Anahat Nad (Unstruck Sound): The freedom to sing, copy and share
Duration: 00:47:49; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 294.440; Saturation: 0.020; Lightness: 0.311; Volume: 0.391; Cuts per Minute: 11.061; Words per Minute: 39.059
Summary: Songs by Kabir, a 12th century weaver-poet whose poetry and philosophy is widespread in South Asia today. Never written down or notated (till about a century ago), his words, like those of many others have traveled and spread through oral traditions. Today Kabir's songs are sung by many. His words have mutated and flowered in countless versions in almost all genres from classical to folk to contemporary. Increasingly though they are are being 'owned' and copyrighted by individual artists and composers.
Credits: Ashok Sukumaran, Shaina Anand, Vickram Crishna, Geetha Narayanan, Tara Kini, Michael Joseph
Performed by Srishti community: Tara Kini, Shabnam Virmani, Sankarshan Kini, Udayraj Karpoor, Ampat Varghese, Raghavendra Rao.
Hauptplatz. Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Smriti: Kabir's poems bristle with questions, assaults, paradoxes. He confounds, Irritates, fascinates, pushing us to confront our own delusions. Tonight we bring to you the songs of Kabir, the 15th century Indian poet whose poems touch us. Tug at us at these troubled times of war and intolerance. And also as systems of control, such as copyright are imposed on human minds and creativity.
'Anahat Nad
Unstruck Sound freedom to sing'
'Hauptplatz, Linz
ARS Electronica September 1, 2005.'
'distributing the songs of Kabir via micro powered FM transmission'
Smriti: To some his work is mystical. For us it is the rousing call of Freedom. The freedom to sing.
Smriti: Our first song is a composition of legendry singer, Kumar Gandharva. His music today is locked within the law of copyright. In this song, ironically, Kabir says, 'Fearless, formless, is the form I will sing. Yes, I will sing, and i will fly victoriously.'
Nirbhay Nirgun guna re gavunga gavunga
Translation:
Fearless, formless that's the form I'll sing, yes I'll sing, I'll sing...
'Nirbhay Nirgun' (Fearless, Formless)
(Tara starts singing
alap followed by 'Nirbhay Nirgun' in Hindustani Classical)
Song 1: Nirbhay Nirgun
(Fearless, Formless is the form I will sing...)
Original Composition (and copyright) of legendary late Pt. Kumar Gandharva Tara Kini (vocal) at 2nd floor window of Kunstuniversitat, Udayraj (tabla) at tram stop.
25 radio boom boxes dispersed in the square broadcasting using micro fm transmission. Nirbhay Nirgun's lyrics in Hindi, roman script Hindi, English and German appear on screen at other end of the platz in sync with the singing.
Moola kamal dal, aasan bandhooji,
ulati pavan chadhaunga
Nirbhay Nirgun guna re gavunga gavunga
Translation:
In a firm posture, I'll bind the root lotus
Make the breath flow upwards
Fearless, formless that's the form I'll sing, yes I'll sing, I'll sing...
Ingala pingala sukhaman nadi ji, tiraveni par nahaunga
Nirbhay Nirgun guna re gavunga gavunga
Translation:
Right, left, middle channels, I'll bathe where the three streams meet...
Fearless, formless that's the form I'll sing, yes I'll sing, I'll sing...
Shoonya shikhar par anahad baaje ri, raaga chhatees sunaunga
Nirbhay Nirgun guna re gavunga gavunga
Translation:
The peak of emptiness where the
unstruck sound resounds
I'll sing the 36 ragas
Fearless, formless that's the form I'll sing, yes I'll sing, I'll sing...
Kahat kabira suno bhai sadhoji, jeet nishaan udaunga
Nirbhay Nirgun guna re gavunga gavunga
Translation:
Kabir says, listen truth seekers, I'll seize the sign of victory!
Fearless, formless that's the form I'll sing, yes I'll sing, I'll sing...
VO: If the song is free, how can the singer be caged? Or how can one singer, cage another? These songs are part of and oral tradition that rides Anahat Naad - Unstruck Sound. Kabir never wrote these songs. He recited them over four hundred years ago. They traveled through centuries and an entire sub-continent? In the folk rendition of another popular tune, Kabir says, 'O wise one! Listen! Tune in to that sound of the sky, subtle, so subtle... The sky he refers to is the vast limitless overhead, but also the skies within. The limitless within each one of us.....
Koi sunta hai guru gyani gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
('
Koi Sunta hai' - 'Listen to that subtle sound'
Malwa Folk Composition)
Song 2:
Koi Sunta Hai Guru Gyani Gagan mein, Awaaz ho gai Jhina Jhina
(hey wise man, listen to that sound in the sky, subtle, so subtle.)
Malva folk style as sung by Prahlad Singh Tipania and Co.
Shabnam Virmani (tamboura, khartaal and vocal), Tara Kini (vocal and manjira). Ampat Varghese(vocal support) Raghu (vocal support+ Manjira) Sankarshan (violin + vocal) Udayraj (dholak)
Musicians emerge from different corners of the square singing, and slowly merge into one group as the reach the center of the square. Radios move through the crowds, rest on cafe tables and finally make way to center of the square, leaving a few behind.
Oham Soham baajaa re baaje, trikuti shabad nishaani
Ingala pingala sukhaman joya,
Shweta dhwaja pheherani ho gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
Koi sunta hai guru gyani gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
Vahaan se aayaa naad bind se,
Yahaan jamaavat paani
Saba ghat pooran boli rahaa hai
Alakh purusha nirbaani ho gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
Koi sunta hai guru gyani gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
Vahaan se aayaa naad bind se,
Yahaan jamaavat paani
Saba ghat pooran boli rahaa hai
Alakh purusha nirbaani ho gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
Dekha din jitana ho jaga dekhaa
Sahaje amar nishaani, haan re
Kahe kabir suno bhai saadho
Agam nigam ki ye baani ho gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
Koi sunta hai guru gyani gagan mein
Avaz hove jhina jhina, haan re
VO: The sound around you comes through small, micro FM radios that consume less than 15 watts of energy. Ecologically sound and politically urgent. If you think what large sound systems consume or the inability to broadcast freely. But back to the freedom to sing. As we were saying, our music traditions have always been oral. Notation happened only a centruy ago. And Kabir is testament to this fact. His words are alive in South Asia. Many sing his songs. There are countless variations and versions. Call this open source, and copy left?
Tonight as a case in point about the Freedom to Share, Appropriate and Copy, we sing 5 versions of Kabir's 'Jhini, Jhini', mutating and flowering in many different musical genres.
VO: This song evokes the metaphor of our body as cloth. Its Tana Band, its warp and weft, woven extremely fine. The first 'Jhini' comes from the deserts of Rajasthan.Sung by Mukhtiyar Ali in a folk style imbued with strong classical elements.
Bura jo khojan mein gayee
Bura na mileeya koyee
Jo andar khoja aapana
To mujhse bura na koyee
Translation:
I set out to see what was wrong with the world
but couldn't find it anywhere.
Then I looked in my own heart.
All that was wrong began right there.
Chadariya Jhini Re Jhini
He Raam naam rasa beeni chadariya, jhini re jhini
Translation:
The sheet, so subtle, so fine.
Woven from the essence of Raam's name,
So subtle, so fine.
'Jhini Jhini' - Rajasthani Folkstyle - sung by Mukhtiyar Ali
Song 3, 4, 5, 6, 7:
Audience sits on mats in center of the square. Radios surround them. 10 tv sets mingle with he audience and also frame the musicians. The singers sing five versions of one of Kabir's most popular songs Jhini Chadariya,(subtle cloth) in five distinct genres.
Video recordings of the original singers play on the 10 tvs, our singers lip-sync their every word, beat and melody. Using their bodies as a copying device they 'perform' the mastersingers. You can also hear the songs of the original singers on headphones attached to each tv. The lyrics are subtitled on the videos in English and German.
The 5 Jhinis:
Original songs and videos by:
Mukthiyar Ali: Rajhasthani Folk.
Gundecha Bandhu: Dhrupad Composition
Bharati Bandhu: Sindh(Pakistan) Quawali
Ashwini Bhide: Dadra (light classical)
Prahad Singh Tipania: (Malva Folk)
test
Chaadar dhoop taiyar bhayi jada, rangarejaa ko deenhi chadariya,
Translation:
The sheet, sun-soaked and ready,
Is given to the Dyer ...this sheet
Aisaa rang ranga ranga re ne, laalo laal kara deenhi chadariyaa
Jhini re jhini
Translation:
Such a colour, He drenched it with
The colour of love, this sheet so red
Chadariya Jhini Re Jhini
He Raam naam rasa beeni chadariya, jhini re jhini
Translation:
the sheet, so subtle, so fine.
Woven from the essence of Raama's name,
So subtle, so fine.
Chaadar odha sankaa mat kariyo,
ye do din tumako deenhi, chadariyaa,
Moorakh log bheda nahi jaane, din din maili keenhi chadariyaa,
Jhini re jhini
Jhini re jhini.
Translation:
Wrap this sheet around, do not fear
This sheet is yours for two days
Fools do not know the secret , they dirty this sheet day by day
So subtle, so fine.
VO: We use our bodies as a copying device, to reproduce the songs of these great singers whose music we love...our versions are neither digital nor analog ....but they are embedded in us, we transmit them and they escape.The Gundecha Brothers sing a highly classical and ancient form of music, the Dhrupad, which takes you into a meditative space, inviting you to reflect on the nature of this 'cloth' so fine and delicate...and so easily damaged and dirtied, as our memories and desires, our pasts and futures accumulate on it.
Jhini Jhini bini chadariya
Kahe ke tana kahe ke bharani
Kaun taar se bini chadariya
Translation:
He wove the sheet so fine, so fine,
What was the warp, what was the weft?
What was the thread with which He wove the sheet?
'Jhini Jhini' - Dhrupad style - sung by the Gundecha Brothers - Umakant , Ramakant and
Akhilesh Gundecha
Ingala pingala tana bharani
Sushaman taar se bini chadariya
jhini...
Translation:
The warp, the weft,
The thread with which he wove the sheet
He wove the sheet so fine, so fine,
Aath kamal dal charkhaa dole
Panch tattva guna teeni chadariya
jhini...
Translation:
He spins the eight-petalled lotus
With five elements and three great qualities
He weaves the sheet.
So chadar sura nara muni odhe
Odha ke maili keeni chadariya
Daas Kabir jatan se odhi
Jyu ki tyu dhara deeni chadariya
jhini...jhini chadariya...
Translation:
Saints and humans wrap themselves in His sheet
But the wrapping soils the sheet so fine, so fine.
His servant Kabir wraps himself in the sheet, with effort and care
He keeps it spotlessly clean.
This sheet so fine, so fine
Kahe ke tana kahe ke bharani
Kaun taar se bini chadariya
jhini...jhini ...
Translation:
He wove the sheet so fine, so fine,
What was the warp, what was the weft?
What was the thread with which He wove the sheet?
VO: Red. The colour that symbolises rage and revolution to many. In Kabir it also evokes love, and Kabir says, He is dyed through and through in this colour. The Sufi Qawwali tradition has always been a celebration of this divine Love, a personal, immersive experience. The Bharati Bandhu sing the same song as a
qawwali.
Jhini bhini chadariya, jhini bhini....
Shabnam: ...This is the rhythm that comes to us from Pakistan... from just across the border with India. That is how this
Quawali is set to this rhythm.
Jhini bini chadariya jhini jhini (2)
Jhini re bini re dekho (4)
Jhini re chadariya jhini jhini
Jhini bini chadariya jhini jhini (2)
Translation:
He wove the sheet so fine, so fine
See this cloth, woven so fine
Kahe ke tana kahe ke bharani (2)
Kaun taar se bini chadariya (4)
Translation:
What was the thread with which He wove the sheet?
What was the warp, what was the weft?
Ingala pingala tana bharani (2)
Sukhaman taar se bini (2)
Jhini bini chadariya jhini jhini (6)
Translation:
The warp, the weft,
The thread with which he wove the sheet
He wove the sheet so fine, so fine,
Aath kamal dal charkhaa chale (2)
Panch tattva guna teeni chadariya (2)
Sai ko seeyat maas das laage (2)
Thok thok ke beeni (1)
Jhini bini chadariya jhini jhini (4)
Translation:
He spins the eight-petalled lotus
With five elements and three great qualities
He weaves the sheet through ten months
In a mother's womb,
Beating in the weft, testing and checking every strand,
He weaves the sheet.
Tabla tihai, 1, 2
So chadar sura nara muni odhe (2)
Odha ke maili keeni chadariya (3)
Saheb Kabir jatan se odhi (3)
Jyu ki tyu dhara deeni (1)
Jhini bini chadariya jhini jhini (3)
Jhini re bini re dekho (4)
Jhini re chadariya jhini jhini
Jhini bini chadariya jhini jhini (4)
Translation:
Saints and humans wrap themselves in His sheet
But the wrapping soils the sheet so fine, so fine.
His servant Kabir wraps himself in the sheet,
with effort and care
He keeps it spotlessly clean
This sheet so fine, so fine
VO: There are very few women singers in Kabir tradition. Ashwini Bhide, brings a new dimension to the song 'Jhini Chadariya' in the Dadra style, a light classical form.
Chadar jhini ho ram jhini
yeh to sada nam rang bini
Translation:
Sheet so fine, oh so fine.
Forever entwined in the colour of the name
'Chadar Jhini Ho Ram' - sung by Ashwini Bhide
Saans ko taar sambhaal ke kaantyo
Nau man prakriti praveli
Translation:
With the breathe as thread, woven with care
Nine months of nature's doing
Solaha soot jugat ke jagat li
rachana racnhi naveli
Chadar jhini ho ram jhini
Translation:
16 threads joined and intertwined
a new life created
Sheet so fine, oh so fine.
Leyi chadar sura nara muni odhi
Odh ke mili keenhi
Taahi kabir suno bhai sadho
Jyu ki tyu dhara deeni
Chadar jhini ho ram jhini
yeh to sada nam rang bini
Translation:
Saints and humans wrap themselves in His sheet
But the wrapping soils the sheet so fine, so fine.
Kabir says, listen seekers,
He keeps it spotlessly clean
This sheet so fine, so fine
Sheet so fine, oh so fine.
Forever entwined in the colour of the name.
VO: Kabir ends with an elegant challenge. when the moment comes to shed this cloth of life, he says let it be as new and pristine as when you got it. So we end with the final version of 'Jhini..' as sung by the fourth artist Prahlad Singh Tipanya, from Central India.
Chadar Jhini, Rang Jhini
Subtle Cloth, Subtle Colour
Malwa folk by Prahalad Singh Tipanya
Panch tatva ka putla
manush dharya naam
Ek kala ke bichud te...
aur bisar gaya sab tham
Translation:
An effigy made of 5 elements
You called it 'Human'
In one nano-second they can separate
all that is there is gone.
Man Mathura-dil dwaarka
kaaya kashi jaan
Ye dus dwarey ka pinjara
yame jot pichan
Translation:
The temple, your heart- the shrine
Your own body the place of pilgrimage, know this.
In this cage of 10 openings
The light is within, see it.
Jo to sacha baneeya
to sacha haat lagaao
andar jhadu de ke
aur kachra det bahay
Translation:
If your true to your trade,
then set up a true shop
Sweep within
and let the garbage flow out
Sada Ram Ras Beeni vo chaadar jhini...
Translation:
Forever weaving from Ram's essence,
subtle colour subtle cloth
Translation:
The spinning wheel spins out
Eight lotuses, five elements, three qualities.
subtle colour subtle cloth
Translation:
Actions are a ball of cotton,
Woven into skins of delicate awareness
Subtle colour subtle cloth
Translation:
Right channel, Left channel are the warp,
then they fill the middle channel
subtle colour subtle cloth
nine or ten months pass by
Its just right
subtle colour subtle cloth
Translation:
The cloth goes to the washerman
Who dips it in the pool of the Word,
Beats it on the stone of awareness
and makes it shine.
Translation:
The cloth goes to the dyer
Who mixes all the colours
subtle colour subtle cloth
Translation:
He pours in the colour of the lord of love
and makes it golden.
subtle colour subtle cloth
Dhruv, Prahlad and Shukhdev wore it
Made it stained
subtle colour subtle cloth
Translation: Kabir wore it with such care
That it stayed as good as new.
Subtle colour subtle cloth
(chorus continues)
(applause)
Produced by: Shrishti, Bangalore
Supported by: Jindal South West Foundation
Performed by:
Tara Kini, Shabnam Virmani, Udayraj Karpoor
Ampat Varghese, Raghavendra Rao,
Shankarshan Kini
Concept:
Geeta Narayan, Tara Kini,
Ashok Sukumaran, Shaina Anand,
Vickram Crishna, Michael Joseph
(chorus continues)
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