Singing Emptiness

Now in paperback, the journey of a great Hindustani classical vocalist's search for the voice of emptiness. Here, two men, five centuries apart, make contact with each other through poetry, music, and performance. Kumar Gandharva, the great twentieth-century Hindustani classical vocalist, sings Kabir, the great fifteenth-century poet. Kabir composed poetry that evoked a space called nirgun or shunya—something without qualities or boundaries, empty—which challenged listeners to know it and to know themselves. Kumar Gandharva, drawn to Kabir and other poets of the nirgun experience, seeks the voice that can actually sing emptiness. Singing Emptiness includes a substantial introductory essay, bilingual texts of 30 songs, and contributions by two renowned Indian writers, U. R. Ananthamurthy and Ashok Vajpeyi.