The June 6, 2025, release of the video Pavan Guru, featuring Sonny Singh accompanied by Afghan Rababi Qais Essar, may seem an unconventional approach to Sikh kirtan. It is, however, a homage honoring a tradition that began first with Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Bhai Mardana Ji. Still, something is happening seldom seen or heard during a Kirtan performance, and that is Sonny Singh playing his trumpet.
Sikh Sonny Singh is of a slender build, not often associated with the powerful lungs needed to play a horn. But he masters the instrument in the most exquisite, sublime manner that it seems completely natural, enhancing the space between singing and silence, like the voice of an etheric angel.
Rabab Master Muslim Qais Essar quietly sits at Sonny's side, statuesque and regally intent, absorbed with skillfully picking a tune from the strings of the instrument in a manner that expresses a plucky percussion all its own.
Seated on the ground in a wooded copse alongside an icy stream while performing Kirtan, the two modern-day minstrels, while forging new musical ventures, evoke a scene reminiscent of the simplicity in which Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana lived while traveling the known world in the 16th century. The setting also brings together the elements of Air, Water, and Earth in the shabad sung by Sonny, which is the final verse of Japji Sahib, the Sikhs' early morning prayer:
ਪਵਣੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਪਾਣੀ ਪਿਤਾ ਮਾਤਾ ਧਰਤਿ ਮਹਤੁ ॥
pavann guroo paannee pitaa maataa dhart mahat
Air is the Guru, Water the Father, and Earth the Great Mother.ਦਿਵਸੁ ਰਾਤਿ ਦੁਇ ਦਾਈ ਦਾਇਆ ਖੇਲੈ ਸਗਲ ਜਗਤੁ ॥
divas raat duei daaee daaeiaa khaelaa salgal jagat
Day and night, are like two female and male caregivers, in whose embrace the entire universe is at play.
Pavan Guru, a composition by Guru Nanak, is the third track in a trio of singles in the forthcoming Album SANGAT, an eclectic collective of fusion scheduled for release in October 2025. The Pavan Guru track features:
- Qais Essar – rabab, percussion, production, mixing
- Sonny Singh – vocals, trumpet, harmonium, dhad, composition, co-production
- Robin Ryczek – cello
- Shruti Parkeh – video
SANGAT also features the tracks Lal Meri Pat of Sufi origin, and Vich Sangat, a composition by Guru Raam Daas.
Conversation with Sonny Singh
Sonny Singh and Qais Essar, who have shared their musical visions individually in venues around the world, plan to present their shared sense of Sikh and Muslim unity to gurdwaras with their Kirtan in June 2025.
SikhNet: How did the two of you meet, and what prompted your collaboration?
Qais and I met through a common musician friend, Alsarah. I was looking for someone to go on tour with me last fall as a part of the Revolutionary Love Tour with Valarie Kaur after her book Sage Warrior came out alongside my album by the same name. Alsarah recommended Qais, and I am forever grateful. We hit it off immediately and spent six weeks traveling on a bus together, doing kirtan and making music every night weaving together the old and the new, rabab, harmonium, trumpet, and guitar. When the tour ended, we wanted to capture the unique stripped-down version of Pavan Guru we played on tour in a recording. That's where the idea began, and after we recorded a few tracks, we decided we needed to do a whole album. This music is a reflection of Oneness - the spirit of Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana tearing down false boundaries and hierarchies between communities. In that spirit, the album will include Sufi songs and Sikh shabads in Punjabi and Farsi alike--a reflection of who Qais and I are and a musical call to unity and solidarity.
SikhNet: Is there anything else that you would like readers to know?
Until the middle of the 20th Century, Muslim rababis were central in Sikh devotional spaces, including at Darbar Sahib. It is a travesty that this tradition, that goes back to the 16th Century, has been all but lost because of dogmatic and divisive ideologies. I hope this collaboration between Qais and I is a reminder of this past and a call to action to challenge anti-Muslim bias in our community. I know I grew up hearing so many horrible stereotypes and lies about Muslims, and it is up to us now to remember that we are indeed one. Nanak and Mardana paved the path -- all we have to do is walk on it, together.
Qais Essar & Sonny Singh
Listen here to “PAVAN GURU”
On SikhNet Play
Album - https://play.sikhnet.com/album/pavan-guru-single
Track - https://play.sikhnet.com/track/pavan-guru-8
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