Why Musicians Didn't Cover Their Heads in 'Raghunath'

When I first invited Rajhesh Vaidhya ji for playing Veena with me, it took several months of planning and booking a studio.  On the day of the recording, the engineers were setting up the microphones, I went to Rajhesh ji to explain he would need to have his head covered because we would be recording Gurbani. I didn't expect many issues because I assumed he was an Indian musician who would know (I generally tell non-Indian musicians in advance about Gurbani). But, to my dismay, he said he was not comfortable putting anything on his head during the recording. 

I came out of the green room thinking about what to do. One option that came to my mind was to cancel the recording.  The other option was to go with the flow and not think about it.  Then I was reminded of what my grandfather would have done when he was confused: he would ask the Guru. I opened a random shabad from my Gurbani app on my phone. The following shabad appeared: 

My takeaway here was that we are deluded that respect comes from wearing head coverings, wearing shoes, sitting on chairs and bowing down. When the Guru reminds us so many time in Gurbani that what is important is love and our action.  

The ulitimate check for anything I do is "How would Guru Nanak handle this?" Would he not feed the Sadhu in langar who did not have his head covered? Would he not let someone sing in sangat if they were wearing shoes? Did he himself not sing while he was walking with his shoes on? Did he himself not sing when he was taking a head bath in the rivulets?  The obvious answer to all these questions is No! However much we would like this or not, love matters not clothes. 

Since then I have heard back from Vaidhya ji how much he enjoys the shabad recording we did.  I think he genuinely respects and Gurbani and the composition we created. He does not need a head covering to love and respect what we did. 

I do not do kirtan without covering my head, and give the musicians the advice of covering their head. I have stopped worrying much about how others are dressed. I do not force musicians to wear head coverings if they are not comfortable.  How would that be different from forcibly converting someone's religion. The words of the Guru are equal for everyone, for Black and White, Hindu and Sikh, Muslim and Christian, poor and rich, big and small ... and yes, ones who dress in a certain way and the ones who don't. 

This is a rather liberal view of Sikh Kirtan.  I apologize to those who I have hurt feelings.  But I am confident the Guru is with me on this one.  May the Guru of all Guru's always guide us in the right direction.