It is with profound love and respect that we offer this song as a farewell tribute to the late Pt. Vijay Sardeshmukh, who passed away on the 5th of October, 2019. Composed by his guru the legendary classical singer Pt Kumar Gandharva, Vijayji sang this song with a quiet depth and intensity. In this song, the mystic poet Kabir laments with a deep sadness the unawakened ways of the people of this world, calling himself a 'bird from a distant land'. Our hearts are bowed today for the flying away of this "pardesi panchhi' to a distant land.
When we first met Vijay Sardeshmukhji, it was straight from the hurly-burly of a film shoot that we had arrived at his Pune home, only to be hushed by the slow and meditative experience of his tuning his tanpuras. He had evidently absorbed a fine-tuned precision and profound reverence for the sound of the tanpuras from his guru, the legendary classical singer Pt. Kumar Gandharva. Many of us first heard these songs of Kabir from Kumarji - thanks to his extraordinary excavation of folk songs from the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. Here Vijayji sang them on the 3rd and concluding night of the Bangalore Festival of Kabir in 2009. Contact Vijay ji's son Swaroop Sardeshmukh at +91-9403357210, swar.surel@gmail.com.
(Click on Settings for subtitles in English & Hindi.)
The Festival of Kabir was organized by the Kabir Project, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology along with several other partner organizations in Bangalore in February 2009. It brought together singers from India and Pakistan in an immersive week-long event that included film screenings, live music concerts and talks.
This is one of a series of uploads for Ajab Shahar, a webspace dedicated to mystic poem and song, created by the Kabir Project team (www.ajabshahar.org ; www.kabirproject.org).
Song Credits:
Vocals: Vijay Sardeshmukh
Harmonium: Vyasmurthy Katti
Tabla: Mandar Puranik
Tanpura: Vidya Rao
Translation: Linda Hess
Video Credits:
Cameras: Tahireh Lal & Vinay Ghodgeri
Sound: Dipanshu Mitra
Editing: Shruti Kulkarni
Sub-Titling: Kabir Khanna
Collection: The Kabir Project
Place: Bangalore, India
Date of Recording: 01 March, 2009