Above: The Tabla player - detail from photo by Charles Meacham. Below, first from bottom: The Harmonium Player - detail from photo by Jasleen Kaur.
Poetry
Raagi
A Poem by MICHELE GIBSON
Tumbling tabla
Boasting, thumping, rolling
Anchor, bridge and base
Bolsters, culls, cajoles
Beating, beating, beating
Wakes harmonium
Winding, whining, crying
Pleading, pausing
Scales the tabla, teasing
Coy, caressing, calling
Taunts of tenderness ripple and cascade
Raagi,
Dives into the undulating rhythms
Swimming, leaping, soaring
Dancing, skipping, sliding
Rising, pausing, climbing
Labouring, lingering
Evaporates, reverberates, rejuvenates, explodes
Restoring divination
Shepherding syncopation
Preparing
Presenting
Sustaining
Rapture
Conversation about this article
1: Harvinder Singh (Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.), August 25, 2009, 12:14 PM.
The words of your beautiful poem will ring in my ears the next time I'm in a gurdwara, and will enhance my enjoyment of the kirtan. You have the knack of translating emotions into living words, feelings into exquisite language. Enjoyed the poem so much!
2: Zoravar Singh (New Delhi, India), August 25, 2009, 1:15 PM.
I am curious to find out which raagi or raagis inspired you to write these wonderful lines.
3: Bakhshish Kaur (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), August 25, 2009, 4:48 PM.
I like the way you have highlighted the beauty of the music, even without delving into the meaning of the shabads being sung. I assume from your poems that you are not well-versed or fluent in Punjabi. If that is so, you have managed to capture the gifts of kirtan nevertheless. After all, they say, it surpasses language and appeals directly to the soul! You have proved it is so!
4: Michele Gibson (Guelph, Ontario, Canada), August 29, 2009, 10:21 AM.
In answer to your question, Zoravar Singh ji: I have had the pleasure of listening to both Prof. Darshan Singh (of Bramalea, Canada) and Bhai Dya Singh (of Australia), each a number of times. I don't understand Punjabi but their kirtan has indeed managed to touch me deeply.