Shabad Dhun Foundation

Shabad Dhun Foundation is a non-profit which was set up with the objective of supporting, archiving and energising the cultural traditions of mystic poetry in our land. We take special interest in developing new, creative ways to highlight and spread the values inherent in Bhakti and Sufi poetry and music. Among the many values that this poetic tradition emphasizes, it speaks in powerful poetic ways of the need for compassionate and harmonious co-existence with people of diverse faiths and cultures; of developing a non-consumeristic, non-materialistic way of living in step with nature; and of self-inquiry as the way of true spirituality.

The Shabad Dhun Foundation is enabling the work of the Kabir Project (www.kabirproject.com) which was initiated by Shabnam Virmani, professor and artist-in-residence at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design & Technology in Bangalore. Shabnam and the Kabir Project team have immersed in the poetry of Kabir and several other Bhakti, Sufi and Baul poets since 2002, with the continuing support of Srishti, through a deep engagement with their folk music traditions and are intimately familiar with many of these musicians and their repertoires. (See www.ajabshahar.com)

One of the primary goals of Shabad Dhun Foundation is to devise new pedagogies and curriculums and run educational programs to take the spirit of this mystic poetry and folk music to rural and urban school children and university classrooms in the country, with a special focus on low-income and rural children.

In keeping with these core objectives, the Shabad Dhun Foundation has enabled the Kabir Project to develop and run an innovative schools program called Shabad Shaala, an 8-month curriculum of mystic poetry and music, currently working with teachers and middle-school children of 38 schools (mostly rural, tribal and low-income government schools) in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi & Hyderabad. It gives school children and youth a unique opportunity to immerse in the wisdom of saint-poets such as Kabir, Meerabai, Gorakhnath, Ravidas, Sufis like Shah Latif, Bulleh Shah, Ghulam Fareed and Baul poets like Lalon Fakir. With folk artists as gurus, the experience of Sufi, Bhakti, and Baul songs enters the classroom and students embody the poems by singing them. The goal is not to become great singers of these songs but to be struck deeply by their wisdom.

In addition to the song sessions, layers the meanings of the songs and Kabir poems are explored with children through a range of curated and thoughtfully designed classroom activities. In July we organise Teachers’ Training Workshops to orient them for the facilitation of these reflective and creative exercises which include drama, writing, illustrated wisdom tales, multi-media quizzes and games. In January, the program culminates in a festival of mystic poetry for children, titled Ajab Gajab Bazaar.

Children in Shabad Shaala are taught by some of the finest folk/Sufi musicians in our country, deeply grounded artists and practitioners of the oral traditions of Kabir and other Bhakti and Sufi poetry, including –

• Mir Mukhtiyar Ali – Rajasthan
• Mir Ali Basu – Rajasthan
• Mahesha Ram – Rajasthan
• Bhalu Ram – Rajasthan
• Bhagga Khan – Rajasthan
• Omprakash Nayak – Rajasthan
• Mooralala Marwada – Gujarat
• Tarasingh Dodve – Madhya Pradesh
• Arun Goyal – Madhya Pradesh
• Kaluram Bamaniya – Madhya Pradesh
• Laxman Das Baul – West Bengal

The vision of Shabad Shaala is not only to bring a powerful, socially cohesive wisdom to our children, but also to strengthen the livelihoods of folk singer communities that have kept this oral literature alive in our country for generations in the form of songs. By creating new opportunities through Shabad Shaala for these musicians to share their art and practice, we are ensuring that this poetry is passed on and stays alive to nourish the coming generations.

Directors of Shabad Dhun Foundation are seasoned social worker Rajiv Khandelwal, working in the field of labour rights from Udaipur for over 3 decades, senior artist & designer Smriti Chanchani and artist, writer and filmmaker, Shabnam Virmani.