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Camp Teaches Gurmat Sangeet Of Sikh Darbar - North America

18-08-2009

Sweet sounds flowed from a big red barn in rural Maryland. At first it sounded like people singing, but upon closer look, the barn was filled with kids playing the most unusual instruments to be brought to this bucolic setting.

The fans inside helped only a little with the heat of the muggy summer day, but none of the kids complained. They were glued to their teacher, Jasdeep Singh, playing ‘Mary had a little lamb’ in Bilaaval raag, explaining how raags convey emotions and enhance understanding. “Think of raag as the bowl and Gurbani as the amrit,” he later said. “Without knowing the mood, (one) cannot know the purpose.”

Shoes are left outside a big red barn where Sikh children learned Gurmat sangeet during a summer camp in rural Maryland.

Inside the big red barn, Jasdeep Singh, a lecturer from the Raj Academy in the United Kingdom, teaches beginner students the art and meaning of Gurmat sangeet.

An advanced group having lessons under a shady tree.

Sher Singh (left), founder of the Guru Angad Institute of Sikh Studies in Sterling,Virginia, which organized this camp, is learning the saranda. Surinder Singh (right),founder of the Raj Academy in the United Kingdom, teaches the advanced group.

The dilruba is a bowed instrument that was invented by Guru Gobind Singh.

The saranda is a bowed instrument in which notes are played by sliding the cuticles of the fingers on the strings. It was created by Guru Arjan.

Jasdeep Singh was among a staff of teachers from the Raj Academy in the United Kingdom who came here to teach at this summer camp, from August 10 to 16. It provided a unique opportunity for Sikh kids to be immersed in learning Gurmat sangeet with instruments used during the Gurus’ times - rabab, dilruba, taus, sarangi, saranda, jori and tabla.

The camp was organized by the Guru Angad Institute of Sikh Studies, based in Sterling, Virginia. Founded in 2003, the institute runs weekly classes in boli, virsa, Gurmat and Gurmat sangeet. It partnered with the London-based academy to provide the only source in the Washington metropolitan area for learning Sikh traditional music. It has grown from 25 students to 80 students.

“There is a lack of very holistic schools where Sikh children are taught Punjabi and Gurmat, much less Gurmat sangeet,” said Sher Singh, founder of the institute who plays the dilruba and is learning the saranda. “Schools emphasize culture versus what is truly Sikh culture – the feeling.”

This was the institute’s first summer camp, with intense focus, much like a retreat, he said. His goal is to make teachers out of his students.

Along with the beginner students in the big red barn, a small group of advanced students sat nearby with their instruments under the canopy of a large tree, listening to their teacher, Surinder Singh. He is a professor at Thames Valley University in London and the founder of the academy.

“The main thing was not promotion of these instruments,” he said after finishing with his class. “The main thing was that the shabad to be recited as it is written in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. If it’s written in Sri Raag Mahala 5, then it should be Sri Raag Mahala 5, not just anything else.”

The academy was set up in 1994 “to revive the heritage and the concept of Sri Guru Granth Sahib,” he said. What was happening in Europe at that time was that the people were sending their children for kirtan class, and they would come back home with shabads taught to them in Bollywood tunes, Indian classical tunes or even Western tunes.

“What was suffering was Gurmat sangeet, how it is written in the Guru Granth Sahib and the application of that, plus the instruments of the Sikh court,” he said.

“Our community does not even know that Guru Gobind Singh ji maharaj created the taus or dilruba,” he said. “The saranda was invented by Guru Arjan ji maharaj. The tabla we play today, the mother to that instrument is called the jori, was invented by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan.” Guru Hargobind introduced the sarangi, a traditional classical instrument, to Sikh dharma. And Guru Nanak introduced the rabab, which also existed in India at the time.

The revival of Sikh instruments began in 1992 when Surinder Singh and other members of the academy traced a few of them to the British Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The rabab is a stringed instrument that is plucked like a guitar. Guru Nanak introduced the rabab, which existed in India during his time.

Kids learn the taus and tabla at summer camp. The taus (forefront) was created by Guru Gobind Singh and is the predecessor to the tabla.

Left to right: Navjot Singh, 17, learned the tabla and jori for nine years and is now learning the dilruba; Harjaap Singh, 9, is learning the dilruba; Navneet Kaur, 15, has been learning the taus and dilruba for the last six years; Simran Kaur, 13, has been learning the sarangi for the past four years; Gursanam Kaur, 17, has been learning the dilruba for the past five years.

Raj Academy: Pursuing a vision of excellence in Sikh Music Education since 1994.

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