In this song, Kabir, the weaver poet, evocatively describes the journey that a finely knit cloth goes through – weaving, washing, dying – and deftly ties it up with the fabric of our own body-selves. Fools can sully this subtle fabric of being. Says Kabir – beware, wear your precious body with care.

(Click on Settings for subtitles in English & Hindi. Click ‘B’ on keyboard to remove the black background in the subtitles.)

Mukhtiyar Ali is an extraordinary performer of Sufiana kalaam and Bhakti songs from the village of Pugal, in the western most part of the state of Rajasthan in India. He belongs to the Mirasi community, whose traditional occupation has been to sing, and has imbibed the tradition from his own father and elders. Today he is a highly versatile artist, collaborating with many contemporary musicians such as Vasundhara Das and Mathias Duplessy. For the Kabir Project team however, Mukhtiyar ji remains the fiesty singer we met in Pugal, whose music blew our minds, and whose understanding of Kabir was honest, clear and from the heart!

Contact Mukhtiyar at: 91-94131-06911, [email protected]
Download Mukhtiyar Ali’s music at https://www.oklisten.com/MukhtiyarAli

This is one of a series of uploads for Ajab Shahar, a webspace dedicated to mystic poem and song, created by the Kabir Project team (http://www.ajabshahar.org ; http://www.kabirproject.org).

Song Credits:
Vocals & Harmonium: Mukhtiyar Ali
Dholak: Abdul Jabbar Khan
Clapping: Nathu Khan Bagadawa
Sarangi: Dayam Ali
Field Recording Support: Anwar Ali, Gavaniar, Urmul Trust

Translation: Vidya Rao

Video Credits:
Camera: Shabnam Virmani
Editing: Shruti Kulkarni
Sub-Titling: Prashant Parvataneni
Collection: The Kabir Project

Place of Recording: Bikaner, Rajasthan
Date: May 2004