[Reader-list] Festival of Kabir in Films, Music & Conversations, Pune

[Mihir Samson]

      * *

Chalo Hamara Des!

Open Space, in collaboration with
Either Or and Symbiosis Law School, invites you to a
*Festival of Kabir in Films, Music & Conversations.*
* *

The Kabir Festival is a wonderful opportunity to explore and celebrate the
ideas of inclusion, pluralism, and cultural diversity through a quartet of
four critically-acclaimed films by Shabnam Virmani on the life and work of
the15th century saint-poet, the myriad ways in which Kabir lives on in the
subcontinent, and the relevance of Kabir in a 21st century India that is
being increasingly divided along religion, caste and class lines.

The screenings will culminate in a unique music concert that brings together
some of the finest folk-classical-sufi voices of Kabir -- Mukhtiar Ali,
Mahesha Ram and Pt Vijay Sardeshmukh.

Entry for all events is free and on a first-come first-served basis.

The Festival is being brought to Pune by the Kabir Project at Srishti School
of Art, Design and Technology.

*About the Director*
*Shabnam Virmani* is a documentary filmmaker and community media person, and
has directed several award-winning documentaries in close partnership with
grassroots women’s groups in the country. For the last 5 years she has been
immersed in the Kabir Project, producing these 4 films along with 2 folk
music videos, 10 audio CDs of artists singing Kabir along with books of the
poetry in translation.

*About the films*
 *Chalo Hamara Des: **Journeys with Kabir and Friends:* A journey in search
of Kabir's *des *or country unfolds through the narratives of two people
from two very different countries – dalit folk singer Prahlad Tipaniya and
North American scholar Linda Hess.

*Had-Anhad: **Journeys with Ram and Kabir:* Delves into the heart of
divisive Hindu-Muslim politics of religion and nationalism, probing the
forces of history that have created disputatiously diverse Rams, while also
spawning many Kabirs.

*Koi Sunta Hai: **Journeys with Kumar and Kabir:* Interweaves the oral folk
traditions of Kabir in central India with the intensely personal narrative
of the late classical singer Kumar Gandharva. The film journeys between folk
and classical music, between rural and urban expressions of Kabir.

*Kabira Khada Bazar Mein**: **Journeys with Sacred and Secular
Kabir:*Investigates the ironies and tensions between secular and
sacred Kabir,
interweaving the sacralisation of Kabir by the Kabir Panth with the secular
appropriation of the same poet by the activist group Eklavya.

*About the musicians*
*Mukhtiar 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.

*Vijay Sardeshmukh* is a classical singer who has inherited the stark yet
refined *nirgun* classical style of singing Kabir from his late guru, Pt.
Kumar Gandharva.

*Mahesha Ram *from the Meghval community of Rajasthan, represents a hypnotic
folk style typical of the traditional carriers of Kabir’s poetry through the
oral traditions of all-night jagrans and satsangs.

*Programme Schedule*

* Day 1: Saturday – 14th November 2009*
*Event: Film screening: Chalo Hamara Des; Journeys with Kabir and Friends
(Dur:98 min)
Time: 5.20pm to 7.00pm
Event: *Film Screening; Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Kumar and Kabir (Dur:
94 min)
*Time:* 7.10pm to 8.45pm*
Informal Q&A session with filmmaker Shabnam Virmani between 8.50 to 9.30pm
Venue: *Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Law College Road,
Pune - 411004

*Day 2 Sunday – 15th November 2009*
*Event: Film Screening: Kabira Khada Bazar Mein: Journeys with Sacred and
Secular Kabir  (Dur: 94 min) Time: 10.15am to 11.50am
Event:* Film Screening: Had Anhad: Journeys with Ram and Kabir (Dur: 102
min)*
Time:* 12.00pm to 1.45pm.*
Informal discussions with filmmaker Shabnam Virmani, Time: 1.50pm to 2.15pm
Venue: *National Film Archives of India (NFAI) Law College Road, Pune-
411004

*Day 3 Monday - 16th November 2009*
*Marathon music concert presenting Kabir’s verses in diverse styles
Event:  *Introduction, followed by Music Concert by Mahesha Ramji*
Time: *5.00pm to 6.30pm*
Event: *Music Concert: Pt.Vijay Sardeshmukh*
Time:* 6.45pm to 7.45pm *
Event: *Music concert: Mukhtiar Ali *
Time: *8.00pm to 9.00pm *
Venue: *Symbiosis Vishwa Bhawan, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune 411004

*Kabir Project: www.kabirproject.org
Open Space: www.openspaceindia.org
Either Or: www.eitheror.in
Symbiosis Law School: www.symlaw.ac.in*

*For further information on the festival contact:
*Rakesh - 0-9921090931
Aditi - 0-9823464048
Open Space - 020-25457371

301, 2nd floor, Kanchanjunga Bldg,Kanchan Lane,
Near Krishna Dining Hall
(Off Law College Road)
Pune - 411 004