"I learnt Kabir from a donkey-cart man," says Fariduddin Ayaz

“Shamsher plied a donkey cart to earn a living. He had such a treasure of Kabir poems! Once I heard him singing down the lane on a small dholak, with 10-15 people gathered around him. I was just 10-11 years old then, but tears began to flow from my eyes. A love for Kabir was awakened. I listened, understood, filled Kabir inside myself from such a man, whom the world considers a donkey-cart man! Kabir’s knowledge you will not get from universities, scholars or professors. For that you will have to go to Kabir himself… strip yourself of all your shackles and go!” - Farid Ayaz

***
Find many other reflections on mystic poem and thought at http://ajabshahar.com/reflections/all
Discover a universe of Bhakti, Sufi, Baul poetry and music at http://www.ajabshahar.org.
***

(Click on Settings for subtitles in English)

Accompanied by Prahlad Singh Tipanya, the respected folk singer of Kabir from Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, we had ventured across the border to Pakistan in March 2006 in the course of our journeys in quest of Kabir. This was our very first meeting with Farid sahab and his brother Abu Mohammad. This interview later got edited into the film Had Anhad: Journeys with Ram & Kabir, which can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr83axn1IbM.

Fariduddin Ayaz along with his brother Abu Mohammad and extended family are acclaimed qawwals from Karachi, Pakistan and belong to the 700-year-old 'Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana' of Delhi. They sing in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Hindi, Poorbi, Persian, Arabic and Turkish, intermingling with aplomb the voice of Kabir with a range of Sufi poets including Jalaluddin Rumi, Sachal Sarmast, Zaheen Shah and others. Contact them at: +92-300-2105393, abupk@yahoo.com

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 (http://www.ajabshahar.org ; http://www.kabirproject.org).

Interview Translation: Shabnam Virmani

Video Credits:
Camera & Interview by: Shabnam Virmani
Production Assistance: Smriti Chanchani
Editing: Megha Bhaduri & Shruti Kulkarni
Sub-Titling: Shabnam Virmani
Collection: The Kabir Project

Place: Karachi, Pakistan
Date of Recording: March 2006

Видео "I learnt Kabir from a donkey-cart man," says Fariduddin Ayaz канала ajab shahar - kabir project