About
Mooralala Marwada is a Sufi-folk singer from the village of Janana in the Kutch district of Gujarat, born into an eleventh-generation lineage of Meghwal singers. He sings the poetry of Kabir, Mirabai, Ravidas and other saints in the Kaafi form associated with the tradition of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, and has carried this desert devotional music to national and international audiences.
Born around 1955 in Janana village in the Khadir region of Kutch, Mooralala Marwada is an eleventh-generation Meghwal singer who began performing at the age of eight. For decades he sang within the satsang and folk tradition of the desert, before wider recognition came through his inclusion in the Kabir Project and his rendition of Vari Jaun on Coke Studio @ MTV (Season 2, 2012). Since then he has travelled across India and abroad with his group, performing at Sufi and Kabir festivals, and has become one of the most respected living voices of Kutchi Sufi-folk music, collaborating with contemporary acts such as Maati Baani.
The artistry
Mooralala Marwada's art is rooted in the hereditary devotional singing of the Meghwal community of Kutch: an unhurried, meditative Kaafi style, sung to the poetry of Kabir, Mirabai and Ravidas, that speaks of formless devotion and the dissolving of the self. Having begun singing at eight, accompanying his father and grandfather to satsangs, he performs today with a family group of nephews and his grandson, keeping the lineage and its repertoire alive.
[Atlas Perspective] Mooralala Marwada is among the most authentic living voices of Kutchi Sufi-folk, an eleventh-generation custodian of a profound devotional tradition. For festivals and heritage initiatives seeking genuine roots and spiritual depth, he is an outstanding, differentiated choice.
Mooralala Marwada is a custodian of the hereditary Sufi-folk singing of the Meghwal community of Kutch, keeping alive the Kaafi tradition and the nirgun poetry of Kabir, Mirabai and Ravidas. His wider recognition has helped bring this desert devotional music, and the syncretic tradition it belongs to, to national and global attention.