Music and Mantra as a Source of Strength
Sometimes life’s most challenging moments gift us insight into how our spiritual practices hold and heal us when we need them most. At a time when world-renowned, Grammy-nominated devotional singer, touring musician, and teacher Snatam Kaur is creatively flourishing, she is also helping to care for her father, Sat Santokh, as he copes with cancer. Snatam’s lifelong Kirtan practice — both private and publicly, at concerts and classes — has proven to be a poignant comfort to her in this difficult time.
A New Single, a New Album
August 18 marked the debut of “Bani Guru,” the first single from Soul Bird, the upcoming album release (mid-October on Be Why Music) Snatam recorded with her mother, Prabhu Nam Kaur, and her 14-year-old daughter, Jap Preet Kaur. This first single is dedicated to Sat Santokh.
“Bani Guru” positions the three generations’ sweetly stirring vocals front and center against a delicately streamlined harmonium, guitar, and percussion arrangement. While sharing a tonal resemblance to one another, each of the women contributes a distinct quality to the song. Together, they project something special — transcendent and authentically devotional. Beauty and purity shine within the track.
“Bani Guru” and Soul Bird grew from an ambitious passion project Snatam and Prabhu Nam Kaur are pursuing together — cataloging and recording their family legacy of nearly 200 songs and chants from the Sikh tradition. This album is a part of that project, and for it, Snatam suggested to her mother that they share something with special meaning and pick whatever intuitively comes. Prabhu Nam Kaur turned inward, and “Bani Guru,” a Shabad or sacred poem that is sung from the Sikh tradition, came up.
“The words of this Shabad, ‘Bani Guru Bani Hai Bani,’ mean, ‘The song of God is the Guru, and then the Guru — the teacher and the wisdom — is the song of God,’” said Snatam, on the eve of the single’s release while simultaneously helping care for her father and prepare for the U.S. portion of her Light of Sacred Chant Tour. “The mantra is about going to the song of God for that connection. It’s profound because that’s the practice my mom taught me—that if you want to access the wisdom, sing, and it will come.” The next line of ‘Bani Guru’ translates to, ‘One who serves this energy of the song of God, who serves this energy of wisdom, then that wisdom or Guru manifests on the earth plane and in our lives.’
“At this time, with my father dealing with cancer, ‘Bani Guru’ is just the medicine we need to keep chanting and connecting to — praying for that energy of Guru to come through in our lives in a very real physical way with community support and all the little miracles needed day by day when dealing with cancer,” she said. “I feel the Guru come to our aid through life itself, through our own hearts, our family, our friends, and even the challenges we face.”
The Wisdom of a Committed Kirtan Practice
Snatam’s music career is deeply rooted in the Kirtan practice she was taught by her mother. “Two of the things I learned from her,” she said, “is, first, to go to Kirtan in times of trouble and need. Lean on Kirtan to find the good energy and ideas and a sense of relief. The second is to find a way to really open my heart to the Kirtan practice so that it becomes something that is alive for me — awake, juicy, and passionate. It takes a lot of cultivation of a daily Kirtan practice to find that space. It takes a desire to find that internal passion or connection with the heart, but once you do, it’s totally worth it because you find the capacity within as you are singing to open like a flower in the Sun.
“So that’s what I look for in my Kirtan practice, in the songs we record and those we choose to play on tour. I try to find a way to be in my heart space and connect to the flow of God and Guru with passion, love, and joy. It’s not always easy, or even possible for me, but this is what I strive for and what I feel my mother has mastered.”
Light of Sacred Chant Tour / L.A. Concert September 17 with Special Guest Jahnavi Harrison
That loving, celebrative sense of juicy, passionate awake-ness is palpable in Snatam’s live performances. From September 10 to 29 (with a show in Los Angeles on September 17 at the Wilshire Ebell Theater), she’ll tour the U.S. for the final stint of her Light of Sacred Chant Tour. This will be Snatam’s first Los Angeles concert since 2019, and she invites people to gather and honor the profound changes everyone has experienced and to chant in community, cultivating a renewed sense of love and joy while healing divisiveness with one another and within ourselves.
Performing with Snatam are her band members Ram Dass (piano and vocals), Grecco Buratto (guitar and vocals), and Sukhmani Rayat (percussion, tabla, and vocals). For Snatam’s Los Angeles show, she will be joined by special guest and popular chant artist Jahnavi Harrison, who will be sharing one of her chants, along with another chant that she and Snatam are collaborating on for an upcoming recording.
Healing as We Chant Together
“We’ve toured Europe and Latin America this past year, and I’m looking forward to really connecting to the flow of what’s happening within the concerts at home in the States,” said Snatam. “I feel the chanting itself is healing medicine, and I believe we can heal ourselves through collective chanting—that there are a lot of miracles available to us. I know how much transformation this energy has brought into my life. I feel blessed and honored to be a part of these group experiences, especially after not being in North America and connecting with many of our sacred chant communities for so long. Connecting through chant is one of the most powerful ways to build community, and I’m really looking forward to sharing that opportunity again.”
The Light of Sacred Chant concerts begin in a very meditative, heart-opening way and move into a lot of celebration and joy. “We’ve incorporated some fun pieces into the set, and the audience participation has grown to a new level,” she said. “With many of our songs, we’re doing traditional chanting back and forth. But then, there are some really engaging vocal collaborations with the audience that create a beautiful, jubilant experience. As a band, we’ve come to a really strong place where together we can tune into the audience and serve through the music and chanting.”
Snatam and the band are also completing a new studio album scheduled for release in early 2024. “I’m really excited to share some of the new music my band and I have been working on for the album at the concerts. We’re coming to a new level of trust and love with each other musically, and it’s given us room for improvisation in our live show.”
Click for Light of Sacred Chant concert tickets, and listen to “Bani Guru” (released by Be Why Music) here. Explore classes with Snatam, her husband Sopurkh, and other teachers at Kirtan and Kundalini, their online sacred music and yoga school, dedicated to supporting the spiritual journey of as many practitioners as possible. Find these and other resources on Snatam’s Linktree.
Marina Muhlfriedel is a native Angeleno and self-described creative omnivore with extensive experience as a writer, film producer, and musician. She serves as Communications Administrator for the Tai Chi Foundation, teaches Mindfulness Meditation to at-risk populations, and is a senior teacher at Club Kundalini, having begun her spiritual journey in high school as a student of Yogi Bhajan.