The Celestial Horseman

I take my listeners back to a cold Dceember night in Jalandhar in 2009, when my journey in music was enriched by a magnificent rendering of Raga Jog by sitar maestro, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan at the Harivallabh Festival. The episode features a shabad in Raga Jog sung specially for the podcast by Hazuri Ragi Bhai Nirmal Singh Batala, the bearer of the legacy of the redoubtable Bhai Sahib Balbir Singh and one of the finest exponents of Gurmat Sangeet in the Sikh Panth.  In the episode I reminisce about the late Gyani Dyal Singh Ji, the noted Sikh musicologist and teacher and Bibi Jaswant Kaur, who collectively kept the legacy of the legendary Rababi, Bhai Taba Ji, alive. I also write about a visit with the late master luthier, Gurdial Singh, who hand crafted many magnificent stringed instruments and was a wizard of the sitar jowari. The episode concludes with the gat that Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan played that night, accompanied by Ustad Akram Khan, the doyen of the Ajrara Gharana.

As we approach the birth anniversary of Guru Ramdas, enjoy some of my favorite shabads associated with the fourth Guru.

A magnificent shabad from the Bani of Guru Nanak Sahib, sung by Bhai Sahib Santa Singh Ji - a poignant reflection on the human condition

A shabad of great comfort from Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib - a magnificent rendition in Raga Hamir by Bhai Sahib Samund Singh Ji

A beautiful shabad by Bhagat Kabir in which he uses the metaphor of a horse that he has fashioned out of his consciousness, who soaring to the heavens, epitomizes the poet's connection with the Divine. The episode has two dazzling renditions of the shabad by Gyani Dyal Singh Ji and Bhai Sahib Dharam Singh Zakhmi Ji. 

As my journey in Gurmat Sangeet continues, I meet a lion of an old school Ragi Singh at Bridgewater, NJ in the 90s

I encounter the formidable Gyani Dyal Singh Ji, Principal of the Rakab Ganj Kirtan seminary in Delhi

Through the kindness of a fellow Gurmat Sangeet premi, the author is introduced to the fabulous kirtan of Bhai Sahib Dharam Singh Zakhmi and his Jatha

A mentor is found and a protégé receives a most precious gift. 

A young Sikh in Milwaukee in the late 90s, searching for his moorings, develops a passion for both Gurmat Sangeet and Shahstriya Sangeet. An unexpected gift arrives.