MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL BLOG
Day 3: Dya Singh
Food and music, so Dya Singh says, are the at the heart of his Sikh faith, and are the reason he loves his religion so. Accordingly, the most holy way to read the teachings of the Gurū Granth Sāhib is to sing them. Thus the contribution to the Manchester International Festival’s ‘Sacred Sites’ weekend by the Sikhs of Manchester was a performance by Dya and his band of religious passages in the Gurdwara Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji. The Sacred Sites events aim to represent and provide insight into all the religious minority groups living in Manchester, through the free, open-to-all, religious musical performances, and thus include performances from Auradha Paudwal (Hinduism), Mor Karbasi (Judaism), Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali (Islam) and Candi Staton (Christianity).
I was pretty naive about Sikhism on signing up to this shift, but I learnt much through the course of the performance and the religious procedure that book-ended the musical performance; the crux of it being that Sikhs are incredibly generous. Every day in Indian Gurdwaras, I was told by my Indian friend that was giving a kind of live narration towards the beginning before we were summoned to work, industrial quantities of food (emphasis on the simple, balanced, tasty variety) are cooked three times a day and are available to anyone around, be they or any religion, caste, etc. Moreover, as individuals they were constantly offering us volunteers tea and these savory biscuits that were OK.
A selflessness is also displayed in their attitude towards their religious music. No clapping after songs (we were advised to store up and save the feeling of thanks and empowerment generated within us through the music for ‘when you may need it in the future’), no standing (as you must maintain the cross-legged position you adopt in the prayer room out of humility), and words to God inhabited the space surrounding the songs. The music itself was played on traditional and ‘Western’ instruments (tabla, synth, guitar, mandolin, vocals, and Dya was playing this ‘Indian’ (?) analog small organ thing which was prettay funkay), and Dya Singh drew attention to the inclusive and multi-cultural nature of his band, as to his right sat a white Australian guitar player while on his left sat a white American synth player (which, incidentally, was Craig Pruess, who has provided arrangements for Massive Attack and Def Leppard and crafted the soundtrack for ‘Bend It Like Beckham’). The whole event was meant to showcase the inclusive and accepting nature of Sikhism and their want of everyone to converse as equals.
This went slightly against the voilent content of some of the lyrics, advocating death to the infidels on the battlefield, and elimination of enemies (obviously lyircs ‘from another time’), which were projected onto the walls of the prayer room so that all could sing along and join in. Though inevitably these were the minority with the music taking on a spiritual, fluid, transcendent feel. It felt like every track could go on indefinitely, with harmless, harmonic solos and cascading vocal virtuosity channeling what certainly sounded like pure spiritual inspiration. The tabla playing at times took on a complexity and audacity that almost made Craig Pruess laugh in admiration. It was pretty ‘marvellous’.
A feast of typically moreish, eat-until-you’re-in-pain Indian cuisine followed, after the Gurū Granth Sāhib was delivered away and concluding prayers were undertaken. It certainly felt as though this Gurdwara was seizing the opportunity to educate broadly about their practices and involve everyone in them in an attempt to demonstrate the benevolence and relevance of their faith. But more than that, and as Dya pointed out several times, that the band were there primarily to have “spiritual fun” and turn peoples’ plug-holes the right way round. AND BOY DID THEY.
