Music for the soul: Majha House hosts session based on Amardeep Singh’s documentary series ‘Allegory: A Tapestry of Gurur Nanak’s travels’

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 19

Introducing Guru Nanak’s journey across the sub-continent, to the unversed, in a musical series based on Amardeep Singh’s famous documentary series ‘Allegory: A Tapestry of Gurur Nanak’s travels’, Majha House invited the author along with three music artistes in a virtual concert.

Preeti Gill, founder, Majha House, said the series was a fascinating account of long journeys undertaken by Guru Nanak which took him across borders to different countries. She introduced Vininder Kaur, who composed the music for the series, along with Satninder Singh and Pakistani artiste Saleema Khawaja.

Sharing her experience of composing music for the series, Vaninder said, “When Guru Nanak travelled with Bhai Mardana, they only had a ‘rabab’ with him. Whatever was composed or sung was sung only to the accompaniment of the rabab. Saleema’s voice is ideal for singing with only the one string instrument and Satninder Singh’s vocals are accompanied by sarangi and he gave vocals for Guru Nanak.” She shared that Guru Nanak strove for the uplift of the lower castes and preached the message of equality and brotherhood amongst the masses.

“Satninder Singh introduced us to his guru BS Narang and we roped him in. Where we have the bhakts singing the verses, all three are singing. So these are the three pillars of our music. It just happened that all our three singers come from different religions, which is in a way a reflection of Guru Nanak’s message of inclusion,” she shared.

Talking about the music of the series, Saleema Khwaja, who comes from the family of renowned classical singers and is daughter of Bina Jawwad, said it was a huge honour and responsibility to be asked to sing for the series as thorough knowledge of classical music is a must for singing Guru Nanak’s verses. “Both Satninder and I are well-versed in classical music. Singing the verses of Guru Nanak was an experience of self-discovery. But I had to learn Gurmukhi and the diction in order to do justice to the verses,” she said. Saleema is a member of group called Harsakhiyan and is well-versed in rababi traditions.

Talking about epiphanies associated with such projects, Satninder said that he had had one. “I was on a solitary walk when all of a sudden the raag for the moolmatra came to me. I rushed home and with my aunt recorded it. It was just perfect. She said we should try it again but after that one recording I just could not sing again. It was an amazing experience,” he shared.

Meanwhile Amardeep, director of the document series, lamented the fact that Guru Nanaks’ travels are not a part of history taught in schools. “Alexander’s achievement was only bloodshed and massacre while Guru Nanak spread the message of love and peace and brotherhood,” said Amardeep.

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