Great concert in Leicester tonight

[tSingh]

Bhai Baldeep Singh ji, from the same family lineage as Bhai Avtar Singh ji Raagi, is singing in Leicester tonight as part of the 'Darbar' weekend.

He is doing similar things to some of us UK lot in trying to get hold and maintain older maryada, kirtan, instruments, bana, etc. I got talking to him last night only briefly and clarrified that his descendents resided as teachers in the the bungay.

[drawrof]

I'd beg the sangat to record him if possible,

He is probably the 1 person living who has the 'most' archived information about gurmat sangeet.

He'll be presenting amritsari baaj style of tabla/pakhawaj

He has been archiving rababi's as well as old kirtanee, he is also very openminded and doesn't see restrictions in anything

check out this link (he's talking)

http://www.khalis.net/SikhAwareness/Video/...med%20Chand.wmv

as bhai baldeep singh says "look at the kirtanee's face"

Further, I did research on the net and found the following sentiments of bhai ghulaam chand ji

"In my youth I did not know what I was singing. Now when I sing, even to myself, I weep. The mind yields to the strength of the holy word and if the fervour is truly felt then a state of bliss is reached and remains. When the mind and heart are in constant consultation, when there is shikwa and jawab-e-shikwa , then your own heart becomes the guru . Gu means darkness and Ru is light. The one who brings light in darkness is a guru. Neither clothes nor appearances make a guru. He goes on to quote Baba Farid: " Kaale merey kapde, kaale mainda bhes/ Gunahi bhara mein phirya, log kahen dervish ".

" Awal Allah noor upaya; Kudrat ke sab bandey; Ek noor sab sat jag upgaya; Kaun bhale kaun mandey " — It was Allah first and then his light;/ All human beings are part of his creation;/ With that one light the entire world came into being/ Is there any among them who is good and any who is evil?" During his recital in Delhi, Ghulam Chand began with Kabir, moving on to Nanak, Baba Farid and Guru Gobind. Their thoughts mingle freely in the Granth Sahib, and his singing was suffused with the ambience of a time when kirtans carried the solemnity and joy of sufiana kalam . A captive audience sat enraptured and then rose to walk slowly up to the stage — lines of men and women, their heads covered, to make their offerings so that he does not return home with an empty jholi (bag). "Who can fill his jholi ? It is he who has filled our jholis ", rose a voice in the dark as the basket left on the stage began overflowing with offerings, a gift from apna Punjab for bringing back Nankana's Nanak and Pak Pattan's Farid.

" Yeh duniya jo ekhati hai, mujhey accha lagta hai ", says a visibly moved Baba ji , his small eyes smiling. He had returned to India after 60 years. To see people of so many faiths living together in one world touches him. It is in this India perhaps that Baba ji finds his metier. Though home is where his family lives, his work, his calling finds a flowering in a place which, not so long ago, was also home.

[tSingh]

Interesting. I'm afraid its not the kind of concert in which I can set up a microphone. Have you heard his jori CD? He's going to have some copies there tonight. If I get a copy I'll dub it for you.

As for his pakhwaj skills, we heard a bit last night at the Ustad Bahauddin Dagar concert. It was unamplified so Ustad ji requested we all huddle around him - incredible hearing the rudra veena so close. Bhai Sahib invited himself to accompany Ustad ji (to be quite honest Ustad ji didn't look too comfortable about it), and his style was very strange. Not one I've heard before. The taal was very sparse, aggressive, and then very complex, not technically but rhythmically. Admittedly it was only for five minutes before the more standard dhrupad pakhwaj player continued but interesting all the same.

He wants to have a natter on Saturday, so I'll add on anything interesting he says.