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The golden periods of the Sikh religious music
Harjap Singh Aujla 

We the members of the Sikh community are passing through a very difficult phase of our existence. Our moral and spiritual values are going down the drain.

Our leaders, who are supposed to give us a lead, are falling prey to the policies of appeasement and populism. They are incapable of giving us a lead. One of the most precious of our traditions is our distinct spiritual music, which flourished during the time of our great “Gurus” (1485 A.D. to 1710 A.D.) and after lying low during the dark period from 1710 A.D. to 1800 A.D. had experienced a second phase of renaissance during the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Empire and subsequently up to the end of 1950s. But since the nineteen sixties, our sacred religious music also has suffered a steady decline due to the lack of vision on the part of our so called elected leaders and their utter neglect of Sikh traditions. 

Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji gave a lot of invaluable gifts to the world and one of them was very pleasant, very soothing and very educative Sikh religious music. This form of music came with Guru Nanak more than five hundred years ago. During the time of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji, the North Indian classical music (Hindustani form of classical music) was quite well developed and Dhrupad and Dhamar form of music was in vogue in all the known musical Gharanas. Guru Nanak’s music of course was not untouched by this great tradition. Those were the days when a host of string instruments were prevalent as accompaniments to the vocalists in Northern India. Rabab was one such very versatile instrument, which was not played with a bow but was plucked to produce melody and a semblance of beat. Bhai Mardana, an accomplished string instrumentalist (Rabab player) became a lifelong musician companion of the great Guru. Guru Nanak Dev ji undoubtedly was the lead singer, who sang his own spiritual and musical compositions to the accompaniment of Bhai Mardana’s melodious Rabab.

This in a nut shell is how the Sikh Religious Music is conceived to have originated. During the four famous “Udasis” (tours) and during his shorter visits, even those who did not understand Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji’s language and the message contained in his “Baani” (spiritual poetry) used to get mesmerized by his music and after the music and discourses were over, they used to go home after imbibing his message.    

Guru Nanak’s successor four Gurus, were also great poets and musicians in their own rights. While compiling the holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev ji divided his own Baani (spiritual poetry) and the compositions of his predecessors as well as some compatible spiritual poetry of a few Hindu and Muslim saints into bunches of hymns to be rendered in certain specific Raagas. Roughly from 1485 to 1710, the transformation or evolution of the Sikh religious music took place during a cumulative period of 225 years.

The life time of the Gurus was the first golden period of the Sikh religious music or in Punjabi the “Gurmat Sangeet”. During this period a number of additional string instruments were added to “Rabab” as accompaniment. During the period of the gurus, percussion instruments were also added, which gave “Taal” beat. Pakhawaj (with animal leather on both sides), as known as Mardang, was added to give “Taal” (beat). Later on “Tabla” with two drums (one for bass notes and the other for treble notes) was adopted, because it was more convenient to play. In the village gurdwaras “Dholki” (similar to Pakhawaj or Mardang, but smaller) came to be used. “Saranda” (another string instrument similar to modern day Sarangi) was introduced during the times of the fifth and the sixth Gurus. Later on some folks from Iran also became the followers the great Gurus and they presented “Taus” (another string instrument) to the Guru Darbars. Similarly more such instruments were added from time to time.

Later on “Tanpura” became an accompaniment of every accomplished classical musician, may he be a Hindu, Sikh or Muslim. Its sweet vibratory sound was very soothing to the ears of the singers and the listeners alike. Even now “Tanpura” is a must for all classical performances. 

Most of the musicians, who used to sing the Baani of the Gurus in their Darbars, during the lifetimes of the great Gurus, other than the Gurus themselves, were Rababis (members of Bhai Mardana’s community {caste} of musicians). The most prominent names amongst them were those of the duo of Bhai Satta and Bhai Balwand.   

Then came a period of turmoil from 1710 to 1800 A.D..The Sikh community was embroiled in a bitter struggle for survival and eventual sovereignty. Many times for months the Sikh places of worship remained closed or under occupation of the foreign invaders. During this period “Shabad Chowkis” in specific day and night “Raagas” became irregular even in the holiest Sikh shrine the “Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar”. During this difficult period some serious attempts were made to destroy and demolish the “Sri Darbar Sahib” (now the Golden Temple). The Sikh religious music even during these trying times miraculously remained alive, but in the privacy of the homes of the religious musicians and the homes of perpetually at war Sikh soldiers. In spite of facing very difficult times and under constant fear of massacres, the hereditary exponents of the Sikh religious music (mostly from the Rababi communuty) kept the age old traditions alive from generation to generation by imparting this valuable educational treasure to their sons and grandsons. Our heads bow before their grit and determination.

Several Sikh religious musicians did not see even one open performance of “Gurmat Sangeet” during their life times. Some were lucky to perform “Shabad Kirtan” at “Sri Darbar Sahib” during auspicious occasions of the festivals of “Diwali” (the festival of lights) and “Baisakhi” (the spring harvest festival). The periods of the repeated invasions of India by the invaders from North Western Asia i.e. Ahmed Shah Abdali and Nadir Shah were the worst for the followers of the Sikh faith and the exponents of its hereditary musical traditions. Many musicians and their families could not afford even two square meals in twenty four hours. 

Bhai Chanan Rababi of Kapurthala was a remnant of the ancient Dhrupad and Dhamar style of classical music. He was an acclaimed drummer (Tabla player) too. He was conversant with several “Taals”, which had become extinct during the preceding two centuries. He used to perform “Shabad Gayan” as a free-lancer in the Golden Temple and in “State Gurdwara Kapurthala”. My father (late Sardar Sochet Singh of Kapurthala) had several exploratory interactions with Bhai Chanan. It was Bhai Chanan, who told my father about the stories of the abject poverty of the Rababi Kirtanias during dark years which followed the demise of Guru Gobind Singh and which ended with the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. According to Bhai Chanan, the Golden Temple has always been the fountain-head of “Gurmat Sangeet” since 1600 A.D.      

As explained above by late Bhai Chanan, the second golden period of Sikh religious music started during the reign of the Sikh Emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh roughly from year 1800 onwards. This renaissance of Sikh religious music kept going strong up to the beginning of 1960s. Maharaja Ranjit Singh inherited the fiefdom of “Shukarchakya Misl” from his brave soldier father Maha Singh. This “Misl” was based in Gujjranwala and Guru Nanak’s birth place “Nankana Sahib” was a part of it. In fact the traditional “Chowkis” of “Shabad Kirtan” were held regularly in Guru Nanak’s birth place “Nankana Sahib since the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s grand-father roughly around 1760 A.D. During Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign, the daily attendance at the Golden Temple took a quantum jump and the offerings multiplied manifolds. Those musicians who lived in abject poverty, for up to four generations became well off within years, because the Sikh community had attained affluence and had become very generous.  

By the turn of the century (round about 1800 A.D.), Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed Amritsar to his territory of control, which event proved very important from the point of view of propagation of “Gurmat Sangeet”. In fact this ominous annexation proved to be the golden news for all kinds of Sikh fine arts. During this period, all the known and unknown “Rababi Kirtinias” came out of their four generation long hibernation and started converging at the Golden Temple Amritsar, “Gurdwara Janam Asthan Sri Nankana Sahib”, “Gurdwara Dehra Sahib Lahore” and “Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib Tarntaran”. 

In the neighbouring “Ahluwalia Misl” administered State of Kapurthala also, the “Rababi Kirtanias” resumed uninterrupted performance of “Shabad Kirtan” among other places at “Gurdwara Sri Ber Sahib” at Sultanpur Lodhi. It can be concluded that from 1800 A.D. the second golden period of Sikh religious music started with a bang. The Rababi Kirtanias started working harder and harder on the Raagas and on training and culturing of their voices. They meticulously started “Riyaz of Raagas and Reets” for several hours everyday and performed every time from their heart and to the limits of their tonal and volumetric capabilities.  

Modern sound enhancing gadgets like microphones were not available during those days but the congregations started getting larger and larger, therefore loud and high pitched singing became a part and parcel of the Punjabi school of music. The listeners were heard appreciatively exclaiming that such and such musician is singing from the depths of his lungs. The brilliant and emotionally charged up musicians used to be very well compensated monetarily and through other religious recognitions and rewards.   .

By year 1850 A.D., the ancient Dhrupad and Dhamar format of classical music was still very much alive in “Gurmat Sangeet”. “Partal” variation (several specific beats for different stanzas within the same Shabad) was also still in vogue. Lahore and Amritsar used to be the harbingers of any change in North Western India’s culture. The presently popular “Khayal” format of North Indian classical music was still in its evolutionary stage in the Sikh shrines of Punjab. The leading centres where this new format of classical music (Khayal) was primarily evolving were Patiala, Malerkotla, Sham Chaurasi (in Hoshiarpur district), Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Kasur (in Lahore district). According to some accounts “Khayal” and “Tarana” styles of classical music had taken birth during or before the life time of the Tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh ji and “Gurmat Sangeet” in these new formats was performed in his “Durbars”.

But during his time also most Sikh musicians based in Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala, Amritsar and Tarntaran were still religiously sticking to the “Dhrupad”, “Dhamar” and “Partal” formats and the audiences were still appreciative of these ancient traditions. “Khayal” format became more popular in the Sikh shrines towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. 

Around 1920, some brilliant Kirtanias like Bhai Samund Singh went further ahead in adopting the semi-classical format of “Thumri” into their “Shabad Gayan”. This experimentation was readily accepted by the Sikh congregations. Bhai Samund Singh claimed that Multani Qafi was in vogue during Guru Nanak’s times and he himself took great pleasure in rendition of “Shabad Kirtan” in this semi-classical tune. Later on Bade Ghulam Ali Khan excelled in singing “Multani Qafi”.    

When Bhai Jawala Singh used to perform a “Shabad” in “Dhrupad” or “Dhamar” in my ancestral village Aujla (near the princely city of Kapurthala), a lot of people used to converge from neighbouring villages as well as the town of Kapurthala to listen to the “Ilahi Baani” in his versatile, vibrating and highly modulating voice. Many times he was accompanied by half a dozen or more musicians. Most of them were his pupils and they played various string instruments. “Taus” and “Saranda” were his favourite string instruments. During the thirties, when most of the musicians switched to Harmonium, even Bhai Jawala Singh switched over to this more convenient though less versatile instrument.

From 1800 A.D. to 1947 A.D. a lot of the “Rababi” musicians, who’s ancesters had never performed “Gurmat Sangeet”, also started performing “Shabad Kirtan” regularly, by learning the “Reets” from other Kirtanias and they also started receiving a lot of respect in the historic Sikh shrines and newly established large city gurdwaras. Many of them revived old regional Reets and some developed new innovations. Though several names were floating since 1800, but the most popular names were of those who performed “Shabad Kirtan” during the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. They included Bhai Lal (Senior), Bhai Sain Ditta (the tutor of Bhai Santa Singh ji), Bhai Naseera, Bhai Hazoora, Bhai Tana, Bhai Mehar, Bhai Chanan, Bhai Taaba and Bhai Chand (Senior). Those Rababis, who became practicing Sikhs included Bhai Pal Singh Bhai Jaswant Singh, Bhai Gurmukh Singh Fakkar Bhai Sarmukh Singh Fakkar, Bhai Partap Singh (Senior), Bhai Partap Singh (Junior), Bhai Dharam Singh Zakhmi, Bhai Dilbagh Singh Gulbagh Singh, Bhai Prithipal Singh Bhai Mohan Pal Singh, Bhai Shamsher Singh Zakhmi and Bhai Jagtar Singh Fakkar. Please forgive me if I have left some names out. 

During the later part of the nineteenth century and whole of twentieth century, musicians from the non- Rababi and fully practicing Sikh famililies also earned a lot of respect from the congregations. Prominent among them included Bhai Hira Singh, Bhai Sham Singh, Bhai Santokh Singh, Bhai Jawala Singh, Bhai Sudh Singh Pardhan Singh, Bhai Samund Singh, Bhai Santa Singh, Master Madan, Sant Sujan Singh, Bhai Budh Singh Taan, Bhai Surjan Singh, Bhai Avtar Singh Gurcharan Singh, Bhai Didar Singh, Bhai Balbir Singh, Bhai Beant Singh Bijli, Bhai Bahadar Singh, Professor Chanan Singh Majboor, Bhai Bakhshish Singh, Bhai Harjit Singh Gurdip Singh, Bhai Piara Singh, Bhai Sarabjit Singh Rangeela, Professor Sohan Singh, Bhai Tej Pal Singh Surinder Singh, Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa,  Bhai Gurmeet Singh Shant, and Bhai Narinder Singh Benareswale. Please excuse me if I have omitted any name of a really accomplished Kirtania. 

The second golden period of “Gurmat Sangeet” started fading since 1947. One of the two foremost Sikh shrines, which used to set the trend of “Gurmat Sangeet” Gurdwara Janam Asthan Sri Nankana Sahib became a part of Pakistan and all the Sikhs living in and this shrine were forced to migrate to India. A lot of Sikh musicians based in there were violently uprooted. Some of them were killed in cold blood and several others had to fight with swords and guns to reach the Indian Punjab. Thus the Golden Temple remained the only fountainhead of Sikh religious music. Ironically the successive democratically elected managements of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee after 1947 could not maintain the lofty traditions of “Gurmat Sangeet” alive even in the Golden Temple. 

After 1947, Bhai Chand was disgraced into leaving the Golden Temple. Later on he ended up committing suicide in Lahore. All of a sudden both Bhai Samund Singh and Bhai Santa Singh left the service of the Golden Temple Amritsar in 1949. The other good musicians stayed on. But the worst time came during and after the sixties, when merit failed to be the criterion for selection of the Raagis. 

The historic gurdwaras in Delhi, after 1947, started recruiting better Kirtanias. Bhai Santa Singh, Bhai Avtar Singh Gurcharan Singh, Bhai Surjan Singh and Bhai Takhat Singh joined the service of the gurdwaras in Delhi after 1947. 

Between 1966 and 1972 four legendry Kirtanias died. They included Bhai Santa Singh, Bhai Surjan Singh, Sant Sujan Singh and Bhai Samund Singh. This dealt a severe blow to the lovers of Gurmat Sangeet. Others who filled their slots were not as competent. According to a story doing the rounds, during the late sixties, a wealthy Iranian Sikh recommended to the SGPC to recruit a Sikh musician from Delhi to perform, among other duties, “Asa Di Vaar Chowki” at the Golden Temple. The story says that he deposited several years’ salary with the SGPC for this musician. The musician had a very sweet voice, but he lacked basic knowledge and training in the Raagas. This one unintentional gesture set a chain reaction and the Raagis with strong political links and possessing hardly any knowledge of “Gurmat Sangeet” were recruited by the SGPC again and again. Unfortunately this practice still continues. Even on special annual days (Gurpurbs) the quality of music relayed from the Golden Temple is getting worse and worse. The downward slide still continues unabated. 

Roughly from 1960 to this day the standard of “Shabad Kirtan” at the Golden Temple and the other historic shrines administered by the SGPC is in constant decline. The good meritorious Kirtanias command hardly any respect and the mediocres, by dint of political patronage, are calling the shots. The SGPC needs to recruit an expert or a group of experts in the field of “Gurmat Sangeet” to select and recruit the Raagis and there should be no political recommendation or financial kick-backs in the process of recruitment of the “Raagi Jathas”. While  awarding duties on special occasions care should be taken that the World is listening. Then and then only this rot can be stemmed. I am sorry to say that somehow our leadership is completely ill at ease in such sensitive matters.

29 July  2009
 

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