Chandigarh, June 16, 2005
The Tribune
Gibb Schreffler, an American scholar, shows his skills
in dhol at the Panjab Kala Bhavan in Chandigarh on
Tuesday.
It was a pleasure to interact with a tall American
man play double-barrel Punjabi dhol and conversing
in Punjabi dialect of Majha, Malva and Doaba at the
Punjab Kala Bhavan on Tuesday.
Gibb Schreffler is a connoisseur of the rich Punjabi
cultural heritage. Obsessed with the vitality of Punjabi
folklore, he explored its diverse facets through an
exhaustive study.
Having registered himself as a research scholar he
landed in Chandigarh and learnt Punjabi.
“Where there is will, there is a way,”
says Gibbs, adding that Garib Das living in Dadumajra
was his mentor. Research in dhol playing and bhangra
resulted in a thesis “Out of dhol drums”.
The work examined the rhythm repertoire of Punjabi
dhol, and its correlation with Punjabi dances. The
dissertation won him an M.Phil degree. Gibbs had completed
his thesis on current research for Ph.D on the place
of dhol in Punjabi culture under the Fullbright —
Hays grant.
Gibbs maintains that the dhol was introduced in India
via the Persian drumtype dhol.
He gave a detailed account of his research work from
the origin of dhol, later played by the Mirassis,
Dooms, Bazigars and Bharayis.
He is indebted to artistes like D.S. Sekhon and academicians
Dr Attar Singh, Mrs Gurdip Tiwana and Prof Rajpal
Singh.
He goes as an ambassador of Punjabiat to the world,
says Mr Rajpal Singh, secretary-general, Punjabi Sangeet
Natak Academi
Chandigarh, August 14, 2004
The Tribune
- Roopinder Singh finds out what brings these foreigners
to Chandigarh
- Kristina Myrvold is back again. She has been researching
on Sikhs in Varanasi and on Punjabi marriage practices.
- Gibb Schreffler has been back for the third time,
he plays the dhol and soon plans to teach others
and make them dance to his beat.
Margherita Zorzetto, a human rights' activist from
Venice, Italy, is learning about Punjab and its culture.
Anna Bigelow was in Chandigarh recently. She is continuing
research on the shared sacred spaces in Malerkotla.
What has brought these foreign academics to Chandigarh
is the Summer Programme in Punjab Studies guided by
Prof Gurinder Singh Mann, Director of the recently
created Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies and Kapany
Professor of Sikh Studies at UC, Santa Barbara, the
programme, in its eighth year, has attracted over
100 scholars from 44 universities in nine countries
(Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, India,
Italy, Sweden, and the USA). Several of the scholars
who attended the programme, like Bigelow, have now
become faculty members in different universities,
and many who hold teaching positions in various academic
institutions have been enriched by their interaction
in learning more about Punjab.
Daisy Rodriguez plays the iktara while Gibb Schreffler
strikes the beat on the dhol (foreground) as others
in the background join in. From left: Rahuldeep Singh
Gill, Sukhmit Singh Kalsi, Vishal Bhalla, John Warneke,
Chester Phillips, Margherita Zorzetto and Amrit Kaur
Gill. — Photo by Manoj Mahajan
Flush with the success of seeing his dream —
of setting up a centre for Punjab studies at UC, Santa
Barbara — come true and holding the much-acclaimed
"International Conference on Punjabi Culture"
in May this year, the normally self-effacing Mann's
satisfaction is not difficult not to see.
Mann says interest in Punjab studies is developing
in the western world. "We do not have any system
of advertising the Summer Programme, but young scholars
find out about the programme and join it." He
maintains that Chandigarh is the best place to have
a programme like this. "The city is welcoming
to foreigners. I am very grateful for the cooperation
of local scholars, who have helped to make the programme
such a success," he says.
Shinder Thandi, Professor of Economics at the Business
School of Coventry University, UK, says: "It
is a unique and all-encompassing programme on Punjab
and its people. This is the only such programme in
the world." Thandi immigrated to the UK in 1963,
and is an authority on the Indian diaspora. He is,
at present, working on a book on the relationship
between the diaspora and homeland.
Prof Constance Elsberg, author of Graceful Women:
Gender and Identity in an American Sikh Community,
has been lecturing on the issues facing the Euro-American
Sikhs in North America and was in Chandigarh to learn
more about Punjab and its culture.
Rahuldeep Singh Gill, from the UCSB, is studying
the vars of Bhai Gurdas to understand the evolution
of the early Sikh community. He is also a bhangra
dancer, having founded Shera Vargi Jaan team at the
University of Rochester, NY. He helped others and
brushed up his bhangra skills during the course as
well as found time to tone up at Vertical Fitness
and discover Mr Beans for coffee.
Kristina Myrvold, on the other hand, is a die-hard
Barista fan, where she has charmed the young lads
into brewing a special cuppa for her. She is repeating
the programme, has spent time at the UCSB, and plans
to offer a course in Sikhism at Lund University, Sweden,
next year. This would be the first such course in
Europe.
Lectures by major Punjabi academics, bhangra, musical
performances, exposure to art and theatre and a hectic
travel week that covered religious, cultural and academic
centres in Punjab has had Chester Phillips, who studies
Liberal Art at Harvard University, dubbing the programme
an "academic carnival." He contributed to
the general atmosphere by wearing an impeccably tied
dhoti on most formal occasions, like the dinner at
theatre personality Neelam Mann Singh's house. That
day, Amrit Kaur Gill, a third-generation Indian in
the US, looked great in her new salwar kameez, while
Rana Ajrawat and Sukhmeet Singh Kalsi looked natty
in western clothes. John Warneke was heard discussing
the Nihangs, and Jenifer Heisler was fascinated by
the museums of Punjab. Daisy Rodriguez grew up among
the descendents of one of the earliest Sikh settlements
in the US, El Centro.
Most of the participants of this six-week intensive
course were newcomers; three repeated it. Many were
foreigners, some children or grandchildren of immigrants
from Punjab.
In the 20th century, the diaspora had left Punjab
to go to other lands. Today, scholars from those countries,
including their descendents, are visiting and studying
Punjab through this unique programme.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040814/saturday/main2.htm
