KCC’s AMI Arts Festival 2024 presents a performance by Shabnam Virmani on Kabir’s poetry and its relevance, accompanied by Shreeparna Mitra and Swagath Sivakumar.

This immersive performance of Kabir’s poetry or “Kabir Vani” will explore the themes of spirituality, social justice, and inner truth. Virmani’s style blends singing Kabir’s verses in their original languages, playing a traditional instrument called tambura, and storytelling about Kabir’s life and philosophy, while engaging the audience with reflective discussions on Kabir’s relevance today. Through these efforts, Shabnam aims to revive and spread Kabir’s timeless messages, making them accessible and relevant to the contemporary audience.

The Kabir Project journeys were initiated by filmmaker, writer and artist Shabnam Virmani in the year 2002. She has been exploring the philosophy of Kabir, Shah Latif and other mystic poets through a deep engagement with their oral folk traditions for over two decades. Her inspiration in this poetry has taken the shape of 4 documentary films on Kabir, a digital archive called Ajab Shahar, writing books, organising urban festivals and rural yatras, singing and performing widely herself.

Currently she is building a schools program called Shabad Shaala, a curriculum on mystic poetry which includes taking folk singers to classrooms. Her film Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein won the Special Jury Prize at the National Film Awards, 2011. She has worked on two books I Saw Myself: Journeys with Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (Penguin, 2019) and Burn Down Your House: Provocations from Kabir (Speaking Tiger, 2024)