The Kabir Project

The Kabir Project consists of many journeys inspired by Bhakti, Sufi, and Baul poetry and songs as they flow in the rural folk traditions. Spanning over two decades, our inspirations in the wisdom of these poems has taken the shape of several FILMS, BOOKS, the AJAB SHAHAR web archive, rural yatras, urban FESTIVALS & MORE. Inspired by the call of Kabir, the 15th century north Indian mystic poet, our journeys inquire into the spiritual and socio-political resonances of mystic poetry. The true spirit of our work lies in the taana-baana (warp & weft) of social networks and friendships built over two decades between the singers, scholars, activists, artists, students, and the larger public through our work which continues to expand in new and surprising directions.

The Kabir Project journeys were initiated by filmmaker, writer and artist Shabnam Virmani in 2002, when she was invited as Artist-in-Residence at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology (now Srishti Manipal Institute) in Bangalore, from where the Kabir Project continues to receive institutional support. The Kabir Project is further enabled by the Shabad Dhun Foundation, a non-profit set up with the objective of supporting, archiving and energising the cultural traditions of mystic poetry in our land.

The current initiative of the Kabir Project is Shabad Shaala, an 8-month curriculum of mystic poetry and music, currently working with teachers and middle-school children of 38 schools (mostly rural, tribal and low-income government schools) in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi & Hyderabad. It gives school children and youth a unique opportunity to immerse in the wisdom of saint-poets such as Kabir, Meerabai, Gorakhnath, Ravidas, Sufis like Shah Latif, Bulleh Shah, Ghulam Fareed and Baul poets like Lalon Fakir. With folk artists as gurus, the experience of Sufi, Bhakti, and Baul songs enters the classroom and students embody the poems by singing them. The goal is not to become great singers of these songs but to be struck deeply by their wisdom.