Sunday 14 April 2013 6:05AM

A few years ago I was invited to the Sikh temple in Western Sydney. It was my first visit to a gurdwara as they’re known and what a wonderful experience it was. Removing my shoes and covering my head with a borrowed golden scarf, I walked into a vast hall with no statues or idols and no candles or incense. Because Sikhs worship one God, who takes no physical form.

Gurdwaras are used of course for religious ceremonies. They’re also community centres where vegetarian meals or langars are served to anyone without charge. And as I discovered they are places where music is celebrated. In fact the first great teacher and founder of the faith, Guru Nanak, some 500 years ago set the very earliest Sikh scriptures to music. The Sikh devotional poetry is known as gurbani, while shabads are the religious hymns found in their sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib. And as Sikhs celebrate their New Year, Vaisakhi, we'll hear shabad kirtan, Sikh devotional song from Bhai Satwinder Singh Ji with Bhai Harvinder Singh Ji and a Punjabi song from London-based Niraj Chag.

New Year is also being celebrated in the land of pagodas, Burma , or Myanmar as it's also known where Theravada Buddhism is the official religion, the oldest of the Buddhist lineages with direct links to Indian Buddhism and the earliest Buddhist sangha more than 2000 years ago. And  India still  has a strong influence as we’ll hear with auspicious introductory music featuring the monastic instruments of gong, brass percussion plate and conch shell, the emblem of the Hindu god, Vishnu. Followed by a praise song to the King, with references to the Buddhist supernatural beings known as devas, from two female vocalists Shwe Shwe Kaing & Khing Zin Shwe (remixed by Karsh Kale and The Laya Project) who have been singing together in monasteries and at weddings since they were seven years old.

We'll also hear the new album of country folk-gospel from American singer-songwriter Iris DeMent who was raised in a Pentecostal family in the Arkansas Delta where her mother sang night and day. ‘Singing is praying she used to say and praying is singing. Ain’t no difference.' And the debut album from a 30 year-old session musician from Virginia, whose parents were evangelical missionaries to the Philippines and who is upfront about his own Christian faith. Matthew White is not a Christian artist as such but with an album of songs about faith, love and redemption, he does fit into the Stax/Motown tradition of soul-gospel pretty well. He's also heading to Sydney for the Vivid festival.

Video: Sing the Delta

Video: Bangles, a Punjabi song by Niraj Chag

Supporting Information

Track Title: Auspicious Buddhist Introductory Music
Artist: U Sein Kalar & U Kyaw Soe
CD Title: Music of Myanmar: Buddhist Chant in the Pali Tradition
Composer: Trad (Myanmar)
Duration: 0.43
Record Co.: Celestial Harmonies 14219 2

Track Title: Glorious Sun
Artist: Shwe Shwe Khine & Khine Zin Shwe
CD Title: Laya Project
Composer: Trad (Myanmar)
Duration: 4.29
Record Co.: EarthSync  ES0033

Track Title: Bangles
Artist: Niraj Chag featuring Melissa Baten
CD Title: Along the Dusty Road
Composer: N. Chag
Duration: 4.08
Record Co.:  Buzz-erk Records ATDR01

Track Title: Lakh Khuseeaa Paatsaheeaa
Artist: Bhai Satwinder Singh Ji & Bhai Harvinder Singh Ji
CD Title: Lakh Khuseeaa Paatsaheeaa
Composer: Trad.
Duration: 9.00
Record Co.:  T Series

Track Title: The Kingdom Has Already Come
Artist: Iris DeMent
CD Title: Sing the Delta
Composer: I. DeMent
Duration: 4.31
Record Co.:  Flariella Records  CD FER 1005

Track Title: Big Love
Artist: Matthew E. White
CD Title: Big Inner
Composer: M.White
Duration: 4.34
Record Co.:  Domino/EMI

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Geoff Wood
Geoff Wood

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