'Mhaane Abke Bachai Le' sings Gavra Devi

An innocent wedding song turns out to be a song of death. Kabir maps the moment when a girl is taken away by her new husband exactly onto the moment when we are taken by death from all things we hold dear and familiar. The body-soul is cast in this song as a young trembling girl, who feels the terror of loss, the fear of the unknown, the regret of unfulfilled desires and through it all, an obstinate denial of the ultimate reality of impermanence. In February 2012 Gavra Devi charmed the villagers of Diyatara with her rendition of this popular Kabir song. Her sense of humour and freedom is evident in her impish improvisations throughout the song, which along with Imamuddin's feisty dholak brought the audience to their feet many a time. *** Find lyrics/translation of other versions of song at https://ajabshahar.com/songs/details/... *** Gavra Devi is a popular folk singer from Bikaner, evidently well-loved by her audiences who call her buaji. "Ever since I lost my eyesight as a little girl, I took to bhajan singing and established these poets and their words firmly in my heart", she says. This was the 6th night of the week-long Rajasthan Kabir Yatra, a travelling festival which toured 7 villages with 13 singers of Bhakti, Sufi and Baul poetry in Feb 2012. The Yatra was organized by Lokayan in Bikaner (www.lokayan.org) in partnership with the Kabir Project, Bangalore. Ajab Shahar is a digital archive of mystic poetry and music drawing from the rich Bhakti and Sufi oral traditions in India and beyond. Explore a world of sung and spoken wisdom at https://ajabshahar.com Song Credits: Vocals & Harmonium: Gavra Devi Dholak: Immamuddin Manjiras: Prakash Translation: Shabnam Virmani Video Credits: Cameras: Smriti Chanchani & Aarthi Parthasarathy Editing: Aarthi Parthasarathy Sound: Atirek Pandey Sub-Titling: Anisha Baid Collection: The Kabir Project Place: Diyatara village, Rajasthan Date of Recording: February 28, 2012