Gurmat Sangeet ... Or Is It?

[Akaali]

Dear Sikh friends,

I have some thoughts on the program being conducted in Chicago this weekend with the title of Gurmat Sangeet. The whole theory being propounded by the organizers - namely the SRI institute and the Gurmat Sangeet Group out of Boston - is that current Kirtan practice is not the true practice and we have to do kirtan according to some special way or what they are proposing is according to 'Gurmat Sangeet' way. At the outset this looks very benign but if you go deeper into this, I find many problems with this viewpoint.

I listened to the Boston Gurmat Sangeet Darbar which happened last year. I was being persuaded by a friend of mine to attend it live but I could not make it there. He came back disappointed for many reasons.

Lets examine this Gurmat Sangeet theory. What the proponents claim that this is the way Gurus wanted it. There is also a school of thought which says that they even have the tunes made by the Gurus and they have passed on generations to generations. This is mainly done by the Family of Ragi Avtar Singh and Gurcharan Singh and now their son. This is being also sort of supported by the neo Gurmat Sangeet die hards. Namely the above mentioned groups.

I do not know about others but frankly speaking I dont understand a thing when they are singing (Avtar Singh and all ). I cant follow any gurbani properly. They are basically trained in the Dhrupad style of the Indian Classical Music which they are claiming to be the Gurus style. Sikhs have a tendency to believe anything without much research.

There was an era when the Dhrupad style was very popular especially at the beginning of the last century in the Indian Classical music. It is a very slow style with lot of alaaps and they are also very old style with lot of long prolonging sounds. This is currently a dead tradition or close to its final death.

Thsi style of musci continued until the very recently but quite revolutionized after the advent of the Bombay Film industry and introduction of the radio in India. Everything changed due to this revolution. All the intruments in the Indian Classical or Musical field were evolving since the late 19th century and the begining of the 20th century. The current intruments like Tabla, Sitar and various instruments have been reinvented and redeveloped with the modern technology and with the changing of the taste of the audience. Bombay Film industry had a lot to do with this change in the last six decades. Never before so many people were employed anywhere to produce music and to create more soothing melodies and it had a good and bad impact.

Indian Classical tradition has changed quite a bit. You listen to Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Pandit Jasraj - all three big weights and an authorities on the Classical music. You see the difference and see there individual contributions. They are also from different eras in the traditions. So you can see the difference according to the times. The current scene is fast changing with the new budding artists who are appealing to the younger audiences with their depth and invention. Ravi Shankar is one single person who brought sea change in the Indian Classical instrumental music and who had the mass appeal. It is due to his innovation and creative style that he reshaped the entire field. same is true for Zakir Hussain in the field of Tabla. He has also gone far beyond where his father Alla Rakha could go. Zakir is worshipped due to his creativity and new inventions and innovation. Tabla field is not the same due to this giant.

Now coming back to Gurmat Sangeet. Guru Nanak Dev ji took the Indian Classical Music and combined with his Divine Word to reach to audience of his time. He was creative and innovative. The idea behind this combination was to reach to the audience as far as possible and to reach to their hearts. The motive behind that was to get them the message. Getting the Message across was and is the biggest need.

If he adopted the famous tunes like Tunde Asrajai Ki Dhuni ( Asa De Vaar), it was again to adopt the most popular folk tune and put the Gurbani or Guru's message to to reach to the people. (I am sure Gurmat Sangeet Proponents would object to it).

Sikh Kirtan has gone through a sea change in the last 6 decades. You listen to Bhai Santa Singh according to the Website of SRI and Gurmat Sangeet Institute given below and try to entice any youngsters to come close to gurbani. It will be an uphill task. Even I dont enjoy that style anymore. That was good than not now. When i grew up, I enjoyed Bhai Surjan Singh and his ASA de Vaar. Even Hans Raj Hans sang his shabad tune recently. Even Bhai Surjan Singh was guilty of singing tunes of Geeta Dutt and many songs of Noor Jehan to become more contemporary. But Bhai Samund Singh can be termed as the father of the modern Sikh Kirtan who combind the Indian Classical tradition with Gurbani in a very creative manner and it had a mass appeal. His impact can still be seen in all the current ragis. He was true creator and innovator. His classical shabad were based on raags and yet they were not in the Dhrupad Style.

Even in the West, the music in the popular field and in the opera or in the classical field has changed. This comparison might be slightly faulty because the western classical music has notes from Mozart or Beethoven. The symphony's or the conductors job is to be as true to the original as possible. Regardless there is far more different style of presenting music than 100 years ago let alone 300 years or 500 years. Even in the Gospel music or the music in the religious field is changed. Gospel is very new invention.

So similarly how is it that a group of people among Sikhs are insisting that we go back and try to sing the kirtan in the very old style especially the Dhrupad Style and they claim that this is the true authentic Gurmat Sangeet. This shows their total disregard to the very theory of evolution in the field of music. What i dont get is that they even claim that one has to sing one perticular tune (what they call is tarj) in the raag of Guru Granth Sahib. How does one know that this tune is the original tune made by the Gurus? ( Well ofcoarse they claim that they follow the oral tradition).

How can they deny that in particular Raag there is hundred different ways of singing depending on the preparation of the singer, his or her ability and their mastery of the raag and his or her particular mood of the time and the audience. This is all an open field and Gurus have left to our own innovation and our creativity. The idea is to get the message of the Gurbani Across in the most effective manner not worrying about the particular tune or one particular way which is Dhrupad style of the Indian Classical Music.

Other important point in this is that Singers like Manmeet Singh and his team dont event know the ABCs of the Sangeet and they are the star performers in this Gurmat Sangeet Kirtan Darbar. There is surely something wrong here. He is out of tune (besura) and totally devoid of any proper training. Who is his music guru? May I know. I dont know who this Dyal Singh ji is? In conclusion what I hear from the Website is certainly very childish and pediatric art form being propagated as being the Gurmat Sangeet.

Ofcoarse there is new hero on the horizon namely Bhai Surinder Singh from London holding Gurmat Sangeet Camps all over North America who is so die hard that now he knows what instruments Gurus played and his theory is that we should throw all the vazas out and all of us sing with old instuments.

The field of spirituality, music and love of one's heart with Waheguru is very delicate and very open field. There are no boundries when it comes to express your deeper feelings to Guru and to Paramatma. There are some very new upcoming budding ragis who are very powerful singers and quite creative in their style of Kirtan. We should all welcome and encourage this creativity. Guru Nanak would smile at them rather than devour at them.

Hanera hi hanera chaa reha hai. Waheguru Bakshai

Paramjit Such

New Jersey.

[Guest Singh_jee]

Our Gurus wrote bani in music... such as different raags...

perfect example:

dhanasree mehl 5... dhanasree the raag, mehl 5 the guru

so y not follow it if its written in bani 2 do kirtan in the raag that guru gave it 2 us in?

[Revolutionary]

Raag has power.

It is well known that some raagis have spent their whole life doing one raag and as a result of their hard work could do wonders.

One example is deepak raag (i think thats what its called) - It has the power to light and extinguish candles.

My tabla teacher told me of when he was young and his teacher was able to do stuff by raag.

Guru Ji knew about this and hence included Raag. I mean, Raag is so important for Guru ji that the WHOLE of GURU Granth Sahib Ji is SORTED in RAAG! NOT in Order of Gurus. They could've easily said "1st Guru Nanak Dev Ji then Guru Angad Dev ji etc". Each Shabad is perfectly matched with the raag matching its mood.

Each raag has its own mood and powers to entice the soul. Combined this with Gurbani... WOW.

Is dhrupad the one when the leh is soo soo slow, like played in 1/4 speed?

[kaur_khalistani_lioness]

waheguru ji kakhalsa waheguru jiki fateh!

thoughtful article

the youth did awesome kirtan! it was very different and beautiful!

:nihungsmile:

[wannabekaur5]

WJKK WJKF

I totaly agree with you Khalsa. If you are doing anything, it should be done properley. Otherwise this happens...

WJKK WJKF

[Guest Papi]

Raag has power.

It is well known that some raagis have spent their whole life doing one raag and as a result of their hard work could do wonders.

One example is deepak raag (i think thats what its called) - It has the power to light and extinguish candles.

My tabla teacher told me of when he was young and his teacher was able to do stuff by raag.

Guru Ji knew about this and hence included Raag. I mean, Raag is so important for Guru ji that the WHOLE of GURU Granth Sahib Ji is SORTED in RAAG! NOT in Order of Gurus. They could've easily said "1st Guru Nanak Dev Ji then Guru Angad Dev ji etc". Each Shabad is perfectly matched with the raag matching its mood.

Each raag has its own mood and powers to entice the soul. Combined this with Gurbani... WOW.

Is dhrupad the one when the leh is soo soo slow, like played in 1/4 speed?

yes reach raag has its own moods n stuff thats what i heard tooo. i think this raag tradition has become quite lost in sikhi,,,,i hear at darbar sahib they have allotted 1 day a week for pure raag kirtan only. so thats a start, and hopefully sangat around the world will get insipired to learn raag kirtan as this tradition was given to you by guru's themselves.

i have no clue about any raag btw. but i do like to listen to it :umm:

WJKK WJKF

I totaly agree with you Khalsa. If you are doing anything, it should be done properley. Otherwise this happens...

WJKK WJKF

did i miss something? :lol:

[Guest Narinder Singh]

Appealing to youngsters??? If anyone felt the raas of Gurbani in raag it was the youngsters! Peoples minds have been polluted by filmy tunes for so many years that they've become too lazy to listen to and appreciate the raags our Guru's used. I'm sure people like u go around saying "patha ney sikhi da ki hove ga", but then discredit young sikhs who are at least attempting to revive our Sikh virsa.

Hans Raj Hans?? Dude, listen to the shabads he sings and how he completely distorts gurbani but saying the worlds incorrectly and switching words around so that it can work with his style of singing.

I have no problem listening to kirtan that is not in raag, but when u bash people who are trying to bring back the "real" way of doing kirtan, it pisses me off.

[Guest PRITAM SINGH KHALSA]

Gurmat Sangeet = playing kirtan with stringed instruments {Sarod,Sarangi,Taus,Dilruba,Sitar,etc. with always the tablas}

There is no certain tunes the Gurus played other than Raag which is evident throughout Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. If the Gurus had some secret sound why did they specifically say to sing their hymns and in Raag. Raag is the layout of the mood or style of the shabad being performed or recited. All the Gurus music was made very public and had no restrictions other than performing the raag with its rules very strictly. If the Gurus had some secret hymn then why did the Gurus hand it down to certain people etc?{they didnt} There is no "Gurus style" other than raag.

Kirtan= singing the Gurus hymns

Raag Kirtan= singing the Gurus hymns according to the rules or raag given at the beginning of the shabad.

Gurmat Sangeet= Singing the Gurus hymns according to the rules or raag given at the beginning of the shabad while performing the kirtan on the original stringed styled instruments that were played by the Gurus and Raagi musicians in the time of the Gurus.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji used to let anyone sing Kirtan about the one and almighty God in his court regardless of religion/status. He actually had alot of really good Muslim Raagis that frequently recited the Gurus Bani in Raag.

[KharkooSingh]

Dear Sikh friends,

I have some thoughts on the program being conducted in Chicago this weekend with the title of Gurmat Sangeet. The whole theory being propounded by the organizers - namely the SRI institute and the Gurmat Sangeet Group out of Boston - is that current Kirtan practice is not the true practice and we have to do kirtan according to some special way or what they are proposing is according to 'Gurmat Sangeet' way. At the outset this looks very benign but if you go deeper into this, I find many problems with this viewpoint.

I listened to the Boston Gurmat Sangeet Darbar which happened last year. I was being persuaded by a friend of mine to attend it live but I could not make it there. He came back disappointed for many reasons.

Lets examine this Gurmat Sangeet theory. What the proponents claim that this is the way Gurus wanted it. There is also a school of thought which says that they even have the tunes made by the Gurus and they have passed on generations to generations. This is mainly done by the Family of Ragi Avtar Singh and Gurcharan Singh and now their son. This is being also sort of supported by the neo Gurmat Sangeet die hards. Namely the above mentioned groups.

I do not know about others but frankly speaking I dont understand a thing when they are singing (Avtar Singh and all ). I cant follow any gurbani properly. They are basically trained in the Dhrupad style of the Indian Classical Music which they are claiming to be the Gurus style. Sikhs have a tendency to believe anything without much research.

There was an era when the Dhrupad style was very popular especially at the beginning of the last century in the Indian Classical music. It is a very slow style with lot of alaaps and they are also very old style with lot of long prolonging sounds. This is currently a dead tradition or close to its final death.

Thsi style of musci continued until the very recently but quite revolutionized after the advent of the Bombay Film industry and introduction of the radio in India. Everything changed due to this revolution. All the intruments in the Indian Classical or Musical field were evolving since the late 19th century and the begining of the 20th century. The current intruments like Tabla, Sitar and various instruments have been reinvented and redeveloped with the modern technology and with the changing of the taste of the audience. Bombay Film industry had a lot to do with this change in the last six decades. Never before so many people were employed anywhere to produce music and to create more soothing melodies and it had a good and bad impact.

Indian Classical tradition has changed quite a bit. You listen to Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Pandit Jasraj - all three big weights and an authorities on the Classical music. You see the difference and see there individual contributions. They are also from different eras in the traditions. So you can see the difference according to the times. The current scene is fast changing with the new budding artists who are appealing to the younger audiences with their depth and invention. Ravi Shankar is one single person who brought sea change in the Indian Classical instrumental music and who had the mass appeal. It is due to his innovation and creative style that he reshaped the entire field. same is true for Zakir Hussain in the field of Tabla. He has also gone far beyond where his father Alla Rakha could go. Zakir is worshipped due to his creativity and new inventions and innovation. Tabla field is not the same due to this giant.

Now coming back to Gurmat Sangeet. Guru Nanak Dev ji took the Indian Classical Music and combined with his Divine Word to reach to audience of his time. He was creative and innovative. The idea behind this combination was to reach to the audience as far as possible and to reach to their hearts. The motive behind that was to get them the message. Getting the Message across was and is the biggest need.

If he adopted the famous tunes like Tunde Asrajai Ki Dhuni ( Asa De Vaar), it was again to adopt the most popular folk tune and put the Gurbani or Guru's message to to reach to the people. (I am sure Gurmat Sangeet Proponents would object to it).

Sikh Kirtan has gone through a sea change in the last 6 decades. You listen to Bhai Santa Singh according to the Website of SRI and Gurmat Sangeet Institute given below and try to entice any youngsters to come close to gurbani. It will be an uphill task. Even I dont enjoy that style anymore. That was good than not now. When i grew up, I enjoyed Bhai Surjan Singh and his ASA de Vaar. Even Hans Raj Hans sang his shabad tune recently. Even Bhai Surjan Singh was guilty of singing tunes of Geeta Dutt and many songs of Noor Jehan to become more contemporary. But Bhai Samund Singh can be termed as the father of the modern Sikh Kirtan who combind the Indian Classical tradition with Gurbani in a very creative manner and it had a mass appeal. His impact can still be seen in all the current ragis. He was true creator and innovator. His classical shabad were based on raags and yet they were not in the Dhrupad Style.

Even in the West, the music in the popular field and in the opera or in the classical field has changed. This comparison might be slightly faulty because the western classical music has notes from Mozart or Beethoven. The symphony's or the conductors job is to be as true to the original as possible. Regardless there is far more different style of presenting music than 100 years ago let alone 300 years or 500 years. Even in the Gospel music or the music in the religious field is changed. Gospel is very new invention.

So similarly how is it that a group of people among Sikhs are insisting that we go back and try to sing the kirtan in the very old style especially the Dhrupad Style and they claim that this is the true authentic Gurmat Sangeet. This shows their total disregard to the very theory of evolution in the field of music. What i dont get is that they even claim that one has to sing one perticular tune (what they call is tarj) in the raag of Guru Granth Sahib. How does one know that this tune is the original tune made by the Gurus? ( Well ofcoarse they claim that they follow the oral tradition).

How can they deny that in particular Raag there is hundred different ways of singing depending on the preparation of the singer, his or her ability and their mastery of the raag and his or her particular mood of the time and the audience. This is all an open field and Gurus have left to our own innovation and our creativity. The idea is to get the message of the Gurbani Across in the most effective manner not worrying about the particular tune or one particular way which is Dhrupad style of the Indian Classical Music.

Other important point in this is that Singers like Manmeet Singh and his team dont event know the ABCs of the Sangeet and they are the star performers in this Gurmat Sangeet Kirtan Darbar. There is surely something wrong here. He is out of tune (besura) and totally devoid of any proper training. Who is his music guru? May I know. I dont know who this Dyal Singh ji is? In conclusion what I hear from the Website is certainly very childish and pediatric art form being propagated as being the Gurmat Sangeet.

Ofcoarse there is new hero on the horizon namely Bhai Surinder Singh from London holding Gurmat Sangeet Camps all over North America who is so die hard that now he knows what instruments Gurus played and his theory is that we should throw all the vazas out and all of us sing with old instuments.

The field of spirituality, music and love of one's heart with Waheguru is very delicate and very open field. There are no boundries when it comes to express your deeper feelings to Guru and to Paramatma. There are some very new upcoming budding ragis who are very powerful singers and quite creative in their style of Kirtan. We should all welcome and encourage this creativity. Guru Nanak would smile at them rather than devour at them.

Hanera hi hanera chaa reha hai. Waheguru Bakshai

Paramjit Such

New Jersey.

Interesting write up

[gss]

Obviously Gurmat Sangeet has changed from the times of the Guru Jis... but those Raagis that do the shabads in the Raags and the Partaals that Guru Ji wrote the shabad too are going to sound more similar to the shabads of Guru Jis time, rather than in the new bollywood styles. If we dont preserve the knowledge we have now, and totally give up our old kirtan styles, in a 100 years time people we will probably lose all essence of classical Sikh music. Bhai Avtar Singh Ji is easy to understand, and he sings in beutfiful tunes, once u concentrate and listen to him a few times