Sikh Gurbani Kirtan

In the Sikh tradition, kirtan is not an accessory to worship — it is worship. Guru Nanak, the tradition's founder, traveled for decades singing his revelations while his Muslim companion Bhai Mardana played the rabab; song and scripture were one from the first note. The hymns of the Gurus — Gurbani, "the Guru's word" — are set in specific ragas and sung daily by trained ragi musicians in gurdwaras around the world.

Each of the early Gurus deepened the musical foundation: Guru Angad standardized the Gurmukhi script so the hymns could be sung precisely; Guru Amar Das composed the Anand Sahib, the song of bliss; Guru Ram Das founded Amritsar and gave the tradition some of its most beloved melodies; and Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth — a scripture organized by raga, sealed with his own martyrdom. Guru Tegh Bahadur added his spare, unflinching hymns before giving his life for freedom of worship, and Guru Gobind Singh enthroned the scripture itself as the living Guru — which is why the holiest place in Sikhism is a building filled with music. The middle chapters of that lineage are told in full in Guru Angad and the Alphabet Built for Song, Guru Amar Das and the Song of Bliss, and Guru Ram Das and the City of Nectar.

Gurmukhi chant reached the West by its own road. When Kundalini yoga arrived in America in the late 1960s, the 3HO and Sikh Dharma communities wove chants drawn from and inspired by the Sikh tradition into daily practice: Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo, the Mool Mantar, Sat Nam, and the healing chant Ra Ma Da Sa. How that chant stream became part of the wider Western scene is told on the Western Kirtan page.

A generation raised in those communities became some of the most beloved voices in Western sacred music: Snatam Kaur, the Grammy-winning ensemble White Sun, Simrit, Nirinjan Kaur, Ajeet, and Mirabai Ceiba each carry Gurbani and Gurmukhi mantra forward in their own voice — singing lines first set to music five centuries ago.