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Music: Sufi Gospel Project: Experiencing Spiritual Transcendence Through Music
JP/Arief SuhardimanThe Sufi poem written by the famous 15th century Indian mystic poet Kabir and those of the Christian hymn “Abide with Me”, written around the 19th century by Scottish Anglican priest Henry Francis Lyte came from different times and different places, as well as different traditions
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JP/Arief Suhardiman
The Sufi poem written by the famous 15th century Indian mystic poet Kabir and those of the Christian hymn “Abide with Me”, written around the 19th century by Scottish Anglican priest Henry Francis Lyte came from different times and different places, as well as different traditions. Yet one has no idea how powerfully they can elevate the spirit when combined together.
The Sufi Gospel Project performed a recitation that combined Sufi poetry and church hymns during a Jan. 12 concert at Gandhi Memorial Intercontinental School (GMIS) in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
As the name suggests, the band combines Sufi and gospel traditions to create music that allows its listeners to experience spiritual transcendence.
The band consists of Sonam Kalra on vocals, Amaan Ali Khan on tabla, Ahsan Ali on sarangi (traditional Indian string instrument), Rajesh Prasanna on Indian bamboo flutes, Tarit Pal on drums and percussion and Anil Chawla on keyboard and piano.
Their rendition of “Abide in Me” evokes a sense of deep longing for unity with something greater than ourselves, which is the essence of spirituality.
“I believe that God has no religion,” Kalra said on the sidelines of the concert. “We are a blend of not just Sufi and gospel [musical traditions], but also a blend of various religious traditions to create one voice of faith. Each [spiritual] truth is equally valid, as we can express our faiths in different ways.”
“I rely on intuition when blending various Sufi poetry and gospel music for our compositions. The most important thing is [that] the whole composition has to sound complete and the messages of the original pieces which inspire it has to come through,” Kalra explained.
The religious denominations of the band members are reflected in the spiritual diversity embodied by their music: The Sikh vocalist is backed by a Christian keyboard player, Muslim sarangi and tabla players and a Hindu flutist and drummer.
Kalra started studying Hindustani classical music at the age of four. She went on to study graphic design in university and worked as a graphic designer for an advertising agency, as well as an occasional stint as an actress and a copywriter.
She conceived the idea to set up the band in 2011 in New Delhi, where she was invited to sing gospel at an event at the Nizamuddin mausoleum that celebrated the birth of the Sufi saint, Inayat Khan.
“Perhaps it was a sign from the universe, because it was unusual for a Sikh girl to be invited to perform gospel music at an event celebrating a Sufi saint,” she told The Jakarta Post after the concert.
Kalra said the concept of bringing people from various faiths together through music was urgently needed at a time when people were being categorized based on their religious identities.
“We feel that the world is too much about labels nowadays, and these labels create small compartments for people to live in. That’s not what life should be,” she said.
Kalra knows what she is talking about, having lived through sectarian conflict herself: she witnessed a riot in 1984 in India where the Sikhs were targeted. The incident made her question why people were killing others based on religion or a label.
The band has apparently gone beyond the religious divide in its attempt to unite people through music. One of the most moving pieces of the concert was none other than its 2015 single “Bol (Speak Out)”, which encourages people to speak out for human rights regardless of identity labels, especially for marginalized groups such as women as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
“Speak, while your tongue is still yours,” the song says.
On a sonic as well as lyrical level, the song brings to mind the late Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”. The composition is based on the poetry of the great Faiz Ahmad Faiz. It is an uplifting piece to listen to, especially during this era when hatred for those who are different seems to be on the rise.
“If you turn a blind eye to a person who is being treated badly because of who they are, you are actually committing a crime,” Kalra said about the song’s message.
Meanwhile, the band’s performance of “Man Manam” (I am, yet I am not), inspired by the work of 8th century Sufi poet Rabi’a al-Adawiyya from Persia (now Iran), enveloped the audience members with vibrations of peace and spiritual transcendence. The sublime music carried the audience to a place where the ego ended and a sense of unity with the universe began.
The audience began to move about and clap their hands against their seats when the band started to play Ray Charles’ 1955 hit “Hallelujah I Love Her So”, in an eclectic arrangement of classical jazz played on traditional Indian instruments.
The number also demonstrated the meeting point between the two different traditions: Kalra and her band members performed scats as well as call-and-response patterns throughout the number, showing that improvisations in jazz and Indian traditional music were not so different after all.
The audience seemed enraptured throughout the concert, hypnotized by the sense of peace and spiritual transcendence the music provided. Kalra herself experienced the same exhilaration while performing.
“When I am singing with the band, I feel like my whole world is in equilibrium, I feel right where I should be. Once, I performed for three hours while going through lower back pain and, amazingly, the pain just disappeared for three hours while I was singing onstage,” she said.
Kalra said that audiences generally responded positively to the band’s music.
“People have been so kind to accept our music. I think they respond that way because we convey our message in a way that doesn’t shove things down people’s throats,” she said. “Hopefully, though, after listening to our music, people will come to realize that faith is not about how many times you pray in a day; instead, it is about treating others kindly.”
“After our Jakarta concert, one lady came to approach me and said, ‘I feel like I’ve been in the desert lately, and your band’s music feels like a refreshing rain’,” she recalled, her eyes lighting up at the memory.
Indeed: the concert has reminded the audience that we can always access our inner peace and spirituality, no matter how trying our present circumstances might be.
