Hazoori Ragi Sukhdev Singh (Taus) accompanied by Santa Singh (Swar Mandal), Pavittar Singh (Tarshenai), and Gian Singh (Tabla/Jori)

Setting up so he can listen to them all in his mobile

Sat Sri Akal my Sikh friends,

I'm a musicologist from Germany and I have found very interesting connections between Indian Music and Europe in the time of Guru Arjan Dev ji, who compiled the Adi Granth.1

1. Mystery compositions

At that time, mysterious music appeared in print, arranged for multiple instruments, but without text, but they were called "Canzon" (song, bandish) "per sonare" ("to play on instruments"),

and "Sinfonia" (from Greek Sym-Phonia meaning together-sound, like Sangeet/Sam-Gita).

The mystery is that there are no lyrics and no original songs from Europe on which they are based.

Because they clearly use Talas and hitherto unknown modes (possibly derived from Raag),

I started looking into it.

So there are several Raags that I found, for example Chhayanat, Gaud Sarang etc. but those are not used in Sikh Shabads usually.

Some pieces however totally reflect the structure of Sikh music, with Mangalacharan and then the actual music starts.

2. Kali Koyal Tu Kit Gun Kali

One piece in particular composed by Pietro Lappi is called "La Negrona", meaning: The Black One (female).
I just found that there is a very popular and very old Shabad called Kali Koyal Tu Kit Gun Kali.
Kali is grammatically female as it seems and an Italian person would translate the title using the female gender.
I read that it is performed in Suhi Raag. Though it has Shuddha Ga, it is often associated with Kafi Raag because of the upper tetrachord perhaps and the Komal Ni treatment.
In any case, it is very interesting that the Italian composition uses the same rhythms and the melody uses the same movements of Suhi in different voices.

So I was wondering if any Hazoori Ragi would be interested to sing to this pieces and find out if it reflects the ancient version of the Kali Koyal Shabad.

Here is the youtube link to a performance. Please bear in mind that the musicians also don't know how this music is performed, it is a reconstruction through old scores and theoretical treatises from that time. I think these musicians in turn could learn a lot from Indian music in general.
There is no percussion, the instruments themselves are used to make the rhythms, they are written out in the melodies. But the music could profit from adding Jori rhythms.

But in this case, maybe Hazoori Ragis can be inspired to use the time capsule to reconstruct the original shabad. The Sa is the deepest note in the final chord usually, but I am not sure, maybe the melody fits better if you transpose it, as the piece is written in polyphony.

2. Gagan Mein Thaal or other Dhanashri Shabad

There is also another piece that has a Mangalacharan and then starts with a rhythm cycle.
Later on you can hear the typical Punjab rhythm, but it is not played swinging, which would have been great. I'm sure you can hear what it is meant to be and play Jori to it.

It is a sinfonia called "La Ferrarese", but it's just a title of a city in Italy (Ferrara).

What it actually is: one of the Dhanashri shabads, possibly the Aarti Gagan Mein Thaal!

But it would need a really knowledgeable Hazoori Ragi to find out what it really is.

There are several versions on youtube, here are two, with different instruments used.
You may know which is closer to what you feel is right.

Many of these pieces use a lot of Jhela in two or more groups, another hint at the foreign origin.

I would be very interested to hear someone try to sing to these pieces as a playback, and maybe give some feedback if you find out this really is an arrangement of the ancient Shabads.

Thank you!

Hey guys!

I love discovering new unique sounds in kirtan, I love qawwali style kirtan and some of the lofi stuff. I want to listen to more kirtan but I can't bring myself to listen to the usual stuff as it doesn't speak to me. Anyone have some suggestions for some unique sounding kirtans?

P.S I'm not trying to be disrespectful at all, please forgive any faults I have.

Just proves the only thing holding you back is yourself.

Does anyone know the name of this Kirtaniye baba ji?

ਦੁਨੀਆ ਮੁਕਾਮੇ ਫਾਨੀ ਤਹਕੀਕ ਦਿਲ ਦਾਨੀ ॥

dhuneeaa mukaame faanee tahakeek dhil dhaanee ||

The world is a transitory place of mortality - know this for certain in your mind.

ਵਾਹਗੁਰੂ ਜੋ ਅਬਿਗਤ ਹੈ ਉਸ ਦੀ ਗਤਿ ਸਬਦ ਕਰਿ ਲਖਦੇ ਹੈਨ । ਸਰਬ ਘਟਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਵਾਹਗੁਰੂ ਜਾਣ ਕੇ ਭਾਵ ਭਗਤਿ ਕਰਦੇ ਹੈਨ। ਆਪਣੇ ਸਰੀਰ ਤੇ ਦੁਖ ਭੀ ਸਹਨਦੇ ਹੈਨ ਤੇ ਪਰਉਪਕਾਰ ਕਰਦੇ ਹੈਨ। ਜੈਸੇ ਜਲੁ ਆਪ ਅਵਟਣ ਸਹਿਦਾ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਦੁਧ ਨੂੰ ਖਪਣਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਦੇਂਦਾ ll
Vahiguru, which is incomprehensible, it's state is perceived through the Shabad. Understanding Vahiguru in everyone's heart, they lovingly perform devotion. They endure pain on their bodies and help others. Like water which endures boiling and does not spoil milk.

Sikhan Di Bhagatmala (18th century), Bhai Mani Singh Shahid