Ludhiana News/ LSS bringing sufi night –The Sufi Gospel by Sonam Kalra and troupe on Nov 23

Ludhiana, November 18, 2013: On November 23, Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam (LSS) is bringing sufi night –The Sufi Gospel by Sonam Kalra and troupe at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan here at 7-30 pm.

This will be 92nd performance of LSS.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, LSS vice president Amrit Nagpal and general secretary SK Rai alongwith others said Sufi music is a genre based on Sufism and sometimes inspired by Sufi poets. The genre is generally meant as an expression of devotion to God, but it also can be way to enhance the connection between the physical and spiritual aspects of the listener or performer. Sufi music has survived because of continuous experimentation with it although tradition opposes it.

One of the better known sub-genre of Sufi music is called Qawaali, which has its roots in India and Pakistan. Traditionally, this style consists of three distinct sections: hamd, naat, and manqabat, which are all devotional songs, and ghazals, which are usually expressions of the longing to be close to the divine. Nusrat Fateh Ali started the process of mixed experimentation and this has led to many new innovations.

During the early 1990s, the term “Sufi rock” was invented by a controversial Pakistani journalist, Nadeem F. Paracha. This particular style generally blends rock music with traditional rhythms, as well as the poetry of well known Sufi writers. In India Sonam Kalra started a new trend the Sufi Gospel Project.

The Sufi Gospel Project is an effort to blend all the voices of faith, through the use of song, music and the spoken word. Traditional western gospel melds with Indian classical sounds, and Indian spiritual texts are enriched by elements of western poetry to create a sound that touches every soul. Revealing that no matter what the language of the lyrics or the ethnicity of the sounds, there is but one language, the language of faith and that is the universal truth.

ABOUT SONAM KALRA

Sonam Kalra has been trained in Indian Classical and western Music traditions and is equally adept at singing both genres. Sonam has learnt Indian Classical music from Shubha Mudgal and Pt. Sarathi Chatterji and has also studied Gospel and Jazz with Ashley Clement in Singapore, as well as classical opera under the noted tenor, Hur Chul Young.

Sonam is known for her powerful yet sensitive voice and ability to blend styles yet stay true to the music. Her singing reflects the special meaning it holds for her and she brings to it a truth that can move you from deep within, with a freshness and gaiety that are both invigorating and infections.

Owing to her versatility, Sonam is fast becoming a familiar voice at prestigious venues and festivals. Recently, Sonal performed at Muzaffar Ali’s Jahan-e-Khusrau World Sufi Festival, where she sang at the finale, immediately before the legendary Abida Parveen. The following week she sang at a fund-raiser for the Indian Head Injury Foundation for an audience including Sting and at the residence of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, where she and her musicians collaborated with a group of 60 Manganiyar musicians from Rajasthan.

Sonam recently performed in a series of very successful concerts in London where she sang at the residence of the Indian High Commissioner, at the Nehru Centre, The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and for the Lily Foundation charity.

Most recently, Sonam and the Sufi Gospel Project have filmed a song for “Coke Studio” on MTV. Some of the festivals she has been invited to include Kalaa Utsavam in Singapore, The India Show in Toronto, the Delhi International Arts Festival, the Bengaluru International Arts Festival, The World Sufi Spirit Festival in Nagpur, the Rajasthan International Folk Festival, Jodhpur and several others.

Among other venues, Sonam has sung at the French and Italian Embassies, the British High Commission and at the American Embassy to welcome the new Ambassador to India, nancy Powell. She has performed at the NCPA (Mumbai), the Weaver’s Collective and Anantara (Kolkata), TEDx Talks (New Delhi and Rourkela), Blue Frog (Delhi and Mumbai), Chowdiah Hall (Bengaluru), JT-PAC (Kochi), Neemrana Fort Palace, at Rajiv Gandhi’s Samadhi on his birth anniversary in front of the President, vice President, Prime Minister, the Union Cabinet, members of the Gandhi family and many others and in cities as diverse as Srinagar, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Kasauli. Earlier this year she sang at a concert for peace to commemorate the European Union being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012. Sonam will make her debut on Coke Studio on MTV in October 2013.

In January 2013 the Mail Today newspaper listed Sonam as one of “the 50 creative powerhouses & impresarios who have elevated Delhi from a cultural desert to one of the world’s leading arts capitals”. Elle magazine profiled Sonam in a list of “Transformers: Women Who Own the Future”.