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Bhai Gurmit Singh Virdee |
London (KP) - Bhai Gurmit Singh Virdee of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sevak Jatha passed away last Sunday. Bhai Gurmit Singh was born on April 13 1937, in Punjab. He and his family moved to Kenya when he was nine years of age. His training in tabla began in Kenya and continued in India where he graduated. In the sixties, Bhai Sahib gave several tabla performances and taught tabla to numerous students alongside his employment as a Biology teacher in Kenya. In 1975, Bhai Gurmit Singh Ji moved to the UK with his family.
Since the early 1950s, he had been playing, promoting and teaching tabla. Gurmit Singh was respected throughout the Indian classical music circle, and had performed with world-class artists and taught hundreds of students, some of whom playing on their world stage.
Bhai Gurmit Singh had not only a passion for Indian Classical Music, but had also been involved with Sikhi from a very young age. His performances reflect his dedication of Sikhi as the majority of his public performances have been at Shabad Kirtan - where the spiritual message of the Sikh Gurus is expressed through singing hymns to music based raag and the rhythm of tabla.
Bhai Gurmit Singh was also an accomplished photographer and painter with some of his work being displayed in public in Leicester.
Over the years Bhai Sahib, had developed a unique style of teaching tabla. He was described as a "natural teacher with a warm and open style. His methodology was systematic, clear and developed for English-speaking students."
For over 18 years, he taught at the Leicestershire school of Music, which took Indian classical music to hundreds of students at schools in the area. Bhai Sahib will be greatly missed by International Sikh community for his great seva he has done.
Fauja Singh can be reached at
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