Dear friends ... my celebration for #GuruNanak550 continues as I release a new colorful album today, "Rang Rataa," which has five shabads in five different colors. Rang means color, and rataa means imbued.


The first shabad, Rang Rataa, which was released earlier this year as a single, features one of the best finger guitarists in the US and my wonderful friend, Muriel Anderson. This is one of the two compositions of this shabad ... the other one in Raag Shri is still in the making. The other four shabads are in the raag that Guru Nanak used to sing in.

My special gratitude to my dear friend Ahsan Ali for pouring his immense love and co-producing Mere Laal Rangeele in Raag Tukhari (a raag that Guru Nanak composed himself). In Mera Prabh Raang Guru Nanak uses Rajasthani and is sung in Raag Parbhati.

Kusambhare is a Baba Sheikh Farid shabad about the impermanence of life like the color of a flower, which Guru Nanak used to sing in Raag Suhi Lalit. This is a new take on this raag and I will explain at some point why I believe Guru Nanak sang it like this. The last shabad, "Manjeethra" in Raag Suhi is a direct response of Guru Nanak to the previous shabad "Kusambhare" and talks about how the color of Name is "Manjeethra" or permanent despite the impermanence of life.

You should be able to find the audio versions of this shabad on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube and many other platforms.

May you all be imbued in the color of love. Now I can continue on the celebration ...

My favorites
Tukhari (Jhaptal) - Ghol Ghumai Laalna - Principle Baldev Singh
Saavan Saras Manaa - Prof. Shamshad Ali
Ghol Ghumai Lalna - Bhai Sarbjit Singh Rangila


Tukhari Compilation
Gur Ke Charan Jee Ka Nistaara - Live from Darbar Sahib, Nov 2009
Tukhari - Ghol Ghumaai Laalna Parkash Singh
Tukhari - Ghol ghumai Lalna - Bhai Kanwarpal Singh
Tukhari - Antar Piri Pyaar - Dilbagh Singh/Gulbagh Singh
Tukhari - Antar Piri Pyaar - Devinder Singh/Gulbagh Singh
Tukhari - Ghol Ghumai Lalna - Bhai Gurmej Singh
Madho Jal Kee Pyaas Na Jaye - Live from Darbar Sahib, Nov 2009
Tukhari - Ghol Ghumai Lalna - Bhai Sarbjit Singh Rangila
Tukhari - Saajan Des Videsariye - Bhai Surjit Singh
Tukhari - Saavan Saras Manaa - Dr. Gurnam Singh
Tukhari - Nirgun Raakh Liya - Bhai Avtar Singh

On Taus:
Tukhari on Taus - Bhai Sandeep Singh

More on Tukhari: http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Tukhari

I always find raag-ful Shabad Kirtan enchanting; however, oftentimes the recording quality available on the web is disappointing. And I know you can empathize with these sentiments.

Which is why I point the effort at gurmatsangeetdarbar.com. Present here are probably some of the better available live recordings on the internet. Try listening to some of those recordings on a headphone or a superior amplifier system. As you can hear, these recordings are definitely a treasure for us and future generations. And, thankfully for me, and the rest of kirtan premis, a treasure that seems to be growing gradually.

The recordings involve usage of large diaphragm microphones, which are a lot more sensitive in picking up nuances. And nuances are so important to classical music. Recently the recordings are done in a multi-track format, which can be later mixed.

While we enjoy the outcome of these, all this this takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. So we are thankful to Ajit Singh ji who does the recordings and manages the website. I will continue to write about these recordings as more are available.

Since it is the winter season, several new Raag Tukhari recordings can be found in the most recent posting at the site. Usage of shudha ma and komal ni differentiate Tukhari from Madhuvanti. My favorite Tukhari in this program is by Bhai Devinder Singh/Gulbagh Singh:

Tukhari - Antar Piree Piaar - Devinder-Gulbagh Singh

The rest of the recordings from this program can be found here:
Malton Oct 4

And before I bid happy thanksgiving, I want to point out that yesterday, sikhnet.com started its new audio offering: http://www.sikhnet.com/gurbani. This looks very interesting and adds a 'social' theme to the listening of Gurbani and adds some really innovative features. Two that stood out in my first drive: when you click on one shabad, you can get renditions of the same shabad by other artists; the media player includes a rolling translation of the shabad. Kudos Gurmustuk!!!