Gurmat sangeet project

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Young Australian Kirtaniye at the World Parliament of Religions, Dec 6 2009, Melbourne

The Gurmat Sangeet Project is a grass-roots level effort dedicated to the preservation and propagation of the Gurmat Sangeet tradition, which can be traced all the way back to Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh religion. (For more information on Gurmat Sangeet, please see : An Introduction to Gurmat Sangeet, Gurmat Sangeet Appreciation and The Evolution of Gurmat Sangeet under Articles & Papers)

Aim and mission

The Gurmat Sangeet Project is presently focused on the following areas :

  • Creating awareness about Gurmat Sangeet through this website and other
  • Documenting and disseminating traditional Gurmat Sangeet compositions
  • Creating simple educational materials to help de-mystify the tradition
  • Serving recordings of authentic Gurmat Sangeet compositions over the Internet
  • Teaching children the practice of Gurmat Sangeet on a very limited basis


Future endeavours will include

  • Setting up regional and local chapters for the teaching of Gurmat Sangeet
  • Sponsorships and Scholarships for students of Gurmat Sangeet
  • Web-based Gurmat Sangeet workshops

The Gurmat Sangeet Project's teaching activities are presently confined to the New England Sikh Study Circle, at the Gurudwara Sahib at Milford, Massachusetts. The teaching program has been in place for about a year now and is integrated into the Sunday school activites. So far about fifteen children, ages 7 through 15 have learned several Shabads in the Gurmat Sangeet tradition; all the compositions that have been taught are Raga based.

Covered Ragas include Yaman Kalyan, Bilaval, Ahlaiya Bilaval, Bhupali, Bhinn Shadja, Bhairav, Ahir Bhairav, Basant, Bahar, Miyan Ki Malhar, Megh Malhar, Kedara, Tilang, Bihagda, Brindabani Sarang, Asavari, Bhairavi, Basant Hindol, Bhimpalasi, Darbari Kanada, Bihag and Malkauns. In addition, teachers are being trained as well in order to keep the project viable. At present, roughly twentyfive children participate in the classes. A couple of Gurmat Sangeet workshops have been organized for adults as well.

Contact

Sevadar and Contributors

Mehr Kaur

The Gurmat Sangeet Project is a volunteer effort. This Website has been in development since late 2002; however work on collecting recordings started several years ago even when no clear delivery mechanism existed for these recordings.

Sewadars

Mehr Kaur

Mehr Kaur, a Sophmore in High School, has been a student of Gurmat Sangeet for eight years. She has dedicated herself to learning traditional Gurmat Sangeet compositions and has travelled to Gurmat Sangeet Darbars in Toronto, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Stockton and many other venues all over North America. Mehr is also a member of the Gurmat Sangeet Project faculty and devotes her time to introducing younger children to Gurmat Sangeet. She has participated in several Learn-a-Shabad workshops, designed to teach material ranging from basic to complex to students of Gurmat Sangeet, according to their abilities.

Amrit Kaur

Amrit Kaur

Amrit Kaur, a Senior in High School, has been a student of Gurmat Sangeet for eight years. She has dedicated herself to learning traditional Gurmat Sangeet compositions and has travelled to Gurmat Sangeet Darbars in Toronto, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Stockton and many other venues all over North America. Amrit is also a member of the Gurmat Sangeet Project faculty and devotes her time to introducing younger children to Gurmat Sangeet. In recent years, Amrit has played a key role in organizing and managing the logistics for several Gurmat Sangeet Darbars.

Sarbpreet Singh

Sarbpreet Singh

Sarbpreet Singh is a Boston based executive in the Data Communications industry. He is the co-ordinator of the Gurmat Sangeet Project and the author of the content on this website. Sarbpreet Singh has a deep interest in Gurmat Sangeet as well as Hindustani Classical music. Sarbpreet greatly enjoys spending time with the children of the Gurmat Sangeet project, teaching them shabads and playing 'Guess the Raga' games with them. He was introduced to Gurmat Sangeet in the early 90s by Bhai Nazar Singh of Milwaukee and is now an errant and irregular student of Warren Senders. He has had the privilege of offering Kirtan Seva at various Boston area programs over the past few years. He can be reached at [email protected]

New Contributors

Navjot Singh

The Gurmat Sangeet Project would like to acknowledge the following key contributors, who have provided significant content to the website. Their efforts are much appreciated. We hope that many more contributors will step forward and help enhance this effort.

Navjot Singh

Navjot Singh works with one of the leading research labs in New Jersey as Research Scientist. His musical interests are many and varied, but he specially enjoys recording and archiving Gurmat Sangeet rendered in Ragas, and learning Hindustani Classical Music on Mandolin. His recordings are digital, and he strives to capture the mood created by Kirtan performed in Ragas by varying the recording equipment to suit the Ragis’ style. Navjot is also an accomplished photographer. He has contributed all the recordings and photographs featured on the Bhai Amrik Singh Zakhmi page.

During a recent trip to India (2005) Navjot met with S.Paramjot Singh Ji, an accomplished kirtaniya and a student of the late Bhai Sahib Samund Singh Ji. Navjot obtained some recordings by the legendary Bhai Sahib Samund SIngh Ji, cleaned up the audio files and made them available to be hosted on this website.

Other Key Contributors

Baljit Singh Bhikhu

Baljit Singh Bhikhi ia s a lover of Gurmat Sangeet from Canada. He was kind enough to contribute a large archive of recordings by Bhai Sahib Dharam Singh Zakhmi to the Gurmat Sangeet Project.

Parminder Kaur

Parminder Kaur is a volunteer teacher at the Sunday School program at the Milford Gurdwara in Massachussetts, and does a fine job teaching young children Punjabi. She has been working diligently at transcribing Gurmat Sangeet articles from various publications for inclusion in this website. She is also the mother of Deepinder Singh, who is part of the Boston Chapter of the Gurmat Sangeet Project.

Surinder Singh

Surinder Singh is a lover of Gurmat Sangeet from the West Coast . A CPA by profession, he grealty enjoys Gurmat Sangeet, Hindustani Classical and Western Classical Music. He is very close to Bhai Sahib Avtar Singh Ji and other eminent Kirtaniyas. He generously contributed the recordings by Bhai Santa Singh Ji, hosted on this site.