Check out this post from the Spirit Voyage Music Blog

Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa is joining GuruGanesha Singh’s Joy is Now tour, and what an incredible addition to this upcoming tour. One of the great perks of my job is getting to see some of the behind the scenes work that our musicians do. Yesterday, I went to the final day of rehearsal before the band jumped on their tour bus to head up to Toronto for tonight’s first concert on the tour. They set up their entire sound system in the Sterling Yoga Center, so i felt like they were playing a concert just for me, and it was truly pure joy in the here and now!

I had never heard Nirinjan sing in person before, and as they opened their first song, Ong Namo, I felt the sweetest love just pour right into me - she has an unbelievable range, her voice flowing from low harmonies all the way up the scale to angelic frequencies. The entire set was amazing, with GuruGanesha and Nirinjan singing in a call-response style throughout the set, and GuruGanesha’s guitar just genius carrying right along with their incredible vocal interplay. (Sometimes the eloquence of GuruGanesha’s guitar makes my jaw drop - it’s like living, breathing art flowing from his fingers into the air and right up your spine.)

So, I got a chance to ask Nirinjan some questions about herself and this upcoming tour. Here they are:

Karan: How long have you been singing? What do you like about singing, chanting, and playing music?

Nirinjan: Well, since I was born I’ve been surrounded by sacred music. Chanting, Meditations, classical indian music… My mother sings sacred music (she has made a few albums), and my father is a music producer. I’ve always loved singing, as long as I can remember! When I was little, I used to love singing in the car with windows open and the music turned up super loud. I remember wanting the music so loud that I couldn’t hear myself sing… so that I just felt surrounded by it.

Nirinjan: When I was around thirteen, I took Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training, and got really into practicing yoga. More than anything else, Kundalini Yoga opened my awareness so that I could experience the divine. Singing and chanting just came naturally out of that. I love singing because it’s like calling on God, being with God, connected to everything… it’s where nothing is good or bad, just perfect. Love.

(Nirinjan’s mother is Guru Raj Kaur, an amazing musician who lives in Vancouver. Her music is known and loved around the globe. She has released two CDs, The Narayan Shabd and Japji: Song of the Soul)

Karan: Did you study music formally? Can you tell us about it?

Nirinjan: When I was a little girl, I took piano lessons for about six years, which provided an excellent foundation in western music. My father then taught me some simple guitar when I was a little older. In the way of vocal training, I studied formally a little bit while I was going to school in India. There is a teacher there who is a master of Raag (the technology of classical indian music). He is a phenominal musician and vocalist. It’s hard to put into words specifically what I learned from him; only that my relationship to music changed, and my awareness expanded. I got so much from him just by osmosis…by sitting with him…listening. As if I just absorbed the music and technique into myself, instead of learning it through my mind, like I do most things. It’s important for me to say though, that the world of Raag is so vast and deep, people spend years and years studying it full time to really be good at it, and still, there is always more to learn. I really only learned a tiny bit of raag, but that tiny bit took my experience of music and singing to a whole other level of feeling music and hearing it. I am so grateful for the little bit I was able to learn from him.

Karan: What would people be surprised to know about you?

Nirinjan: Surprised? I don’t know what would really surprise people these days! Hmm…well, I was born three months early, I guess that’s pretty unusual. I spent the first three months of my life in a little life support box…! During that time, my mom put a little tape player in there and played Gurbani (Sacred Sikh music) for me all the time. I like to think that played a part in my love for Sikhism, and helped me have a very personal relationship to it through the sound current.

I also really love dogs, and would adopt the whole darn animal shelter if I could! I have a little black mini schnauzer at home named Baalu, who I love to train to do funny tricks. If you ever want to make me relax and feel happy, let me hang out with a dog.
Karan: How does music play into your spiritual beliefs and practices?

Nirinjan: In Sikhism we believe that our Guru is the sacred sound current. A line in our sacred scripture reads “Bani Guru, Guru hai bani, vich bani, amrit sare”. This means “the sound current is my Guru, my Guru is the sacred sound, through the sacred word, the nectar of bliss is found.” in almost all of our practices as Sikhs (which means “students”), we are constantly chanting and singing to the divine. Our whole sacred scripture is full of songs called “shabds”. These are all essentially love songs to God, to the divine. So music fits pretty perfectly into my spiritual practice!

Karan: What are you most excited about in this upcoming tour?

Nirinjan: Well this is going to be the most I’ve ever sung in a five weeks period I think! It will be an amazing experience to sing that much! It will also be very educational singing with a whoe band of proffesional musicians. A tour is such a big deal…I’m pretty much just excited for whatever happens!

Nirinjan has released two CDs on her own, and this summer she released a new album, Healing the Wounds of Love, which will be available for the first time online in early November.

Here are her CDs:

To see when the Joy is Now tour is coming to your area, CLICK HERE