poiesis - an action that transforms; a bringing-forth; a moment of ecstasis when something becomes another
The transformative power of a mystic song lies in its capacity to mobilize the body, the heart and the mind, all at once. The words of the poem challenge our intellect, inviting new ways of understanding the nature of our selves and the world. But their poetic structure also bypasses our minds, and their rational logical ‘thinking’ aspect. In being songs, emanating from a throat and wafting alongside a vibrating string, they pierce the heart. In allowing them to enter the resonating chamber of our bodies, by singing, we bring the whole body into the experience. It may all come together then, as shabd ki chot – a wound of the word – in which our energy shifts and something becomes another.
In each thematic core session, together we will dwell upon and learn to sing some couplets & a song drawn from the Bhakti, Sufi or Baul folk traditions of the Indian subcontinent.
ABOUT SHABNAM
Filmmaker, singer and writer Shabnam Virmani has been exploring the philosophy of Kabir, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and other mystic poets through a deep engagement with their oral folk traditions for close to two decades, ever since the riots of Gujarat in 2002 propelled her on this quest. Her deep inspiration in this poetry and its wisdom has taken the shape of four documentary films on Kabir and the creation of a vast digital archive on mystic poetry and music called Ajab Shahar, as also translating, writing, curating and organizing urban festivals and rural yatras and more recently, infecting students with the challenge and wonder of mystic poetry. She has co-authored two books I Saw Myself: Journeys with Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (Penguin, 2019) and One Palace, a Thousand Doorways: Songlines through Bhakti, Sufi & Baul Oral Traditions (Speaking Tiger, 2019) with colleague Vipul Rikhi, and is currently working on a third book Burn Down Your House: Life Lessons from Kabir (upcoming, Aleph). She also interprets and sings a diverse repertoire of folk songs of the mystics to both rural and urban audiences. Her film Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein won the Special Jury Prize at the 52nd National Awards in 2011, and the work of the Kabir Project was given the Sadbhavana Award for contributing to inter-faith understanding by Shri Morari Bapu and Vishwagram Trust in Gujarat in 2016. Her work is enabled by the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, where she is located as artist in residence and the Kabir Project is housed.
CONNECT WITH SHABNAM
WEBSITES: http://ajabshahar.com/