Kabir Café or Neeraj Arya's Kabir Café is an Indian indie-

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and folk- fusion music band based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Originated in 2013, it consists of Neeraj Arya, founder and Mukund Ramaswamy, co-founder of the band along with other artists.

History

Neeraj Arya, the founder of the group and a self-taught artist started his music career as a solo-artist in early 2000s. Influenced by his guru Prahlad Singh Tipaniya, Neeraj Arya was introduced to the 15th century's saint

Kabir Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...

and started playing folk melodies of Kabir's dohas and

sakhi Sakhi (Gurmukhi: ਸਾਖੀ; ''sākhī'') literally means 'historical account', 'anecdote', or 'story'. It is derived from the Sanskrit word ''sākṣī'' (साक्षी) which literally means 'witness'. The term refers to the accounts ...

s. In 2012, performing on the streets of Mumbai as part of the non-profit organisation, Natural Streets for Performing Arts (NSPA), Arya met violinist Mukund Ramaswamy, who is a Carnatic Violinist, and the two started performing as a duo. By the time, more artists joined the group and in late 2013 the group represented itself as Kabir Café. The band has released three albums, their debut ''Panchrang'' in 2016; their second live album ''Kabir Café Live'' in 2018 and third album ''Sabr'' in 2022. The band is impanelled with ICCR. Since its formation, the band has performed over 800 concerts across India and abroad. Till 2021, they have performed in 11 countries

Band Members

Neeraj Arya – Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mukund Ramaswamy – Violinist/violist and backing vocalist Viren Solanki – Drummer and backing vocalist Britto Khangchian – Guitarist, bassist and vocalist Vikram Bramhankar (Vicky) – Percussionist Piyush Acharya – Harmonium player Rajat Dawda – Sound engineer The band members always refer to Saint Kabir as the first member because the songs are based on the teachings and philosophy of Kabir.{{Cite web, title=Kabir is a friend and the first member of the band: How Mumbai band Kabir Cafe created the unforgettable music featured in Scam 1992, url=https://www.edexlive.com/happening/2020/dec/21/kabir-is-a-friend-and-the-first-member-of-the-band-how-mumbai-band-kabir-cafeacute-created-the-unf-16748.html, access-date=2021-04-29, website=The New Indian Express, date=21 December 2020 , language=en

Albums

''Panchrang'' (2016) ''Kabir Café Live'' (2018) ''Sabr'' (2021)

Features

The Panchrang song "Mann Lagyo Mero Yaar Fakiri Mein" was featured in 2017 Indian comedy-drama film

Hindi Medium ''Hindi Medium'' is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Saket Chaudhary and produced by Dinesh Vijan, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under their respective banners Maddock Films and T-Series. The film s ...

as ‘''Fakiri''’ and "Hoshiyar Rehna Nagar Mein Chor Aavega" was featured in the film Baadshaho. "Matkar Maya Ko Ahankar" from the same album and "Kya Leke Aaya Jagat Mein" were featured in

Hindi-language Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of the Government of India, alongside English, and is the ''lin ...

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

web-series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story.

References

Indian folk music groups Indian rock music groups Musical groups established in 2013 2013 establishments in Maharashtra

History

Band Members

Albums

Features

See also

References