Aaj Rang Hai

A coming together of Kabir, Baul, and Sufi. Aaj Rang Hai — "today there is colour" — are the words Amir Khusrau is said to have sung on finding his guru, Nizamuddin Auliya: the moment a seeker's search ends and joy simply arrives. This evening brings that spirit to life through three of India's great mystic music traditions — Kabir and the Bhakti poets, the Baul music of Bengal, and the Sufiyana Qalam of Rajasthan — performed live by artists who've devoted their lives to keeping these traditions alive. The evening opens with Gurupriya Atreya and Vedanth Bharadwaj, who bring the poetry of Kabir and other Bhakti saint-poets to the stage. Vedanth, trained across Carnatic, Hindustani, and Western classical music, has long been known for his renditions of Bhakti and Sufi saint-poetry; Gurupriya joins him in carrying these verses forward with the same warmth and depth. Next, Santhi Priya, celebrated as Kerala's first female Baul singer, brings the mystic, wandering music of Bengal's Baul tradition — songs about the divine hidden within the self, learned under her guru Parvathy Baul, and carried by her to audiences far beyond Bengal. After a short break, Mir Rajak and Group perform the Sufiyana Qalam of the Mirasi community of Pugal, Rajasthan — a centuries-old hereditary tradition rendering the kalams of Sufi mystics like Bulleh Shah and Khwaja Ghulam Farid alongside the bhajans of Kabir and Meera, all as one continuous stream of devotion. The evening closes with all the artists together on stage — Kabir, Baul, and Sufi voices merging into a shared, celebratory finale, true to the spirit of "Aaj Rang Hai."