The Desert, the Mystic, the Musician

Mir Rajak Ali is a Sufi singer from Pugal, on the desert edges of Bikaner, carrying a singing tradition shaped by inheritance and lived practice. His repertoire draws from the Sufi and Bhakti lineages of Bulleh Shah, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Kabir and Meera. Shaped by listening to elders, gatherings and oral poetry, his voice carries a living musical tradition where poetry, place and desert memory move together.

Mir Abdul Jabbar is a senior musician of the Mir community from Pugal, Rajasthan, carrying a musical lineage shaped by the desert for generations. An accomplished tabla player with over thirty years of practice, he spent more than a decade performing with Mukhtiyar Ali’s group. He also sings from his folk lineage and is the only known alghoza player (a double flute) in his region. A natural storyteller, Jabbar holds a wealth of knowledge and lived stories that preserve the memory of his community, its folk traditions and desert landscape.

Meghal Sharma is a Bangalore-based music and culture professional whose work moves between research, curation, documentation and community. With roots in Rajasthan, she feels drawn to the music and stories that grow out of a place and its people. A traveller at heart, she follows these threads across landscapes, finding the familiar in the unfamiliar and stories in the sounds around her. Having spent six months in the field with the Mir community of Rajasthan, she offers a glimpse into their lives, music and traditions through the eyes of a traveller and the lens of a storyteller.