourish. It was held just south of Patna, the birthplace of the tenth Guru, in the pastoral town of Rajgir, Bihar. The counter-metropolis of horse carriages and farmland was chosen as the ideal location for focused learning and practice. Twenty-five students gathered from countries all over the globe, including India, Italy, Canada, and the United States. Senior musicians from Bihar’s Darbhanga, Dumraon, and Gaya as well as their young protagonists were also in attendance. Lodging and alimentation were provided by the Department of Tourism at Hotel Rajgir Residency, which was in close proximity to the venue for classes and performances at the Rajgir International Convention Centre. 

Attendees ranged from complete beginners to advanced music practitioners, which was supported by a group dynamic that facilitates peer-teaching and cross-disciplinary learning. Pushpinder Kaur of Banglore attended the retreat as a newcomer with her husband and 19-month-old son: “Not only did the retreat give me a chance to understand the significance of Gurbani, but it allowed me to listen to music in its purest form. I am an absolute beginner in the field of music, but I thank the kind group of students for never making me feel like an outsider.” Although students often have one area of focus, they exchange with one another their knowledge in their respective fields of singing, instrument playing, and understanding of texts; all disciplines influence and depend on one another. To honour the theme of this year’s winter retreat, there was a focus on exploring the musical and poetic compositions of the ninth and tenth Sikh Gurus, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh’s writings and compositions from Dasam Granth were studied from the perspective of raag, rhythm, and literary analysis. As Guru Tegh Bahadur was also a master of the Pakhāwaj, his contributions were honoured with a particular focus on percussive compositions. 

In these intensive retreats, days are divided into five parts, beginning at 6am with two-hour long practice sessions among students; the mornings were the time for vocal exercises that strengthened rudimentary skills. During the two post-breakfast and post-lunch sessions, Bhai Baldeep Singh conducted classes in which he demonstrated raag through alaap and compositions, some of which were authored by the Gurus themselves; percussive compositions were shared and analyzed in the same manner. Finally,  there are two afternoon and late evening sessions in which students either practice solo or have individual classes with Bhai Baldeep Singh. 

Additionally, as the course took place during the 6th death anniversary of the late Pakhāwaj player Pandit Panna Lal Upadhyay, a commemorative concert was held in his honour, in which there were vocal performances by Pandit Raghubir Mallik, a Pakhāwaj performance by Ashutosh Upadhaya and Prabhjot Singh, a student of the Anad Conservatory, accompanied by Abhijeet Upadhyay, Sri Vinod Pathak accompanied by Vansh Prabhat, and to conclude, a vocal performance by Bhai Baldeep Singh. As part of Anad Foundation’s Oral History Project, Bhai Baldeep Singh also conducted an in-depth interview with Pandit Raghubir Mallik, in which Panditji described the mythological origins of his school of learning, shared many proverbial anecdotes, and sang several dhyāns, or musical compositions that comprehensively encompass the essence of a rāg.  

Some of these performers were invaluable assets as participants of the retreat. Students exchanged repertoire, giving and receiving an enriching perspective from other schools of Indian Classical music. The structure of this learning program provided for a variety of methods of learning and practice; it allowed for students to meditate on their solo practice, practice alongside their peers, and the inestimable practice under the guidance of their teacher. The Gurbani Keertan Retreat was synecdochical of the guru-shishya paramparā, a tradition that completely immerses students in an environment of learning.