The Events

* Watch this space for any changes in the schedule *

The Performers

Prahlad Tipanya is one of the most compelling folk voices of Kabir in India today who combines singing and exposition of Kabir in the Malwi folk style from Madhya Pradesh. He has toured the US, and in Feb 2008 was felicitated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

Vidya Rao is one of the leading exponents of the delicate style of thumri-dadra singing, and is one of the few singers who combines the delicate shringar of thumri gayaki with the stark shoonyata of Kabir. She is also an accomplished writer and has written on various subjects such as feminism, music and spiritual traditions.

Vijay Sardeshmukh is a classical singer based in Pune who has inherited the stark yet refined nirgun classical style of singing Kabir from his late guru, Pt. Kumar Gandharva, along with other bhakti poets.

Mahesha Ram belongs to the Meghval community of Rajasthan in western India, and represents a hypnotic folk style typical of the Meghvals, musicians not by profession but traditional carriers of Kabir’s poetry through the oral traditions of all-night jagrans and satsangs.

Farid Ayaz is an acclaimed qawwal from Karachi, Pakistan and belongs to the 700-year-old “Qawwal bachon ka gharana” of Delhi. He sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Hindi, Poorbi, Persian, Arabic and Turkish, intermingling with aplomb the voice of Kabir with a range of Sufi poets including Jalaluddin Rumi, Sachal Sarmast, Zaheen Shah and others.

Mukhtiyar Ali is a Mirasi folk singer from Bikaner and blends the Rajasthani folk idiom with refined classicism, singing the poetry of Kabir, Mira and other Sufi poets like Bulleh Shah. Through the Kabir project, Mukhtiar was spotted by world music circuits and made his Europe debut in July 2007.

Shafi Faqir is a Manghaniar from Sindh, Pakistan and sings in a style that is highly classical yet distinctly folk, bringing home the voice of Kabir along with other Sufi poets in Sindhi, Punjabi, Urdu, Siraiki and other languages.