Soul music comes to town

Shridevi Kesavan on Ruhaniyat, the Sufi festival that begins today

Their soulful music has unveiled the beauty of an expansive art. They have woven their music through our gardens, forming a web of intertwined stories from their homelands. Fakirs, monks, Sufi qawwals, mystic healers, folk musicians, bauls, shabad singers and Kabir Panthis from across India and Iran, Pakistan and Switzerland will once more create magic at the sixth Ruhaniyat.

The festival scours rare talent from distant villages to showcase the pure form of the art. While urban music fans identify with popular artistes like Kailash Kher and Abida Parveen, the wandering minstrels’ audiences are mainly limited to their villages.

Says renowned baul singer Parvathy Baul, who has been a regular performer at Ruhaniyat, “When cutting an album or a music video, marketing and presentation is an important part and the artiste may have to compromise on his music. I have been approached frequently, but I don’t do it because I cannot bear disco beats being added to my music.” “A Sufi performer is a mere communicator between a Sufi saint and common people, and commercialisation invariably brings compromises which dilutes the pure from,” she explains.

In contrast, qawwal singer Shameem Ajmeri from Ajmer, who used to sing at Baba Maqdoom Shah’s Dargah in Mumbai, feels that popularisation is good for the art. “Music must evolve with changing times. Given a chance, I would be delighted to cut an album,” he says. Mahesh Babu, director of festival organiser Banyan Tree Events, says the response has grown considerably. He does not see commercialisation of Sufi music leading audiences to finer appreciation of it. “I don’t think it works that way. But a lot of serious listeners do want to take classes in Sufi music,” he says.

Kailash Kher offers a completely different perspective, insisting that the definition of ‘pure’ and ‘impure’ music is subjective. “For example, eroticism has been a part of Sufi music for ages. Would you call it impure? The reason my album took so long to release is because I have always avoided interference in my music.”

Ruhaniyat, Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, Horniman Circle, November 25-26, 6.30pm.