KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- Dya Singh, the Malaysian Sikh singer and musician who now lives in Melbourne, has produced his 20th album of spiritual Sikh hymns and will launch it at four venues in the Klang Valley this weekend.
"I choose to launch this labour of love in Malaysia, the country of my birth, because of the beauty of our multi-racial and multi-cultural togetherness," said the 59 year-old Raub-born Dya Singh, who also strongly supports the 1Malaysia concept espoused by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Called 'Sukhmani Sahib' or "The Psalm of Bliss", it is the longest Sikh morning prayer comprising 24 stanzas or verses lasting about two hours.
"This prayer is never normally sung. But I have given it a new feel with my special brand of music because I want to reach out to more people, Sikhs and non-Sikhs," said Dya Singh, who is one of the most popular internationally renowned Sikh spiritual singers today.
The limited launch edition of two CDs also includes a booklet (gutka) with Gurmukhi (Punjabi) and Romanised script and a translation of the hymns. Enquiries can be made from www.dyasingh.com.
The launch will take place at four gurdwaras or temples -- Tatt Khalsa at Jalan Raja Alang here (10am) and Gurdwara Sahib in Klang (7pm) on Saturday, and Darbar Sahib in Subang Jaya (7am) and Gurdwara Sahib Kampung Pandan (10.30am) on Sunday.
The event is being organised by the Naujawan Sabha Malaysia or Malaysian Sikh Youth Organisation.
Malkith Singh, the "jathedar" or head of the organisation, said: "Dya Singh is a 'product' of our organisation as he used to attend our youth camps in the Sixties. We are very proud that today he is an international artiste in our spiritual music and taking it to the masses worldwide. He is truly an ambassador of multiracial and inter-faith harmony in the international arena."
Dya Singh, a former journalist and accountant, has been responsible for taking Sikh traditional spiritual music outside the confines of gurdwaras and making it accessible to younger generations of Sikhs as well as non-Sikh audiences.
"Through my music, I am reaching out to younger Sikhs who may otherwise drift away from traditions. With a CD, they can listen to the music or hymns in their cars or homes if they are far away from the gurdwara," he explained.
The singer described his music as basically meditational with influences from his Sikh background.
"Yet it is non-denominational. Any human being can relate to it because it is broadly spiritual in nature. The fact that we have musicians from non-Sikh backgrounds complements that sentiment. My group has about 15 musicians from all different ethnic backgrounds. In fact, one of my percussionists was once a refugee from Afghanistan," he said.
In his current tour of Malaysia, his group includes Dheeraj Shrestha from Nepal, arguably one of the best tabla players in the world, Quentin Eyers one of Australia's finest guitarists (accoustic and electric) as well as in the didgeridoo, the oldest known musical instrument played by the Australian aborigines for the last 50,000 years, and supporting vocalist Jamel Kaur, who is also Dya Singh's eldest daughter.
Since 1993, Dya Singh and his group has been performing internationally and his music has gained much recognition because all his musicians are non-Sikh. His music has a contemporary fusion base, yet adhering to his Sikh traditions.
Two months ago, Dya Singh returned to Malaysia with Vic Briggs (now Vikram Singh), former lead guitarist of the 60's pop group, The Animals, and they walked from Kuala Lumpur to Melaka over six days to promote unity and the great outdoors of the country.
A fortnight ago, Dya Singh, who was named Australian World Music 'Vocalist of the Year' in 2000, staged a concert at Melbourne's Iwaki Auditorium to promote unity and harmony after the sudden backlash against Indian students in Australia.
