Kabir in the digital age

Shabnam Virmani

The Kabir Festival is back in 2016, with a four-day celebration that will feature over 30 artistes, 17 events, three workshops, three story narrations spread across 13 locations in the city, from Fort to Borivali and Byculla. The festival that began in 2011, has attempted to spread the verses of poet-saints to mohallas, NGO spaces, colleges, communities and institutions through folk-style bhajans, abhangs, qawwalis, Baul songs sung by rural and urban artistes from around the country, films, stories, dance and discussion.

Shabnam Virmani

A labour of love, the festival is volunteer-run and materialises through people volunteering time, expertise and facilities, coupled with a shoestring budget funded by the Kabir Community of Mumbai comprising ordinary citizens and like-minded community-based venue and hospitality associates. The community is bound in its belief that the mystic poets of the sub-continent, like Kabir, Bulleh Shah, Tukaram, Meerabai, have a message in their poetry which is even more relevant today than their own.

Dharmendra Tipaniya

"We bring poetry to the people through performances of various rural artistes who have carried it through the oral tradition and the urban artistes who have been inspired by it to create a newer idiom of presentation," explains 29-year-old Pankti Shah, a theatre professional and a member of the Kabir Community of Mumbai.

Parvathy Baul

"We are trying to make this festival as inclusive as possible. All events are free and open to the public. We choose locations like bookshops, schools and colleges, footpath amphitheaters, gardens and even the streets," she adds, before rushing back to last-minute preparations before D-Day.

Radhika Sood Nayak

On: January 7 to 10
Call: 9820380105
Log on to: www.thekabirfest.com for the full schedule