The trio of Anuraag Dhoundeyal, Priyanka Patel and Karan Chitra Deshmukh interacted with scholars to present a documentary theatre performance, Sounds of the Sufis. Kritika Dua checks out
Don’t look for logic in sufism, look for life there you will find Sufism.’ Three messianic sufi stars had zeal to bring true essence of Sufism to the audiences. Their performance Sounds of the Sufis at Indian Habitat Centre was one such alluring evening.
The audience was seeped in divine Sufi music with live renditions of 14 songs in languages like Kashmiri, Urdu, Farsi and Punjabi. It was composed (some songs) and sung by talented musician Anuraag Dhoundeyal. It was supported with striking narratives by Priyanka Patel (in English and Hindi) and on the tabla was Karan Chitra Deshmukh. Their performance enlightened the audiences about Sufi saints like Mansoor Al-Hallaj, Rabia Basri, Moinuddin Chishti, Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Aulia and Amir Khusrau, Rumi, lal Ded, Kabir, Baba Bulleh Shah and Meera. The audience sang along with them as booklets with the lyrics of the songs (and jasmine flowers) were provided to them making it a evening etched forever in their minds.
The group has earlier performed at Kala Ghoda Festival, Prithvi Theatre Festival, to ones at India International Centre and India Habitat Centre in Delhi, Nehru Centre and Royal Exchange Hall in london among others. We managed to get in touch with them at their performance
What does Sufism mean to youIJ Is Sufism relevant in today’s timeIJ
Anuraag: Sufism for us, is a thought, a philosophy. It is a way of life. Unfortunately in today’s times a lot of people assume Sufism to be just music or some whirling. Yes, music is an integral part, and there are a few rituals that people associate with Sufism, but it’s much more than that.
Priyanka: The idea has been propounded centuries ago, somewhere around 8th Century and has travelled to different parts of the world as a result of these wandering, travelling saints. When the Sufi saints travelled to different parts of the world, they merged their philosophy with the local beliefs, patterns and traditions. For example, Basant Panchami is celebrated in North India by women, where they dress up in bright saffron colour of the spring season and pray for longevity of their husband’s lives. Amir Khusrau, a Sufi Saint from Delhi, happened to observe this tradition. He realised that this was a fabulous way of expressing one’s love for their pir, their mentor. Khusrau started the trend of Rang being performed at the Dargah in praise of Nizammuddin Auliya, his pir.
Karan: With such fluidity and adaptability, Sufism obviously continues to have relevance even today. At the end of the day, it is a message of love and compassion. Who wouldn’t want to associate with something that speaks of love through beautiful poetryIJ
How did the idea of interactive documentary theatre format come aboutIJ What was the inspiration behind itIJ
Priyanka: While we wanted to talk about Sufism and the Sufi works through songs and storytelling, we didn’t want it to become a history class. Documentary theatre format allows us to have a personal take on history. So here, we share episodes from our personal lives.
Anuraag: We talk about very real, key moments in our lives- things that have inspired and influenced us. Also things that we are struggling with. This makes the performance really relatable for different audiences. The audiences then become co-travelers and co-participants in this journey.
Tell us more about this format, is it new to IndiaIJ What were the challenges that you came across during this journeyIJ
Anuraag: Yes, what we have attempted with Sounds of the Sufis is India’s first Interactive Musical Documentary Theatre Performance.
Priyanka: The biggest challenge we face is explaining to organisers and audiences what this format really means, how it will function! However, we have noticed that once people do attend the performance, they join in with all the songs, clapping along and singing along.
Karan: It’s beautiful to see the audiences involve themselves so completely for in the performance.
When and how did the three of you (Anuraag Dhoundeyal, Priyanka Patel and Karan Chitra Deshmukh) came together to form Sounds of the SufisIJ
Anuraag: I am a musician, singer-composer, and a music educator and Priyanka is a psychologist and an educator. She has been working with combining psychology and music, dance and theatre. We run a company together called, The looking Glass where we run workshops and programmes to build life skills through Arts. Both of us have been working in this space for about 4 years now.
Karan: I had been performing with Anuraag as a multi-percussionist and drummer for his band, Indicus. We regularly perform together even for other gigs.
Priyanka: Anuraag had been conducting workshops on Sufism even earlier, but then I joined him on board as a Story Teller. We also got Karan to play the tabla during the workshop. Then we converted it into a play, it was just natural for us to do this together being close friends.