Kids Corner

Music

Prabjyot Kaur:
A New Star on the Horizon

YASMEEN KHALID

 

 

 

Prabjyot Kaur was born and raised in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Her family background consists of prominent musicians and musicologists. Prabjyot was born into a family of musical personalities.

With musical influences around her at a young age she was destined to be great. She explains:

“It’s in the family, my grandfather – he was into music, my father, Professor Amar Singh. I inherited it in the family. I started vocal training; I learned tabla and sitar as well.”

Prabjyot has been singing since childhood. Music brings her peace, happiness and contentment. This can be heard through her deeply emotional and sensitive approach. She has a powerful voice that fills venues and leaves an imprint on the listener’s hearts.

With a sound classical base and a rich quality of voice, Prabjyot is a gifted singer and musician. Her techniques are flawless, and she has incredible versatility. Her genres include kafi, ghazal, geet, bhajan, shabad and kirtan.

Despite being a law graduate, Prabjyot finally decided to take music professionally in 2010. This is no surprise as she was lucky enough to be a student of two precious ustads (mentors) and master musicians.

The first of course was her father, Professor Amar Singh. A prominent professor in India and the UK, he has been teaching music for several years and is a celebrated singer and teacher at the Amar Singh Academy of Arts.

Amar Singh taught Prabjyot the intricacies of sur and raag, and gave her the first taste into the world of Sikh and Indian classical music.

Sur and raag are musical structures with five or more notes that establish and identity and more importantly a mood. Raag can be very powerful and heart-warming to listen to and is one of the best techniques used in traditional subcontinental music genres.

Her second teacher is renowned table player and extraordinaire, Ustad Tari Khan. Pakistani born and US based Ustad Tari Khan has travelled the world and displayed his amazing tabla skills.

He has singlehandedly maintained the popularity of this percussion instrument used in South Asian classical music and popular devotional music of the subcontinent.

Although his major is tabla, Ustad Tari Khan helped Prabjyot grasp the ropes of laya and taal.

Taal is a rhythm cycle containing a particular number of beats, whereas laya contains alternating rhythmic patterns.

Prabjyot admits that she looks to many South Asian musicians and artists for her musical inspirations:

“I listen to a lot of Ghulam Ali Khan Sahib, Medhi Hassan ji, Afshan, Noor Jehan ji – she’s my idol. From Punjab and India, I listen to a lot of Punjabi artists as well. I was influenced by quite a lot of artists from India and Pakistan.”

Prabjyot has also had the opportunity to travel a lot to India and to meet her idols, speaking of them she says:

“Everybody has their own style and everything. But one thing that I did learn from them was that they’re humble. They respect music, they worship music.”

Her debut album, Sajdaa officially launched in London on July 22, 2013. With big names present, Prabjyot made sure the album was perfect, working two long hard years in the recording studio.

The launch had artists from around the globe, including Ustad Abid Hussain, Lakhwinder Wadali, Rafaqat Ali Khan and Balwinder Safri, Sabar Koti, Raja Kasheef, Shaheen Khan, Dev Joshi and Suzana Ansar.

Most of the artists also gave a performance at the big launch to show their support, including the legendary Ustad Tari Khan who performed much loved ghazals from Ustad Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh.

The album consist of seven songs, all delicately thought out and unique in their own ways.

From the title itself, listeners can gather that spirituality is one of the underlying themes of the album. One of Prabjyot’s personal favourites is the Sufi Kafi by Baba Bulleh Shah, ’Aao Ni Saiyyo’. Ustad Tari Khan plays the tabla in this track.

The rest of the album screams versatility, from Arabic beats to Bollywood romance. It very much shows Prabjyot’s ability to sing to all genres of music, and can explain how easily she has broken into the Bollywood and the Punjabi film industry.

A seasoned performer who has performed at prestigious venues all over the world, her recent song ‘Sajna’ released from album Sajdaa was composed, written and directed by Ustad Tari Khan Sahib.

As a result, Prabjyot admits that it is a very special track for her as it was the first song she completed for the debut album, given to her by Tari Sahib himself.

A promising young singer and musician who gained musical knowledge from great Ustad’s, Prabjyot is set to make her mark and she really is a name to watch.

 

[Courtesy: Desi Blitz. Edited for sikhchic.com]

August 22, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conversation about this article

1: Sangat Singh  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ), August 22, 2013, 7:37 PM.

Once a great musician came to the court of Guru Arjan to display his art. He was a great artist with great mastery over 'raags' and apparently dazzled everyone. At the end of his performance Guru Arjan just rewarded him with Rs. 5/-. Someone commented: "What, just Rs 5/- for such a great performance?" "Yes," said the great Guru, "that was the reward of the raag alone. Had he combined the shabad with it, then I wouldn't have enough wealth to reward him." Prabjyot ji, you have been blessed with 'stat' and 'seerat', qualities to go with 'jot'. Sing the praises of Waheguru in thanksgiving. We are looking forward to such an offering. "sabh gun tayray mai naahee ko-ay" [GGS:4.15] -- "Whatever virtues I have, O Lord, are given by you. They are yours alone, I have none of my own." After completing the Pothi Sahib, the last shabad was: "tayraa keetaa jaato nahee maino jog keeto-ee / mai nirguni-aaray ko gun naahee aapay taras pa-i-o-ee" [GGS:1429.15] -- "O Lord, You have made me worthy of your blessings, even if I have not fully appreciated Your doing. I am unworthy, I have no worth, nor do I have any virtues. By the pleasure of your Will, you have been merciful to me."

2: B. Singh (USA), August 23, 2013, 12:20 PM.

I wonder if these sakhis come from a legitimate source or are just legends made up by common folk to send a message across; a practice that should be discouraged as it uses the names of Sikh Gurus. Made up sakhis are becoming commonplace in gurdwaras, nagar kirtans, kirtan darbars, as well as in deras, and nobody questions their authenticity. They sometimes even contradict the very fundamentals of Sikh philosophy. One day we will turn our history into mythology -- just like the majority religions today -- propagating false stories. Just a thought that came to my mind, not to say that the sakhi cited by S. Sangat Singh ji is incorrect or inappropriate in any way.

3: Sangat Singh  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ), August 23, 2013, 7:24 PM.

B. Singh ji: If I am not mistaken, the sakhi cited was from the book 'Patakh Har' by Principal Satbir Singh ji. I can't immediately lay my hand on the book to give you the exact page.

4: Raj (Canada), August 24, 2013, 7:24 PM.

Kindly put some links to her on-line tracks.

5: Amardeep  (Jammu, J & K), June 26, 2014, 1:14 PM.

"Sajna tere pichhe ..." is very beautifully sung.

Comment on "Prabjyot Kaur:
A New Star on the Horizon"









To help us distinguish between comments submitted by individuals and those automatically entered by software robots, please complete the following.

Please note: your email address will not be shown on the site, this is for contact and follow-up purposes only. All information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sikhchic reserves the right to edit or remove content at any time.