I don’t know how he does it, but he’s done it yet again.
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| Sacred Chants of the Sikhs is a sound Master piece of spiritual upliftment. Craig Pruess and Dya Singh (and daughter, Parvyn Kaur Singh) have come together with the haunting Bansuri of Ronu Majumdar to create a heavenly depiction of Sikh chants. |
I acquired my copy of the new CD several weeks ago. Coincidentally, during the same time period since, I’ve made numerous trips into The Great Parking Lot -- also known as the metropolis of Toronto -- which lies about an hour and a half south-east of where I live. I must confess I’ve been able to listen to nothing else but this latest gift from Dya Singh, coming and going, during the dozen hours or so I’ve spent on the road every week.
The player is set on ’repeat’ mode because I simply can’t get enough of it.
It takes a while to grow on you, I should warn you, because it catches you by surprise when you first hear it. The pace is slower than the usual kirtan fare, in fact far, far slower.
And rightly so. It is simran oriented. The instruments weave a cocoon around you and then the voices enter your personal space and present the words, one syllable at a time, not moving on to the next one until you’ve fully imbibed one to the point of understanding its full import.
I’ve yearned for such a collection ever since I came across “Chants of India” 15 years ago. Composed by Ravi Shankar, produced by George Harrison, it consisted of, despite its misleading title, a handful of Vedic and Hindu chants.
They are mesmerizingly addictive; the CD remains part of my must-take satchel of portable music every time I go on long trips. I love their meditational intonations, even though, unfortunately, they make no sense … because all the words are in impregnable, unfathomable Sanskrit.
A large portion of the appeal of song and poetry is, of course, the arrangements of sounds, and that is why I can enjoy them endlessly. But the meaning of the words bring a whole new dimension to the pleasure and lets you enter a vast universe which otherwise remains shut out. That was my frustration with Ravi Shankar’s beautiful creations … they convey no meaning, unless you are a Hindu priest who has been educated in the ancient texts.
Neither the smattering of Sanskrit I learnt as a young boy, nor the Hindi that I know now quite reasonably, are of any help. They can’t be. Sanskrit is a fossilized language, now buried in tomes which remain hidden away on forgotten, dusty shelves. If the Hindu pandits can rattle off passages from them, they make no sense to anyone else and therefore have become entrenched in one meaningless ritual after another and feed into superstitions and religious mumbo-jumbo.
Have you ever seen or heard two people conversing to each other in conversational Sanskrit … anywhere?
Worse, can you imagine two lovers in today’s world exchanging sweet nothings in the language? I can’t. And I was born and brought up for the first two decades of my life in the Hindi/Hindu belt.
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Carrying on in the tradition of the well-known, well-crafted and and highly successful Sacred Chants of… series of CDs, Sacred Chants of the Sikhs features the resonant and devotional voice of Sikh priest, Dya Singh. Framed within the ethereal and penetrating production of Craig Pruess' unique sound (he is label owner and world musician, arranger and producer behind this series of CDs), this selection of chants is from the ancient Sikh tradition, and includes "Mahan Mantra", "Waheguru", "Anand" and "Tu Thakur." The arrangements are very spacious and feature the masterful Indian flute (bansuri) playing of international maestro, Pt Ronu Majumdar. Light a candle, sit and close the eyes: Sacred Chants of the Sikhs is another musical journey that takes you deep inside, to the still point in your mind. |
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His rendition of "nuss vunjho kilvikkho …" -- ‘O run, O scatter, dear friends, my Lover has come home …!’ -- ever reverberates within the walls of my mind.
Or his version of "tujjh bin khurree nimaanee …" - “Forlorn do I stand here, without Thee …” pierces my very soul every time I hear it.
Imagine my delight when I discovered that Dya Singh had partnered with Craig Preuss, a musical genius in his own right, to produce “Sacred Chants of the Sikhs”!
It has all that I had hoped for -- add a world of meaning and substance to the beautiful strands once woven by Ravi Shankar, and you get the exquisite shabads from Dya Singh and Craig Preuss.
The opening rendition of the Mool Mantar alone takes 21 minutes. Every word, nay, every syllable, comes alive with meaning. Instead of putting you into a comatose trance, this ’chant’ brings you alive and alert.
It hits home that if you are conversant in Punjabi, these passages are actually in everyday language; they require no scholarship to fathom them.
Each of the pieces that follow offers a different dish from the overall cornucopia of gurbani.
“Dunndaut bandhana …”
“Toon thaakar tum pai ardaas …”
Then, the invocation from the daily Ardaas. Dya Singh brings you the realization that something you recite as a matter of routine every day, its every word is loaded with meaning. Next time you recite the ardaas, you’ll find you instinctively want to pause after each phrase.
Then follows the introductory verse of Anand Sahib.
And, the conclusion with a 16-minute simran.
I suggest you hear all of it a few times in solitude -- mercifully, that is what I have when I drive to and fro -- and then you’ll discover that it offers you a lifeline into the great unknown.
As I said at the beginning, I know not how Dya Singh does it, but each time he gives us the gift of a new CD, he opens up an entire brave new world, and opens our eyes to things we know are out there but have not been able to see …
But don’t just take my word.
Taste it for yourself!
http://www.spiritvoyage.com/yoga/Sacred-Chants-of-the-Sikhs-/Craig-Pruess/CDS-004610.aspx