Kiran Ahluwalia: Music to stir the senses…

September 7 2015

Award-winning Indo-Canadian singer, Kiran Ahluwalia is set to take the Rich Mix stage (Presented by The Asian Arts Agency) to perform tracks from her latest album, ‘Sanata: Stillness’.

By Tasha Mathur

INFLUENCED by a mix of Sufi and Saharan music, Kiran Ahluwalia is known for creating a unique blend of Indian/Pakistani, Saharan blues and jazz to produce music that she aims to centre around messages of love.
And with her latest album in tow, Ahluwalia has come to London to share this extraordinary fusion of music with us. With awards such as, Songlines/WOMAD Best Newcomer Of The Year under her belt, this is an event not be missed and of course, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to speak to Ahluwalia and hear more about this rare amalgamation of cultural sounds.

www.asianculturevulture.com (ACV): Where did your passion for Sufi and Saharan music come from?

Kiran Ahluwalia (KA): My passion for Sufi music came from having grown up with it. I’ve been learning Indian music since the age of five. I’m attracted to the sense of mad attraction that is inherent in Sufi music. I also write songs about carnal love between two human beings and following the same sort of intense emotions.
I first heard desert blues through Tuareg bands that were touring in Toronto, Canada which was where I was living at the time. When I heard my first concert of Tuareg music I knew I liked it but didn’t realize that it was going to brew inside me and grow to be a full on mad love. I started with composing a tune influenced by these sounds of trancy electric guitar rhythms – the song is Teray Darsan. It was my first ever composition meant for electric guitar. The album it’s on is called Wanderlust and it won the Songlines/WOMAD Best newcomer of the year award here in the UK. Then I collaborated with Tinariwen on my album Aam Aameen : common ground. Meanwhile, I travelled to perform and spend time with desert musicians in Timbuktu, Mali and in parts of Morocco. This lead to me to my latest album “Sanata : Stillness” (on the UK label ARC) in which I’ve moved even deeper into integrating Indian music with the desert blues.

Kiran Ahluwalia

ACV: Where does your inspiration come from to create this music?

KA: It comes from all over…books, poetry, cinema, other music etc. but mostly my own feelings and emotions that I want to release. Tamana is a song about dealing with shame. I’m talking about female sexuality and saying that I found my desire and wore it like a crown and paraded it openly and knew that the cure all along was to thrown away all my shame.

ACV: What are the challenges of creating such an amalgamation of various music styles?

KA: When I’m merging different styles of music, I don’t want a simple cut and paste where you can see a distinct Indian part and a distinct ‘other’ musical sound. I like to integrate the styles to create a hybrid style – where the reason it’s hard to pinpoint the different sounds is because they’ve been made to exist in ‘harmony’. It’s a reflection of my own hyphenated culture of being born in India, brought up in Canada and now living in New York City.

ACV: How has being a part of so many different cultures and countries shaped your music?

KA: Being from hyphenated cultures; Indo-Canadian-New Yorker, gives me strong musical backgrounds from which to draw upon. I take the cafeteria line approach to culture and tradition – I take what I like and leave behind what I don’t. I follow the same while composing my music.

ACV: Is there a particular message or intent that you aim to share with listeners through your music?

KA: Music has been a refuge for all my life – a shaded tree in the hot sun. Listening to other music that I love and doing my own music are both refuge and that’s my purpose for singing and composing so I imagine others may get the same shade from the heat of their own worries.

ACV: What can listeners expect from “Sanata : Stillness” as well as your upcoming Rich Mix performance?

KA: At my concerts and with the new album ‘Sanata : Stillness’ – I hope listeners can expect to have the best time ever and to be transported to wherever they want to go. To release a part of whatever is stuck and to perhaps shake their tushi a bit!

ACV: And what does it mean to you to perform in London?

KA: I love London as does my band. I wish I could live here for a year. I love the high concentration of all sorts of ethnicities and also the music scene. It’s wonderful to perform in London and get the love from the audiences here. Call us back please.

ACV: And finally, what’s next for you?

KA: I’m going to continue to tour with the new CD ‘Sanata : Stillness’. When I get back to the USA I have some concerts. After that I’ll see where my travels take me.

To book tickets for this unique, one-off event, please visit: http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/event/kiran-ahluwalia/

And for more information on Kiran Ahluwalia herself: http://www.kiranmusic.com/