Six blind youths making ‘musical’ difference in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: A group of six visually-impaired men have been creating, writing and composing their own music based on prevalent social themes and have performed in various youth festivals held in the city. They call themselves ‘The Musical Eyes’.
Speaking to TOI before their performance at SpaceJam Co-working space in Sector 34, the members said the band was formed in 2011. “All of us know each other from school and used to study together at the Institute of the Blind, Sector 26. While living together in the hostel, we had an evening ritual of singing songs. We would make medleys and compositions together. This, eventually, developed into serious writing,” said band spokesperson Shiv (30).

The six members of the musical group — Navjot Singh, Amarinder Singh, Labh Singh, Mohit Saini, Kuljeet Singh and Iqbal — are all in their early twenties and currently working as government servants in various banks and other departments in the city.

The band began with a dholak and harmonium in their initial days. Now, it boasts a collection of instruments like keyboard and octo-pad among others, and currently have 7 to 8 instruments to practice with. Navjot Singh (24) is the vocalist and also plays the keyboard, while Kuljeet Singh plays the dholak and writes songs too.

The band members are open to collaborate with anyone with a talent and unique voice. “A well known dhol player Ranjeet Singh Rana is attached with us. Similarly, Sarabjeet Singh from the Punjabi music industry has also played with us. We have performed in youth festivals in colleges like CGC Landran, PEC and Guru Gobind Singh College among others,” added Amarinder Singh.