The music emanating from this small room creates a meditative atmosphere. Around 20 students are practising their first musical note,Sa,in this classroom in one corner of the Gurdwara Guru Gian Parkash,Jawaddi Taksal. Every year,thousands of classical music lovers and devout Sikhs from all over the world gather at this gurdwara for a three-day musical fest called the Adyuti Sangeet Sammelan,which has witnessed some of the best renditions of shabad kirtan in classical music. It all began in 1991, says Bhai Sukhwant Singh,principal of Gurshabd Sangeet Academy,which is run by this gurdwara,when Baba Sucha Singh,the head of the Taksal,took it upon himself to locate and make notations of all the classical ragas in the Guru Granth Sahib. There are 31 main ragas and 31 mixed ragas in the Guru Granth Sahib. However,they were not available in notation so we did not know how to sing them. Workshops were held by Sikh scholars and musicians to create these notations. The tradition of reciting the Shabad Kirtan in pure classical form,which was started by Baba Sucha Singh,is being carried forward by the young head of the taksal,Baba Amir Singh. The academy has close to 150 students who stay on the campus free of cost. Six experts teach these students to play musical instruments like rabab,pakhawaj and sur sringar. Performing kirtan based on the ragas on traditional musical instruments has,over the years,proved to be a lucrative profession for the youth because the demand for raagis is huge all over the world. Some who studied at our academy are doing very well in the US,Canada and Singapore where they teach Gurmat Sangeet. These success stories are a huge motivation for the young boys who come here to learn. We hold a large number of workshops and have tie-ups with various organisations the world over. We even run online classes, says Bhai Sukhwant Singh. The academy provides a three-year course which includes one year of field work. The students who are given free education and stay all through the course pay back in the form of daswandh,which is a tenth of their income. Gurnam Singh has come from Pipli in Haryana to learn Gurmat Sangeet. Though we are taught only Gurmat Sangeet,leading classical musicians come here to teach us. Pandit Ramakant,a well-known tabla exponent,comes to teach us while masters like Ustaad Tari Khan have also played here.
