amritpyala

Amrit Pyala

amrit pyala is a film archive of Sufi and Bhakti poetry in Pakistan.

we record and translate the bhajans and kalaams of poet-saints like Mirabai, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Kabir Das, Shah Hussain, Baba Farid, Bulleh Shah, and other mystics.

this project was inspired by Ajab Shahar/The Kabir Project.

we have recorded folk musicians like Shah ja faqir, Bhagat Bhoora Lal, Jiyan Bai Bhagtani, and Zainab Bibi.

you can listen to these recordings on our YouTube.

Sufi and Bhakti oral tradition is a river that cannot be caught—never fully. our project concerns itself with chand katre, some drops of this surging, thrilling, threatening river. 

when we film, we walk with the land. as the mystic poets also knew, the road is our main guide.

we are foragers in the poetic landscape. we record what comes our way, and collect it in our carrier bags.

our archive is a receptacle, a cup, a pyala. 

we listen for sacred songs, songs made sacred by those who sing them everyday, songs left behind by wanderers, songs that, like their makers, travel across border, region, caste, and language, from Kutch to Mirpurkhas, from Mirabai’s bhajans to Bhittai’s raags.

mystic poets asks seekers to Listen! Listen!

Kabir says, listen O seeker
Kabir says, listen O saint
All night you prostrate
Your forehead bejeweled,

but the shine doesn’t reach

your heart.

Photos from the road