Talk by Shabnam Virmani for the Poche Alter Ego Studio - an online studio for students and young practitioners of architecture and design. Song at the end of the talk - 'Thaara Rangmahal Mein' - is sung with Swagath Sivakumar.

"Wandering on the trail of mystic poem and song, I find myself in a unfamiliar town, a wondrous city, an 'ajab shahar' where I have lost my bearings. The city is strange - for it is both in the body and in the sky, and I am alone."   In this talk I share my encounters with Kabir and other Sufi poets through conversation and songs, at a festival on Bhakti poetry called 'Mystic Kalinga' curated by poet Arundhati Subramaniam. 

Place of Recording: Bhubaneshwar, India 

Date of Recording:  5 January 2019

Weaving a conversation between the books 'The Gift' by Lewis Hyde and 'The Unknown Crafstman' by Soetsu Yanagi on the one hand, and the poem-songs of Gujarati writer Dhruv Bhatt on the other, I try to share some difficult lessons I have learnt through my creative process as a filmmaker, writer and singer over the course of the last two decades. And as always the poems of Kabir cannot be left out of the conversation.  

This talk was offered to students and faculty of the Wadiyar School of Architecture, Mysore, as part of their Monsoon Lecture Series, where I was invited to choose One Book and One Project that have deeply impacted me.   

Recorded on September 6, 2021

What possibilities are held in the experience of a Kabir ‘poem’ as a ‘song’? Exploring questions of authenticity, orality, meaning and experience in the vibrant satsang traditions of Kabir and other mystics, I share here some poems, snatches of songs and some reflections based on my research and travels in the villages of Malwa, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Pakistan.   This was part of a panel titled 'Who is Kabir and Where Should We Look to Find Him?' curated by Bangalore International Centre bringing together a conversation with scholars Linda Hess and John Stratton Hawley and myself. See the full talk here https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.... 

Curation: Prateeti Balal 

Bangalore International Centre 

Date of Recording: July 24, 202

This was the outcome of an invitation from Ritambhara Ashram to contribute something to their ongoing 'Yoga Samvād - Dialogues on Yoga'. Sri Raghu Ananthanarayanan along with his wife Sashi are co-founders of Ritambhara Ashram nestled in the Nilgiris, a space that seeks to nurture and mentor people on a sacred quest. https://ritambhara.org.in/ 

March 26, 2021

Talk with Nayi Dhara

इस सप्ताह नई धारा विशेष ‛कबीर - सबद का संजोवना' में हम मिलने जा रहे हैं फ़िल्ममेकर, लोक गायिका व लेखिका शबनम विरमानी जी से। इस कार्यक्रम में शबनम जी संत कबीरदास के जीवन व वचनों का सार उनके भजनों के माध्यम से हमारे साथ साझा करेंगी। कार्यक्रम के सूत्रधार होंगे कार्तिकेय खेतरपाल। 

Tracing my journey from childhood days to early years in journalism to women's rights to being struck by the words of Kabir and other mystics, in this talk I seek to answer the three fundamental questions of Sufism. . . Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going? In the answers lie questions again - of belonging and un-belonging, of identity and experience, of presence and impermanence.  This talk was organised by the Kabir Festival of Mumbai and Junoon as part of their Mumbai Local series (www.junoontheatre.org).  

Place of Recording: Kitab Khana, Mumbai 

Date of Recording: Jan 2020

In 2002, Shabnam started travelling with folk singers in Malwa, Rajasthan and Pakistan in a quest for the spiritual and socio-political resonances of the 15th century mystic poet Kabir in our contemporary worlds. Among the tangible outcomes of these journeys were a series of 4 musical documentary films, several music CDs and books of the poetry in translation (www.kabirproject.org). Inspired by the inclusive spirit of folk music, she has begun to play the tambura and sing folk songs of Kabir herself. Currently she is working on co-creating a web-museum of Kabir poetry & music with folk singer communities in India and developing ideas for taking mystic poetry and folk music to school classrooms. She continues to journey to new areas such as Kutch, Gujarat and draw inspiration not only from Kabir, but also other mystic poets of the sub-continent and the oral folk traditions that carry them to us. Her earlier work consisted of several video and radio programs created in close partnership with grassroots women's groups in India.