NRI, (Non-resident Indian) Kiran Ahluwalia to
find one of the last living masters of ghazala
form of sung poetry that originated in Persia
1000 years ago and reached India 400 years later.
When she met Vithal Raoher teachershe
was exposed to a bygone era, a time before Indian
independence when princes and kings employed
court musicians to put music to poetry. In an
odd twist of fate.
Raoher maestroentered the palace
of the King of Hyderabad as a young boy and,
now in his seventies, carries rich memories
of those days; memories that he has passed onto
Kiran along with the techniques and intricacies
of ghazal performance and composition.
Because there is such a vast repertoire of
this music today, there are very few ghazal
composers, even in India. Singers usually stick
to the true classics. But Kiran has long been
on a path to mastery so that she could one day
compose for the sensual and highly literary
poetic form.
It started with learning songs from her parents,
both ghazals as well as Punjabi folk songs.
When I was growing up in India, very few
people had recordings of any kind, Kiran
recalls. There were state sponsored concerts
that people from all over would walk to and
crowd into. While some children would get bored,
I was perfectly content taking it in, even if
I had to stand up the whole time. We had lived
in New Zealand for a time and on the way back
to India my father bought a reel-to-reel tape
player in Hong Kong. We would listen to tapes
of Indian music. We would also listen to Bollywood
on the radio, and when a song came on that I
wanted to learn, my mother would quickly write
down the lyrics for me.
Kiran studied classical Indian music from the
time she was seven, first in India and then
in Canada where she immigrated with her parents.
After getting an MBA and launching a career
as a bond trader in Toronto, she decided to
quit her job and become a full time student
of music; her parents were dismayed. Doors
were slammed and tears were shed, says
Kiran. But they saw that I was adamant
about it and this was something I needed to
do. And before I boarded the plane for India,
I had their support.
Kiran spent many years in Bombay studying Indian
classical music. She finally discovered the
ghazal maestro Vithal Rao and made plans to
study with him.
The next time I went to India I planned
to study with my classical teacher for one month
and then ask permission to leave and learn from
this ghazal master. In India, your teacher has
a higher status than a music teacher here would
have. There are certain social rules you must
follow. I was so afraid of what my teacher would
say that I waited four months before I had the
courage to ask her. I thought she would say,
Fine, but never come back through these
doors again. Instead she was very supportive,
knowing that this was important to me.
It was monsoon season in Bombay when
I called Vithal Rao, Kiran recalls. I
went into a phone boothit was noisy with
all the rain pouring down as I dialed. I spent
three minutes explaining who I was, where Id
come from, and that I wanted to come and learn
from him. To this, he simply replied, Well,
then when are you coming? And within a
couple of days I was on a train from Bombay
to Hyderabad.
Kiran also spent much time in her native Punjab,
traveling into villages, digging around, trying
to find folk musicians who had never been recorded.
I was familiar with Punjabi music from
the club scene, bhangra and all of that. But
I was more interested in the acoustic roots
Punjabi music. And I always had my eyes out
for poetry books and scholars for new material
that I could compose.
With all of this traveling and searching, quite
a surprise was in store for Kiran much closer
to home in Toronto. One day a poet friend
of my mother invited us to a recital of various
poets belonging to an organization called Punjabi
Kalma da Kafla (Caravan of Punjabi Pens),
says Kiran. This turned into an immensely
important night. Imagine how ecstatic I felt;
I sing in a genre that emerged in Persia in
the 10th century and traveled to India in the
14th century, and here we were in the present
day. I was composing music in this genre and
I found poets writing beautiful lyrics in this
poetic form of ghazals right here in Canada.
A huge door opened up for me. Kiran composed
for one of the poems she heard that night and
she and this circle of poets became a part of
the evolution of ghazals, thousands of miles
away from the song forms origins.
Kirans bi-cultural life experience has
made her adept at reaching new audiencessomething
evident in her thoughtful and modern explanations
when on stage. To one recent audience, she explained
that ghazals explore the many moods of love,
from the ecstatic to the despondent, from pursuing
the beloved to feeling the restlessness of unrequited
love, and summarized by describing a ghazal
as a highly-literate pick up line.
Kiran earned a Juno Award in 2004 (the Canadian
equivalent of a Grammy). And on her latest CD,
Kiran Ahluwalia, she further cements her Canadian
roots on two previously unreleased collaborations
with Cape Breton Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
"What a thrill to be brought into Kiran's
world of Indian music, Natalie says. Her
voice is beautiful, natural and so capable and
she is a great talent and a wonderful person.
It was a pleasure to have the opportunity and
I think we created some very special music together."
In March of 2002 she performed at a world music
festival in Lahore, Pakistan, where she was
able to see how well her compositions of South
Asian Canadian poets were received by an audience
steeped in the tradition.
Released in 2003, Beyond Boundaries won the
2004 Juno Award for Best World Music Recording
and Ahluwalia started performing on international
stages; at the Kaustinen Festival in Finland,
the Chicago World Music Festival, a small tour
of northern Spain and many of the best theatres
in Canada. In fact, her touring has been so
successful that she was awarded the 2004 Canadian
Arts Presenters Touring Artist of the Year Kiran
has also recently come to the attention of the
international press, getting accolades from
the likes of the Village Voice, Songlines, and
Global Rhythm Magazine.
In the beginning of 2005 Kiran signed an international
record deal with Triloka/Artemis -- her self-titled
international debut album will be released in
June 2005. This new release is comprised of
fully re-mixed and re-mastered highlights from
Ahluwalias two previous independent releases,
as well as two brand new songs with guest artist,
Cape Breton Fiddler, Natalie MacMaster.
Fans of Ahluwalia will find favourites like
Koka, Vo Kuch and Yeh
Nahin on this new release. But theyll
also be intrigued and delighted by the two new
tracks featuring MacMaster. With the release
of this impressive body of work in countries
around the world, Kiran Ahluwalia is truly taking
her music beyond boundaries and becoming a global
musician for the 21st century.