Launch Of IshqFakiri!

Lot of you will remember that precious moment when we tagged Vipul (at Startup Service!) with the first copies of his album. He came to gift us some songs, and in turn we ended gifting him his own songs. :)

Below is a sweet email that he just sent out ...
 

Dear friends of the heart,

Very excited to share this gift with you. This is the gift of Ishq Fakiri, an album of songs of Kabir and other mystics, with spoken introductions, words & translations on a lovingly designed web site.

Some time late last year, some people decided to make a gift. This was the birth of this album. We invite you to listen, download, immerse, absorb, and pass on this gift. Read, engage, reflect, discuss, share.

For me, personally, these songs and this music have come as a gift. The tambura appeared as a gift. A feeling for music and singing since childhood has always been a precious gift. To receive and honour a whole tradition has been an incalculable gift.

And so this album of songs and meanings, of music and poetry, is a gift in return. Perhaps a further gift to oneself – for, as Lewis Hyde says, the gift is to the giver.

Love,
Vipul

"A gift that cannot be given away ceases to be a gift. The spirit of a gift is kept alive by its constant donation. ... The work of art is a gift, not a commodity. A work of art can survive without the market, but where there is no gift there is no art. ... A gift is a thing we do not get by our own efforts. We cannot buy it; we cannot acquire it through an act of will. It is bestowed upon us. ... That art that matters to us - which moves the heart, or revives the soul, or delights the senses, or offers courage for living - that work is received by us as a gift is received. When we are touched by a work of art something comes to us which has nothing to do with the price." --Lewis Hyde