The Indigenous Perspective: Bhai Baldeep Singh Speaks of his Pioneering Work of Research and Revival of the Gurbani Sangit Parampara

Abstract

A direct descendant of Bhai Sadharan, who a disciple of the founder of the Sikh faith, Bhai Baldeep Singh is the scion of a long lineage of GurSikh masters of the Gurbani Sangit Parampara. Bhai Baldeep Singh’s repertoire includes musical masterpieces as they were first sung by the Sikh Gurus and Bhagats, and he is the prime exponent (khalifa or pagri nashin) of the Sultanpur Lodhi-Amritsari Baj, the oldest school of classical percussion in Punjab. In the early 80s, a young Bhai Baldeep Singh realized that the civilizational essence of the GurSikh tradition was in real danger of extinction. He traveled across the Indian subcontinent, including pre-Partition Punjab, and beyond to connect with the last living bearers of GurSikh excellence and assimilated their oral narratives and musical knowledge into a panoramic vantage and performative élan unmatched in recent decades. An institution unto himself, Bhai Baldeep Singh’s herculean efforts to salvage GurSikh tangible and intangible heritage are responsible for the survival into the twenty-first century of the original musical masterpieces in which scripture was revealed to the GurSikh Gurus, the musical instruments and playing systems of their endowment, and the pedagogical processes through which rising generations of custodians are being minted. In the 2000s, his establishment of The Anād Foundation modeled the possibility of making dynamic contributions in the non-governmental, non-profit sector. The 2010s have seen Bhai Baldeep Singh emerge as a unique factor in the socio-political and electoral arenas. He stood as the Aam Aadmi Party candidate for the Khadoor Sahib constituency in the 2014 Indian parliamentary elections, called for a Second Gurudwara Reform Movement drawing on his analysis of GurSikh affairs over the last 200 years, and ideated the 2015 Sarbat Khalsa, a sovereign assembly of GurSikhs from across the world for deliberation on the community’s future. Bhai Baldeep Singh’s capacious vision and profound rootedness in the GurSikh tradition make him the GurSikh statesman to watch in the years to come.