Khasam Ki Bani - #GuruNanak550

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...

I heard some people got together today in Kartarpur to commemorate the 480th death anniversary of Guru Nanak. This reminds me of this incident with my grandfather, Papaji and his brother, Chachaji.  While Chachaji who was only two years younger to Papaji, he was a lot more active and seemed a lot more younger. They had a very funny and frank relationship.  So that day, Chachaji reminded Papaji that he should write his will, just in case "something" happens. He also suggested that he should leave Chachaji instructions on how to execute the will.  Papaji thought about it for a bit, and with a straight face quipped, "Who knows if I will die first or you?" It left Chachaji startled and it became a story that was told and retold in the family. I remember Papaji very sad remembering this when Chachaji actually died suddenly while Papaji was around. Coincidently, recently I completed an album that includes 5 poems of Guru Nanak that deal with death. In the first line...

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: