Fest calls for protecting culture, language & youth

Neha Saini

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Amritsar, March 27

The two-day Sacred Amritsar festival came to a close with some profoundly unique performances by Rabbi Shergill and Alif, an Indie musical band at Qila Gobindgarh. The evening began with an insightful discourse with scholar and writer Purushottam Agrawal, on the social relevance and context of Kabir Bhakti. While actor and upcoming singer Vipin Heero gave a musical rendition of Kabir’s verses, Agrawal explained in great detail about the relevance of Kabir in modern times. “We are living in times where the names of gods have been turned into war crimes. But Kabir said and believed that rituals would never lead us to the Almighty. In fact, he believed in formless, structure-less complete devotion through which we can connect to the Almighty.”

“If you live in modern times, you understand that stupidity is the most dangerous threat we are facing and people like Kabirdas are an antidote to that virus,” he said.

Agrawal also spoke on how we need to decolonise the world history. “The creative and intellectual genius of India is not confined to Sanskrit. Guru Nanak, Tulsidas and Kabirdas did not write in Sanskrit but various languages. The lesson for us is that knowing languages only adds to your intellectual achievements, but to know the social issues, we need to listen and speak that language. People still believe that had the Britishers not come, India would have been a static and frozen society. Such societies do not produce people like Guru Nanak and Kabir,” he said.

The second act of the evening, by musical band Alif, was a revelation for Amritsaris, with their unique sound and Urdu/Koshur fusion songs. Headlined by vocalist and songwriter Mohammed Muneem, Alif has been on the independent music scene for a while, performing at several festivals.

Their songs were a blend of contemporary music, Urdu poetry and social commentary on varied issues. Whether it was a song dedicated to the resilience of Kashmiris through Jhelumas or the mental health crisis that young India is dealing with through Chaaraghar, Alif managed to entertain, while getting the message across. “It is not very often that you find an audience with tehzeeb, an audience which is willing to listen to what we need to say and not what they want to hear,” said Mohammad Muneem, the lead vocalist of Alif, who founded the band back in 2008.

The finale was of course the city’s favourite and very own Rabbi Shergill. The singer, who hails from Mishri Kalan in Lopoke, Ajnala, began his performance, an Urban Ballad, by singing about Baba Farid, one of the big influences in his life, farmer suicides, migration, lack of heroes for young generation and even made a political statement of sorts as he called several political parties, including AAP (who he had openly supported during the 2013 Lok Sabha poll campaign) in a song that asked if they are asleep or awake, or if humanity is dead. Though he ended his performance with his popular Ik Judi, Bullah and Tere Bin, his message was loud and clear – Punjabis need to save their culture, their language and their youth.

Heer on Slide guitar captures cultural scape

The events on the morning of March 26 at the Sacred Amritsar festival featured Indian classical artist Kamala Shankar, with her masterful slide guitar recital. Shankar is credited with inventing Shankar Slide Guitar, a special guitar that gives a tonal quality to her music. Performing in Punjab for the first time, she played a dedication to the history of Punjab by playing Waris Shah’s Heer on Slide Guitar, which was as exceptional as it were reflective. Following the performance was a musical rendition of Kabir folk by Chinmayi and Joell and a Khyalkaari session by Arvinder Chamak and Saumya Kulshreshta.