In the past, I have often thought about organising a “musical evening”
at a Cambridge College where I would bring together musicians to sing songs whose religious idioms are located at the dynamic interstices of Hindu-Muslim and Hindu-Christian milieus across Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.
Looking back, I realise that even in the best of pre-COVID times, this event would have been a logistic nightmare. So, in this strange new age of lockdown, I have been translating the songs belonging to this genre which I can find on YouTube, and adding some explanatory notes to the translations.
The aim is to give people – including undergraduate and graduate students – a visceral sonic-visual introduction to certain styles of spiritual belongings that are shared across Christian, Hindu, and Muslim milieus in South Asia.
You will find them here:
With best wishes.
Ankur Barua
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