Skip to main content

Rang Rataa - An album of 5 shabads

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 ...

Links to Music: Spotify, Apple Music, iTunesGoogle Music, YouTube Music

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Khasam Ki Bani

Khasam Ki Bani,  a phrase used by Guru Nanak to describe his own poetry, means "Words of my Love". The project started off as a musical celebration of  Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary  and now continues because I did not have the heart to stop. [from - Feb/Mar 2016] "Jaisi Main Avai Khasam Ki Bani" is one of the four poems included in what is called "Babarvani" describing the four invasions by Mughal Emperor Babar (1483-1530).  While three of these poems are in Raag Asa (the color of Hope), this poem is in Raag Tilang (the color of Mideast). Read More:  Complete Babarvani Babar and Guru Nanak in 1520-1521 Before I share the translation, some brief history for you based on what I have gathered from several sources including  Babar's Autobiography  in the past few days. The year was 1520.  The season was winter.  Babar made his third invasion into India and easily subdued several cities including Sialkot.  He...

Singing Guru Nanak for a Year

I decided to spend a year to spend a year working on compositions of Guru Nanak for #GuruNanak550.  Someone asked me write about this experience and this is what I said: Singing Guru Nanak For a Year As long as I sing, I live. As soon as I forget, I die ( So Kyon Visrai ) - Guru Nanak, Raag Asa On the momentous occasion of Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary celebrations, I decide to spend a year meditating upon the words and music of Guru Nanak. Its exciting ... For many years Bhai Gurdas has reminded me how Guru Nanak lighted his life,  Kal Taaran Guru Nanak Aaya . I commence excitedly, focusing on the light that is brighter than one hundred moons and one thousand suns combined, the light of Guru Nanak’s prayer, the universal Aarti with the stars studded in the sky’s platter. I decide to sing Guru Nanak completely this year. The initial plan is to record 55 new compositions . I think this to be momentous because normally I can only do 10-12 compositions in...

Saajan

Today is my little sister Simer’s wedding in India. While I couldn’t attend in person, I am celebrating with the release of “Saajan” - an album with 5 shabads. Saajan means “Beloved”. The cover concept and design is by my 13 year old daughter Jania. It shows Guru Nanak and his Rebab playing bard, Bhai Mardana. Superimposed on this is Simer’s wedding dress. The colors coordinate with the Raags in the album. I’m grateful to five musicians have contributed to this: Ahsan Ali (Sarangi and vocals), Rajesh Prasanna (Bansuri), Jeremy Marais (Saxophone), Rajvinder Singh (Tabla), and Abhijit Chakraborty (Bass).  Here is the first shabad from this album: