Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café will be performing with Ankit Chadha’s Dastangoi on March 30. Kabir Cafe features lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Neeraj Arya, who pioneered the Kabir Rock genre, with Raman Iyer on the mandolin, Mukund Ramaswamy on violin, Viren Solanki on drums and percussion and Poubuanpou Britto KC on bass guitar and backing vocals. The band brings the poetry of Kabir alive with rock, pop, reggae and fusion.
“We have performed at many places in Bengaluru, but performing at Chowdiah is an honour and privilege, as we respect the great ambassador of the Carnatic violin late Chowdiah,” Raman says on the phone.
Talking of the name, Raman who is one of the founders says, “We as a group hangout more for music and dialogue. Kabir Café creates a conversation with Kabir through our songs.” As Neeraj founded the band, it was christened Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Cafe.
Neeraj played as a solo artiste in Mumbai for six years before teaming up with Mukund, a mechanical engineer who learnt Carnatic violin since he was four years old. The collaboration of the seasoned Carnatic musician and the self-taught Neeraj brought about an unorthodox blend.
The duo then met Raman, a Hindustani free style Mandolin player, who pushed them into forming the band. “Viren, our youngest member adds a new persona to our melody with his magical fingers. He was taught by Zakir Hussain initially as he was selected by the Ustad Allarakha Institute of Music and then moved on to learn tabla from Fazal Qureshi,” says Raman.
Neeraj and Raman Kabir’s writings could be packaged into songs. “As performers rather than musicians, the poetry that we create enhances the feel and mood as dohas (verses) or punkthis (longer poems) are relevant and meaningful even today,” says Raman.
Kabir Cafe has performed at 700 concerts in nine countries from 2013. The group has released two albums and have taken a collective call to quit their day jobs to devote their time to Kabir’s poetry.
Reviving Dastangoi
Ankit Chadha the Dastango or storyteller for the Kabir evening is amongst the most talented proponents of the art. With the legacy of Kabir itself available by oral tradition passed down, Ankit’s storytelling gains importance as an art form. “Dastan Dhaai Aakhar Ki” will be Ankit’s dastangoi presentation on Kabir.
“The narrative is based on historical research and folk lore around the 14th century bhakti poet,” says Ankit. “Interspersed with his khadi boli poetry, the dastan is a journey to find the Kabir within us.”
Talking about the story behind the seventh century art form, Ankit says, “The journey of the dastangoi presentation on Kabir is getting more exciting. The most popular dastan that has ever been told is Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, which tells the story of an Arab hero, Amir Hamza, the uncle of Prophet Muhammad.”
Dastangoi spread to other parts of the world from Bosnia, Morocco and Algeria to Indonesia and China. During the 16th century, the Hamza dastan reached India during Akbar’s reign. Gradually Dastangoi found its way from the courts to the markets. From from 1881 till 1910, Munshi Naval Kishore of Lucknow published the most popular version, of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza in 46 volumes (of around a 1000 pages each). The form died out with the demise of Mir Baqar Ali, the last known Dastango, in 1928. The modern revival of Dastangoi is an effort of two gentlemen, SR Faruqi, the noted Urdu litterateur, and Mahmood Farooqui.
