About Snatam Kaur
Snatam Kaur is one of the most popular New Age artists of our time, selling over 50,000 albums a year. Her CDs of Sikh-inspired chants ranked in the New Age Retailer’s Top 20 in 2004, 2005, and 2006. In 2005, Snatam was the only artist to place three albums in the Top 20.
An international favorite with fans across the U.S, Europe, Asia, South America and the South Pacific, Snatam Kaur performs for tens of thousands each year, from the Bahamas to Singapore, and her enthusiastic audience continues to expand. One fan spoke for all when he admitted, “We come to Snatam’s concerts to experience the beautiful atmosphere her voice creates, to heal and grow.”
You’ll find enthusiastic press about Snatam’s music everywhere from the Houston Chronicle to the Hindustani Times. She’s also been featured on the cover of New Age publications such as the Light Connection and the Body Mind Spirit Guide.
Snatam is deeply committed to supporting the U.N.’s peace initiatives through her ongoing Celebrate Peace Tour, and is active in the interfaith movement, helping promote understanding and respect between the world religions. In addition to her concerts, she also teaches yoga and chanting workshops throughout the world as a way to share the tools for inner peace she practices each day.
Child of the Golden Temple
Snatam Kaur was born in 1972 in the beautiful mountain town of Trinidad, Colorado. Her parents were students of renowned Sikh teacher Yoga Bhajan, who gave her the name “Snatam” (pronounced sun-ah-tum) which means “universal” or “friend to all.”
Snatam was raised in a musical family that practiced yoga, meditation and chanting. “I loved to get up in the morning and sing with my parents,” Snatam relates. “My mother was my first music teacher. She showed me that music is not just about singing, it’s about making a real connection to God and the Infinite; that it can be a tool to help us overcome challenges of life.”
When she was six, Snatam’s mother took her to India where she met Bhai Hari Singh, one of the master chanters at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest Sikh temple in the world. As a little girl, she spent hours every day at the temple and at Bhai Hari Singh’s house while her mother studied with the revered master. Snatam was captivated by the sacred music. “Chant is the soul and life of the Sikh tradition. It’s the main way Sikhs express their devotion to God,” she explains.
Back in America, Snatam moved to Bolinas, California with her mother and step-father, a former manager of the Grateful Dead. It was there that, through stressful times, “I learned to go to the family meditation room and sing as a way to pray and release emotions. I learned the power of healing through sacred chant.” She also learned to play the guitar and violin, and honed her songwriting skills. After performing her song, “Save Our Earth,” at a school assembly, Snatam and ten of her friends, coached by Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, performed the song for 70,000 people at an Earth Day concert in San Francisco.
Snatam returned to India to study music with Bhai Hari Singh. “There’s a lifestyle of spirituality at the Golden Temple. They have early morning chanting and continuous spiritual activity that continues through the day till very late at night. I was humbled by the way people lived; by what it meant to be spiritual there. The music and spirituality I experienced in India were incredible gifts I brought back to the United States with me.”
The Magic in the Music
Snatam originally intended to work in health care, but couldn’t evade her musical destiny. In 1997 she began working as a Food Technologist for Peace Cereal in Oregon, where she helped develop cereal flavors and health foods. But when the management heard her sing, they offered to sponsor her records and programs. “I couldn’t have done this without their support,” she acknowledges. Over the years the generous support of the 3HO Foundation also helped make Snatam’s music possible. The 3HO Foundation is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) of the United Nations, working for peace. It is known world wide for giving people tools for peace through the teachings of Kundalini Yoga and meditation.
In 2000, Spirit Voyage Records founder Guru Ganesha Singh welcomed the young artist to his label, and signed on as her manager and guitarist. Working with a sterling ensemble of talented musicians and the brilliant New Age music producer Thomas Barquee, Snatam has generated one critically acclaimed album after another, including the bestselling CDs Prem, Shanti, Grace and Anand. “Making a new CD is both a creative and spiritual process for me. I bow my head and ask God, ‘What do you want to deliver?’ And the energy always comes through.”
The public’s response to that sacred energy has been whole-hearted. Fans report playing Snatam’s music as their babies were born—and as loved ones died. The sound of Snatam’s crystal-pure voice, the evocative Sikh mantras she sings, and the flawless instrumentation, create a sublime atmosphere that transports the soul. Children respond so powerfully that some parents confess they use Snatam’s CDs to help their youngsters relax and fall asleep at night.
For Snatam, music is a profound spiritual experience she shares with her audience. “The focus of recording and performing live is connecting people to the infinite flow of energy that is God’s pure grace. If they can feel it, they can be uplifted and healed.”
One woman reported that when her husband returned from his tour of duty in Iraq he was so emotionally frozen; completely unable to open up about his experience there. One day he happened to hear Snatam’s music playing. He started to sob, and was at last able, to pour out his heart and release his pain. Another woman, recently widowed, told Snatam, ““Your music got me through the worst experience of my life. I wouldn’t have made it otherwise.”
An elderly gentleman summarized many fans’ experience when he said, “We come to Snatam’s concerts to experience blissful peace, to go to a very divine place, to have the freedom to be in the beautiful atmosphere Snatam’s voice creates, to heal and grow.”
“The magic that happens because of the music is the gift of the sacred chant, and it’s healing beyond measure,” Snatam explains. “In the yoga tradition it’s said that sacred sound current can bring light and healing to every cell in the body.” Her music soothes and inspires, but perhaps most of all it lifts the human soul back to the magic within itself.
The Heart of an Artist
After September 11th, 2001, Snatam became heavily involved in interfaith outreach. Sikhs wear turbans and that confused many Americans. “I wanted to create dialogue so that people could know who we were, that Sikhs stand for peace. Sikhs believe in peace through strength: ‘Don’t be afraid of anyone and don’t make anyone afraid of you.’”
Community service is a large part of Snatam’s work. Her Celebrate Peace world tour includes stops at schools, hospices, juvenile detention centers, and other facilities where her music can help heal and inspire. “We reach out to children through our Children’s Peace Hour, which is free for all and serves many children in underprivileged communities.” Snatam also offers tools for maintaining a balanced and loving internal state with her workshop, “Inner Peace through Yoga and Chanting.”
Today Snatam lives in Espanola, New Mexico with her husband, graphic artist Sopurkh Singh Khalsa. “Every day I do yoga and meditation with my husband. That’s key for me; my spiritual practice doesn’t falter even when I’m on tour. It’s a total time of connection and rejuvenation,” Snatam says.
“Music is essential in my personal practice—it’s the core spiritual practice of Sikhs. My music is an offering to people of all faiths. Many of the words are in Gurumukhi, the sacred language of the Sikhs. This language was designed to provide healing just by listening to it or reciting it.
“I play the harmonium, guitar, and the violin, but my main ‘instrument’ is my voice. It’s the way I communicate with my Creator.” It’s also the way Snatam communicates with her audience, who are carried to a relaxed and energized state of pure joy by her sacred chants.
On tour Snatam is joined by GuruGanesha Singh on guitar and vocals, by Ram Dass Singh who adds clarinet, piano and voice, by world famous tabla master Manish Vyas, and the very talented up and coming producer Krishan Prakash Singh who takes care of sound for the band.
About GuruGanesh
GuruGanesha Singh, originally from Boston, was born into a family full of music and dance having both a father and mother in show business. At 8 yrs old, GuruGanesha received his first guitar as a gift from his cousin, a studio guitarist on the Ed Sullivan Show, and this is where his marriage to music truly started.
Inheriting boundless energy from his father, GuruGanesha pursued music in college, joining a rock band named Cat’s Cradle that eventually was signed to a record contract by Peer Southern Music. The band toured extensively often opening for big time bands such as the Allman Brothers, Sha Na Na, and Iron Butterfly. He also played a significant role in bringing the Grateful Dead, his then favorite band, to his college, Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts three times during his time there.
When the rock and roll explosion hit in the 1960’s, GuruGanesha was inspired by bands such as The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead. “Jerry Garcia was my first Guru,” GuruGanesha says. He says that Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead gave him his first experience of elevated consciousness through music.
GuruGanesha, who embraced the Sikh religion at age 22, has practiced yoga and meditation for over 30 years under the guidance of his spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan also a Sikh. In 1972, GuruGanesha took his first, life-changing Kundalini yoga and meditation class at Clark University. As he heard a Guru Ram Das chant being played on the guitar at the end of the class, tears of joy poured down his cheeks and he felt a deep connection with himself and the universe.
After this profound experience, GuruGanesha transitioned from rock to devotional music and he moved into a Sikh community in the Washington DC area, where he still lives. “It was the music that brought me into the community,” GuruGanesha said. Many mornings at 5:00am, GuruGanesha played music and chanted along with members of the community. This daily spiritual practice, sadhana, continues to provide GuruGanesha with an ongoing source of joy and inspiration in his life and music.
In 1999, GuruGanesha founded Spirit Voyage Music with the goal of finding a way to really spread the music he loved to ever-widening audiences. He worked closely with many of the musicians in the community including Snatam Kaur, Gurudass and Guru Singh. GuruGanesha strongly believes that music has the power to heal the planet and set Spirit Voyage up as a conscious business with the purpose of serving humanity.
GuruGanesha is also founder and CEO of the Sandler Sales Institute of Virginia and is considered to be one of the world’s premier high tech sales training experts with clients that have included Network General, BMC Software, Cognos Corporation and Computer Associates.
GuruGanesha Singh presently tours the world with Snatam Kaur and Krishan on their Celebrate Peace Tour sponsored by Peace Cereal, delighting audiences with his unmitigated joy and signature guitar work. On tour, he also teaches Prosperity Workshops where he offers his combined experience and learning from the broad spectrum of his professional and spiritual life.
About Manish Vyas
Manish Vyas is a unique phenomenon in the world of fusion music. A talented multi-instrumentalist and singer, over the last few years he has emerged as both an extraordinary performing and recording artist.
He grew up in a family passionate about Indian music and it was in this dedicated atmosphere that he was first exposed to its many different forms; from classical to ‘kirtan’ to folk. Music, one could say, is quite simply in his blood.
Realising his talent at an early age, his mother initiated him into ‘Tabla’ when he was nine. A few years of basic instruction led him to the feet of Maestro, Ustad Allarakha in Mumbai where his training continued for a further five years.
It was during this same time that Manish was exposed to a totally new genre of music – namely World and Fusion – through meeting a variety of musicians from around the world at the then famous, Osho Commune International, Pune. Continuous experimentation with these musicians expanded his musical horizons beyond Tabla and Indian classical form. During this time a new found passion for melody led him to pick up the ‘Santoor’ – a 100 stringed instrument - and from there he moved first to singing, then harmonium and keyboards.
A dedicated involvement with these world musicians, in addition to Manish’s undoubted talents and versatility eventually brought him into the international limelight. Most noted was his collaboration with World famous fusion Maestro, Prem Joshua; first as a band member of the popular, ‘Hamsafar’ and then as a successful fusion duo, ‘East West Alchemy.’ Together they shared a musical partnership of over 15 years and toured extensively in Europe, USA, India, Israel and Singapore.
In addition to being a performer and recording artist, Manish is also held in high regard as a composer with a talent for creating beautiful melodies. Most notably, mantra queen, Deva Premal has featured many of his compositions in her CD’s.
Manish’s ability to blend his talents together with many forms of world music has brought him not only the appreciation of music lovers throughout the globe, but also to the eye of world-renowned celebrities in the music field. The year 2002 was particularly special, with Manish being invited by Sir Paul MacCartney to play at his wedding in Ireland as part of the Celtic Raga’s Band. In addition he has performed in front of Paul Getty 3, Anoushka Shankar, Sir Jules Holland, Ringo Star and Dr. Brian Weiss.
Over the years, Manish has given countless live concerts and enthralled audiences of hundreds of people. The record breaking number so far was 50,000 in Coimbatore, India at the Isha Fest, 2004 where his newly formed band, India Trance were billed alongside renowned classical singer, Vani Jairam.
With a fan base of both young and old, East and West, Manish Vyas has touched and inspired people in every corner of the globe and continues to bring his unique form of creativity to an ever more appreciative audience.
About Tanmayo
Hailing originally from the far north of Scotland where she was classically trained in both violin and piano from the age of 7, Tanmayo is widely experienced in both orchestral and solo settings. In addition to her instrumental portfolio, she is also an accomplished singer, appearing in settings as diverse as a Glasgow jazz quartet, the Celtic fusion band, ‘In a Split Second’ and a London Gospel Choir.
Continuing this musical exploration, she has also studied classical Indian violin under the guidance of Ustad Faiyaz Hussain Khan... she is also known to play a mean irish fiddle tune should the mood take her! She has toured with Prem Joshua in both Europe and America, played with the group ‘Celtic Ragas’ at the wedding (in his happier days!) of Sir Paul MacCartney and appears as the female vocalist on several CD's including Manish's highly acclaimed album, Sattva.