Is a 15th century poet Kabir still relevant in the 21st century

hello

i am mukund ramaswamy co-founder of the

neo-folk fusion band kabir cafe

we performed the verses of the 15th

century mystic

kabir khabib spoke about humanity

oneness gender equality love

peace and togetherness aspects that are

extremely relevant in today’s world

we must have studied kabir way back in

school

but the real magic happens when we apply

his teachings

in our lives kabir cafe

to me is a unique amalgamation

of artists from different cultures

coming together

to make kabir immortal in the 21st

century

like india we are a classic example of

unity

in diversity niraj a singer is a

self-taught musician

born in delhi and has his roots

from uttarakhand viren the drama

he is from a kabir panther gujarati

family brito is a very versatile

musician

playing the bass guitar the acoustic

guitar he is from

manipur and has a very strong western

influence we have two relatively new

members

vikram who hails from nagpur and lend

support to us

with the percussions and piyush who’s an

amazing harmonium player from mumbai

finally

i am a carnatic violinist and my

forefathers

belong to kerala we did not choose

kabhil

kabir chose us kabir

to us is the first member of the band

a friend a guide who helps us during the

most trying times

this journey started when niraj saw the

documentary

by shabnam vermani and got inspired

saying padmashree who also happens to be

our guru

neeraj and i met at the natural streets

for performing arts

nspa and are born as friends

led us to many stages the organic

formation of the band was completed

with the joining of viren and brito

we have a very simple mantra enjoy

what you create and the audience will

appreciate

this happens by adding each of our

own sensibilities to covers timeless

words

we have conceptualized kabir cafe such

that

innovation and spirituality go hand in

hand

an artist evolves when he creates so

innovation is an innate trait of an

artist

since kabir’s words are timeless

and relevant they ignite spirituality

and when spirituality and innovation

blend together

magic happens i’ll pass this

conversation to my dear friend britto

to share his thoughts i would say

kabir is still very very much relevant

into this culture and era

as you can see around the world there

are so many situations going on

in different regions in religion in

tribes cultures

you know in all different parts of the

country and all around the world

and kabir speaks about clearly speaks

about unity peace

one and

being in harmony uh that

itself uh speaks a lot

you know even though this kabir’s poetry

he has spoken 700 years ago i think is

much more relevant now than in the past

you know as uh you can see that the

development and

as a human evolve and the world evolve

loss of development has taken place in

human

lifestyle or maybe infrastructure or

maybe the way

people think but i think the negative

virtues also

comes along with that positive

positivity so i think

in this world of

madness that people are striving for

loss of competition

i think uh there are lots of negativity

within us which we ourselves have to

remind ourselves

uh through these messages that kabir has

spoken 700 years ago

so i think uh yes definitely uh

kabir is very very much relevant into

this culture and era

so i think music is all about a choice

and for the person who makes music is

all about what you feel

and what you or your emotion is and then

you express yourself

uh what you feel through the music or

through the instruments you play

right and uh as a band kabir cafe uh we

come from different parts of the country

i’m from northeast

manipur and near is from delhi mukul is

from the south

uh viren is from you know gujarat and

vicky and pierce is from maharashtra so

i think

the taste of music and the brought up is

completely

different in each individual so the wave

expression itself

and we call ourselves as a folk fusion

band uh the reason why we call it is

because

the base root music that we create is on

a folk basis but

the experimentation that we do uh in

music

uh that gives

us the fusion feel that we know we

experiment with different

types of instruments and modern feel and

modern vibe of

uh music that when we compose the or

produce the music

our album so i think uh music is a lot

to do with

personal uh connection that uh we

go through you know in the day-to-day

life so

the music that we make is not for

everybody around the world because

that is impossible to do for any

musicians or any

band to do right so even for the

listeners i think

it’s a choice and whoever has connected

with us or with any

music they will definitely resonate it

to whom they connect with

when we make music i think it’s all

about

expressing what you feel first ins

instead of just uh making music for

just for people and you are not enjoying

it you know i don’t think

that is the right way to make music i

think once you enjoy the music that you

make

and what it’s once it is from your heart

i think one

i don’t think there’s nothing called

good or bad once you express that on the

stage or once you express it through the

music or when you release it

i think people will definitely connect

it right there and then

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