Multilingual folk singer Ibrahim Sutar died on February 5 in Mahalingpur, Bagalkot region, as he toured India spreading the message of Hindu-Muslim unity. He suffered a heart attack around 6:30am. Family sources said he died minutes later. He is 82 years old. He left behind a wife, son and two daughters.

The recipient of the Padmashri award for community harmony has been nicknamed “Kabir of Karnataka”.

The founder of “Bhavaikyate Bhajana Mela” started his career as a Harikathe bhajan singer traveling all over villages and towns. He delights audiences with stories from Hindu and Islamic classics, always with a message of harmony, and the moral imperatives of personal life. He sang and lectured, citing multiple scriptures without reading notes. He is also fluent in Kannada and Urdu.

In his later years he became a public speaker, visiting schools, colleges and Lingayat mutts, speaking on vachana and dasa literature. He was awarded the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award in 1995 and the Padmashri Award in 2018.

Born into a poor weaver family in Mahalingpur, he dropped out of primary school to become a weaver’s assistant. He developed a spiritual inclination early in his life. He started attending lectures at Sri Basavananda Swami mutt and bhajans at Sadhu Maharaj temple. He was a member of the mosque committee and walked around the village asking worshippers to get up early in Ramzan. He studied Hindu and Islamic scriptures with equal passion and developed a team of bazin singers. “Bhavaikyate Bhajana Mela” performed in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Routine performances are in question-and-answer format, interspersed with songs by dasa saints and vacanas. A team member asks a question that sounds mundane but has deep spiritual connotations, such as: “Who is important in life—God or Master?” Living prophets are to give their opinion, which is about The audience, not the team members who keep asking questions.

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