Editor’s Note:
For July 2023’s installment of The Vital Anjan, I am deeply indebted to Khalīfā Ustād Bhāī Baldeep Singh for graciously allowing me to publish four pages from his hand as they occur in my percussive diaries. There has been a precious tradition within the Amritsarī-Sultānpur Lodhī Bāj of ustāds notating certain bols in the diaries of their shāgirds for safekeeping. I must admit that I could initially decipher very little of the paran in Tāla Pancamasavārī that Bhāī Sāhib jī wrote in my diary upon our first meeting in Gilroy, California in July 2008. Over the years, however, my maestro’s distinctive calligraphy along with his peerless paṛhanta have proven priceless in enriching my understanding of the bols with which he has entrusted me.
The paran spanning the first three pages—and five cycles in Madha Gati Tin Tāla—was ‘composed’ by Bhai Sāhib jī in Redmond, Washington in July 2023. (You can listen to his recitation of the paran here.) ‘Received by’ perhaps better characterizes the provenance of his innumerable compositions that arrive fully formed, asking only to be notated. The Ik Oankār adorning the top of the first page acknowledges that such ‘compositions’ are, in fact, Gur Prasādi.
The full-page, stylized Ik Oankār in the final image is from Birmingham, UK in March 2023, where the maestro is pictured writing. 
It suggests the manifestation of the universe from the One who is forever the same and unites creation’s infinite multiplicity. Finally, it is worth nothing that the syllabic and syntactical richness evident in this percussive literature—as also in the splendor of Bhāī Baldeep Singh’s melodic ‘compositions’—obliterates the supposed tension between creativity and tradition; dedicated study of past excellence best prepares us for our own expression in the present. It is always a marvel to witness GurSikhī’s intangible cultural heritage assuming tangible form once more.
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Bhāī Baldeep Singh