McGill University

Creator: Kabir Cultural Centre

Poster advertising a 3-day series of events on the historical poet Kabir held at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. The first is a screening of Shabnam Virmani's 2008 documentary Had Anhad: Journeys with Ram and Kabir followed by a panel with Indian filmmaker Shabnam Virmani held at the Birks Heritage Chapel. The second is a panel discussion on Kabir: Word, Sound, and Image held in the Senior Common Room in the Birks Building. The third is a musical performance of In Quest of Kabir performed by Kabir folksinger Prahlad Singh Tipanya and his group at the New Residence Hall Ballroom. Kabir was a 15th century mystic and philosopher. He was born in 1398[disputed] in the city of Varanasi in what is now Uttar Pradesh, India. His writings on religious practices he deemed unethical or meaningless made him a divisive figure among the Hindus and Muslims of his day. After his death, his writings would go on to influence the Bhakti Movement of medieval Hinduism and would be included in the Sikh text Guru Granth Sahib. He is regarded as a saint by Vaishnavist Hindus, and his teachings are followed by the Kabir Panth denomination of the Sant Mat movement. Had Anhad (Bounded Boundless) is a multi-part[?] documentary series exploring the life and philosophy of Kabir in the contexts of religion, politics, and Indian/Pakistani tensions. Shabnam Virmani is a documentary filmmaker and artist. Since 2002, she has been artist in residence at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in the city of Bangalore in Karnataka, India. She is also the co-founder of the Drishti Media Collective and a member of the Kabir Project. Prahlad Singh Tipanya is an Indian folk singer. He was born on September 7, 1954 in the town of Tarana in Madhya Pradesh, India. Along with backing instrumentalists, he performs Kabir bhajans in the Malwi folk style from Madhya Pradesh. He is a member of the Kabir Project.

Creator: Kabir Cultural Centre

Poster advertising the India-Pakistan Music and Dance Show, a fundraising concert for South Asian earthquake relief held at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Features ghazals performed by Akram Butt, classical dance performed by Manasi Jain, geet performed by Deepa Mathur & Hita Raghunathan, Catherine Potter on the bansuri, Jagjit Singh Soni on the tabla and Aditya Verma on the sarod. Akram Butt is a published poet, music composer and formally trained vocalist. He is a disciple of the Patiala Gharana (school) of Hindustani classical music and sings ghazal, geet and semi-classical composition. In Pakistan, he was a staff artist at Radio Pakistan and Pakistan TV. Manasi Jain is a student of the Bharatanatyam form of Indian classical dance who was born in Montreal, Quebec. She is a member of the Kabir Cultural Centre and a reputed junior artist who performs extensively in Montreal and other cities. She also has a PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Deepa Mathur is a vocalist who sings geet. Hita Raghunathan is a trained singer of Hindustani music, ghazals and bhajans who lives in Montreal, Quebec, where, according to the Kabir Cultural Centre, she is "arguably the most popular South Asian singer". Catherine Potter was a Canadian bansuri player. She was born on December 25, 1957 in the city of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She studied the bansuri in India with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. She was the founder of the Duniya Project music ensemble. She died on December 3, 2010. Jagjit Singh Soni is a tabla player and instructor. He was born and raised in the city of Batala in Punjab, India and now lives in Brampton, Ontario. He began learning tabla at the age of 4. He holds the Guinness World Record for Longest Drumming Marathon, having played 110 hours of tabla for five days and four nights straight. Aditya Verma is a sarod, sitar and tabla player from Montreal, Quebec. He was first trained in the tabla by his father, Dr. Narendra Verma, and Ustad Zakir Hussain. in 1987, Aditya moved to India where he studied North Indian classical music in the tradition of the Maihar Senia Gharana (school). He has also studied under the sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and the sarod players Ustad Aashish Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.