July 3-14, 2022
Rochester, Minnesota  

Since the summer of 1997, Bhai Baldeep Singh has conducted the bi-annual Gurbāṇī Saṅgīta Intensive Retreat across North America, Europe, and South Asia. The retreats are designed to impart a systematic of Gurbāṇī Saṅgīta—GurSikh sacred music—as it has been orally transmitted since the times of the Gurū-s. This includes the study of the original, revelatory Sabad-Rīt-s of the Gurbāṇī authors, Rāga-Tīkā-s, percussive marvels of the Amritsarī-Bāj, and insights into Gurbāṇī’s responsible exegesis. This summer’s course in Rochester, Minnesota, hosted at the blessed residence of Dr. Henna Kaur Kalsi and Dr. Amarjit Singh Virdi, was the first in-person retreat since we convened in Perugia, Italy in the winter of 2020.  

Screenshot of a session underway during the 50th Rochester Gurbāṇī Saṅgīt Intensive Retreat.

Bhai Baldeep Singh is a pioneering polymath in cultural conservation. He renounced a career as a fighter pilot to revitalize the tangible and intangible wealth of South Asia, with a particular focus on the Gurbāṇī Saṅgīta Paramparā. Embodying the civilizational harvests and oral histories of twenty-seven grand maestros—both celebrated and neglected since Partition—Bhai Baldeep Singh became a treasury of GurSikhi, with a panoramic vantage and performative élan unmatched today. His efforts have safeguarded from the brink of extinction many original musical masterpieces whereby revelation graced the GurSikh Gurū-s, musical instruments and playing techniques of their endowment, and indigenous pedagogical processes through which rising generations of custodians are being minted once again. In service of his herculean mission, Bhai Baldeep Singh serves variously as a Kīrtaniā, percussionist, scholar, luthier, poet, filmmaker, teacher, activist, politician, web series host, and non-profit head at The Anād Foundation in New Delhi. 

Gurbāṇī Saṅgīt Intensive Retreat: July 10 Screenshot of a session

The content varies by course from covering repertoire in all 31 main rāgas of Srī Gurū Graṅth Sāhib + variants to honing a single Sabad with variations + deep exegetical study. Vocalists, strings players, and percussionists of all experience levels (including complete beginners) are welcome. 

Bhai Baldeep Singh will devote July 3 to introducing the fundamentals of Gurbāṇī Saṅgīta. This introductory session promises to be of benefit to beginners and advanced students alike. It will be broadcast live. 
The arrival and departure dates for in-person full-time attendees are respectively July 2 and 15. 

An event flier prepared by the Rochester Sangat