An Equal Music

Hundreds of folk singers in villages dotting the Malwa plateau keep the 600-year-old tradition of singing Kabir bhajans alive,adding music to the 16th century poets words. Amongst contemporary exponents,Bamaniya and Prahlad Tipaniya from Luniyakhedi are the best known. Bamaniyas father and grandfather were bhajan singers,gathering for evening satsangs at the houses of friends and relatives. At first,I just liked the sound of the tambura,and the rhythm of the music. When I started learning the songs,I began to understand the meaning and since then,Ive given my entire life to Kabir, he says. Like his father and grandfather,Bamaniya worked as a farm hand during the day and spent the evenings singing. But his television and radio performances brought him fame. He has performed in all major Indian cities,as well as in Pakistan and Nepal. Students travel from as far as the US to visit him and learn about Kabirs poetry.

A tall man with a graying moustache walks in as Bamaniya launches into the next song. Haathi mein haathi ban baitho,cheeti me hain chhoto tu,hoy mahavat upar baithe,haakan wala tu ka tu, he sings. Kabir says god is everywhere,in an elephant and in the smallest ant. Were all equal,whether were big or small. And god is within us all. Bamaniya is halfway through his explanation when the man gets up and leaves.

Later,when the group breaks for tea,Bamaniyas younger brother Narbhat,who plays the dholak,says that the man was a Thakur. The Bamaniyas and many other Kabir singers are Dalits. We sing about equality and love for all people wherever we go,and people appreciate the message,but its here,where we live,that they do not want to listen or understand, says Narbhat. To this day,we cannot sit upwind of a high caste person because they say that the wind will carry our breath to them and defile them. Even our children dont play with their children and have to address them with aap,whereas they refer to us as tu.

Its not just the caste divide that Kabir singers raise their voices against. Like Bamaniya,Lila Amlavati is a third generation performer of Kabir bhajans. But unlike him,she had to wait till she was 38 to make her debut. When I started learning,people would object and say that it wasnt a womans place to perform Kabirs bhajans, she says. I had to wait till my children grew up. I realised this is what Kabir tried to teach all his life. It doesnt matter who you are,everyone has a right to be treated equally and to find god on their own.

In the two years since her first satsang,Amlavati has performed in the neighbouring villages,as well as Ujjain,Jaipur and other cities in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. She wants her daughter Maya,who accompanies her during her performances,to continue the family tradition. I hope I can find her a husband who will encourage and allow her to keep performing, she says.

Even the method of learning Kabirs bhajans has changed with time. Kabir himself was illiterate and couldnt write his poems. Instead,they were passed down orally. Bamaniya,Amlavati and their generation might well be the last to have learned the songs the traditional way. Bamaniya says he has memorised enough songs to sing continuously for 12 hours. His six-year-old daughter Arpita,while keen to follow in her fathers footsteps,knows just one song by heart. But she can choose to listen to any of the several albums her father has recorded. Amlavatis daughter,Maya,has a wider repertoire of 10 songs. But she often makes notes while her mother teaches her new songs.

Despite the changing landscape of Kabir vani,Bamaniya remains convinced that it will continue to thrive. Kabir is everywhere; he is in the air. Just listen to him once,and then who can resist him?