LAHORE/CHANDIGARH: Bhai Lal, the well-known rababi and descendant of Bhai Mardana, passed away Monday at Lahore’s Sarwar Hospital. He was eighty-five years old and had been admitted to the hospital as he was suffering from pneumonia.
Bhai Lal was the 17th generation in the family lineage of Bhai Mardana, the rababi who accompanied first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev during his udasis.
Bhai Lal had been performing shabad-kirtan (hymns) for the past seven decades. Renowned for his traditional way of reciting shabad-kirtan, Bhai Lal had expressed his last desire to perform kirtan once in Darbar Sahib, Amritsar many times but was denied the permission by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), stating that only baptized Sikhs can perform kirtan in the sanctum sanctorum.
Ancestors of Bhai Lal’s family had been performing kirtan in Darbar Sahib but the practice was discontinued by Bibi Jagir Kaur, during her tenure as SGPC chief. Bhai Lal during his last visit to India had rued over the callous attitude of the SGPC.
The descendants of Bhai Mardana had remained rababis to all the ten Sikh Gurus and kept alive the musical instrument rabab. Bhai Lal had once performed kirtan at Darbar Sahib before the partition of India and Pakistan.
He had also performed again in 1962 during his visit to India.
Source: Punjab Newsline Network