Basant in Toronto
The International Dateline
I am in the middle of a long long flight from
A couple of years ago in the early days of the Gurmat Sangeet Project, we organized a Kirtan Darbar around the theme of Basant in
http://www.gurmatsangeetproject.com/Pages/BostonBasantSamagam.asp
The Darbar was a resounding success. The Sangat enjoyed the program tremendously. Last year as well as this year, I had numerous requests to organize a similar program again. In 2004, we were all fully occupied preparing for the Sikh Youth Symposium. This year, I have had an insane travel schedule and just could not pull a major program together in March. (BTW, we will have three major Gurmat Sangeet related events in
Even though we were not planning on organizing this event in
As it turned out, Inderpreet got connected with several enthusiastic young folks in
I am grateful to Inderpreet for prodding me and not taking no for an answer easily. Since I was one of his co-conspirators, he would simply not accept my not being there. Plan B was to try and find air tickets as opposed to driving. To cut a long story short, on Friday, March 11 I was on my way to
Somewhat serendipitously, I had started Mehr and Amrit on a Partal in Raga Basant Bhar, obtained from Gyan Singh Ji Abbotabad’s book, Gurbani Kirtan. As it turned out the Partal was destined to be sung at the Toronto Basant Kirtan Darbar!
We arrived incident free in
(Amrit, Mehr and Aman, dutifully posing at the Toronto Convention Center)
There was one more thing we needed to attend to. This was the first time that the girls were singing a Partal. We did not have a tabla player with us. All of our practice so far had been with two electronic tablas to help them navigate the difficult transitions from the Asthai, sung in Chartal to the antras in Iktal, Soolfak and Tintal, and back!
We drove to Inderpreet’s home where the girls managed to practice the transitions in particular, with young Nampreet Singh, a fine musician and kirtaniya, who was to accompany them in the evening.
The Darbar in the evening was magnificent. To think! We had come so close to missing it entirely! It would have been a shame for sure! The arrangements were excellent; interspersed with the Kirtan was commentary in the form of a presentation. The content of the commentary could have been tighter, but this represents an excellent start and in a certain sense establishes a great format for future use.
The program began with Kirtan by
In particular, we were all taken by the excellent tabla playing by Jalseen. It is so rare to see young girls on the tabla. Jasleen is simply outstanding! I remember listening to her and thinking that her playing, in some way, reminded me of the playing of the redoubtable Hariqbal Singh Zakhmi Ji.
It was time for Mehr and Amrit to sing. The girls looked fine, but I was nervous. The girls have sung at various events before, but this was the first time that they would be attempting a Partal. Also, through the efforts of Amritpal Singh, the program was being webcast live.
I need not have worried! The girls did an excellent job and exceeded my expectations, with Nampreet Singh providing very adept accompaniment on the tabla. Jasleen accompanied them on the second shabad, sung in Basant (Marwa) and sent to Iktaal.
(Mehr and Amrit, singing a Partaal accompanied by Nampreet Singh)
(Mehr and Amrit, accompanied by Jasleen)
The highlight of the evening was superb Kirtan by Nampreet Singh, Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh. This young kirtani jatha from
(Nampreet Singh, Rupinder Singh, Jaswinder Singh
S. Jagdish Singh Virdi Ji, who followed sang two beautiful shabads, displaying great virtuosity, obviously built over years and years of practice. Very robust Kirtan by a Jatha of young women from Javadhi Kalan followed. The final Jatha was led by Onkar Singh, accompanied by Gurpreet Chana, popularly know as ‘The Tabla Guy’. Both Onkar Singh and Gurpreet Singh are students of Prof. Purshottam Singh Ji, who I am extremely eager to meet, having seen the fabulous job that he has done with his students. This segment was particularly interesting because of the Sarod accompaniment. It provided a brief glimpse into what Kirtan might have been like, with Rabab accompaniment.
(S.Jagdish Singh Virdi Ji)
(Onkar Singh and his Jatha; Inderpreet Singh in the background)
Over the years, after the Gurmat Sangeet Project went live, I have had the good fortune to connect with many Premis of Gurmat Sangeet. Meeting some of the people with whom I had been corresponding via email was one of the highlights of the visit to
Similarly it was a pleasure to meet S.Gursev Singh, who had generously sent me a large number of MP3s of some magnificent Kirtan from his collection, which I will host on the Gurmat Sangeet Project website soon. The warmth of the brief meeting and short conversation was truly beyond description! Similarly it was a pleasure to meet Onkar Singh and several other Kirtan Premis from
The next morning, Mehr and Amrit were to sing at the Scarborough Gurdwara. After a few shabads in Basant, it was time to go home ! Due to some incredible ineptitude on our airline’s part, our return flight was from
The Toronto Basant Darbar was truly a magnificent experience. I am hopeful that it will become an annual feature. Perhaps we can alternate between