KIRAN AHLUWALIA

Expressing her muse through ghazals and Punjabi folk songs, Kiran Ahluwalia explores the language of the heart with beautiful artistry and smoldering intensity. Born in India, raised in Canada, and now living in New York City, her enchanting and seductive music has garnered glowing praise from critics around the world. Her’s is “a voice destined to enchant more than one generation” (fROOTS) and she possesses “a deep spirituality and tranquility that borders on the mystic” (Sing Out Magazine). But most of all, Kiran Ahluwalia is a unique and inspiring performer and composer, who’s legion of fans continues to grow with every captivating performance and each new recording project.

Kiran immersed herself in Indian classical music and ghazals from the time she was seven. She spent a decade of intense deep study with her guru, Vithal Rao, starting in the early 1990s. Finally in 2001 she recorded her JUNO nominated debut CD, Kashish-Attraction. This was followed by the JUNO Award winning, Beyond Boundaries in 2003, then a self-titled compilation that was released world wide on the Triloka label in 2005 followed by JUNO nominated, Wanderlust (Time Square/World Connection) released in North America in 2007 and in Europe in 2008.

With each successive recording project, Kiran has moved ever onward from her own musical upbringing, reaching well beyond her extensive training in the genres of traditional ghazal and Punjabi folk song. Her compositions and arrangements are a reflection of an ongoing quest to create timeless music in a modern and global context, that looks to the future while still maintaining a vital through line to its storied past.

Her latest album is an inspiring step forward in the evolution of an artist firmly rooted in an Indian genre who is continually embracing influences from around the world. Now, on Aam Zameen, Kiran takes her penchant for fusing styles to a whole new level, by bringing to fruition her love for African Tuareg rhythms ­ an infatuation that took root several years ago. She explains. “When you take two styles of music and merge them together – and you don’t want a simple cut and paste – then you are really trying to develop a hybrid genre. You’re doing something with no clear blueprints to help you. You have to figure it out by trying different things and seeing what works and what doesn’t. It’s scary and sometimes stressful, but it’s also incredibly invigorating when you find those connections between things that didn’t seem to connect before. Those moments of discovery are nothing short of sublime. It’s really the essence of everything for me.”

TOUR DATES

BOOKING AVAILABILITY: October 2012, March/April 2013

Available for Summer Festivals