Kabir couplets come back to rock on stage

MUMBAI: It was a party to celebrate ‘World Heart Day’. As the fledgling band, armed with violin and mandolin, sang famous Kabir verses,the youngsters cheered and sang along.
“We weren’t sure whether they knew Kabir but they were singing the punch lines. Since there was no alcohol served at the event, we realized that Kabir had arrived in Bombay,” says Raman Iyer, mandolin player of Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café.
Though the 15th century mystic poet’s re-entry from Varanasi to Mumbai is debatable, the band is comfortable singing what they call ‘Kabir rock’ – a re-interpretation of the verses with elements of pop, reggae, rock and fusion. “He is not a saint but somebody who told truth in a hard-hitting way and that is relevant,” says Iyer. He, along with lead vocalist Neeraj Arya, violinist Mukund Ramaswamy and percussionist Mumbai Dakshinamurthy will perform at The Kabir Festival Mumbai, which starts at Sophia Polytechnic on January 8. “We sing only Kabir songs,” says Arya, who got hooked to the poetry six years ago after seeing a documentary. Now, the band wants to bring out the iconoclast poet’s works from the hinterland by using music that listeners in Mumbai, Delhi and other cities will identify with.
The Mumbai band is not new when it comes to singing Kabir’s verses. Several folk and sufi singers regularly perform the pithy, philosophical verses at festivals while bands like Indian Ocean, Swarathma and Agnee have successfully re-adapted many verses. K Mohan of Agnee says that they have only sung two ‘preachy’ songs and both belong to Kabir. “They remain the most popular of our songs,” says Mohan. Some songs have become popular though not all layers of meaning are easily accessible. ‘Sadho Re’ talks about the village of the dead. “Many listeners analysed it and wondered whether we were referring to Mumbai after the terror attacks though the song is about how everyone is mortal,” says Mohan. At college concerts professors are happy to see students get a ringside view of Indian philosophy.
The poet spoke against discrimination using simple imagery. “It strikes a chord as he uses every day words – from chakki to koowa,” says Priti Turakhia, co-ordinator of The Kabir Festival Mumbai, about his popularity among musicians.
And the message seems to be seeping in. Arya and friends have now gained entry to posh nightclubs. At the end of these shows, sometimes the waiters and bartenders also come up to say that it was a great evening.