Gurmat Sangeet Academy’s Young Voices Enthral the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre with Sikh Kirtans

Young voices from as little as five to 15 lit up the DBS Foundation Esplanade Outdoor Theatre on April 30, during the Gurmat Sangeet Academy’s (GSA) Sikh Kirtan concerts.

Some of the students have been practising and performing kirtans (Sikh devotional hymns) for as many as eight years.

Mr Arvinder Singh, 38, is one of the music instructors at GSA who helped organise and train the children for these concerts.

He has been performing kirtans since he was a child and teaching all genres of music since he was 18.

“Kirtans are part of Sikh life, happening every morning and every evening,” he said, “So, we want to share the deeper meaning and show that they are for every human being.”

This event was part of the ‘A Tapestry of Sacred Music’ line-up, where religious communities from around the world, from Papua New Guinea to Gambia, perform in the Esplanade area.

During the event setup, the students waved and giggled at the proud parents who filled the seats, but once the lights went down, they transformed into true artisans.

Mr Singh said he and the other instructors were nervous about the children performing, “Is it possible for them to sit on this big stage without us?”

But he said that the children had gone “beyond his expectations”.

The first segment, Hymns of Humanity, had the children sing songs about rejection and equality.

The children tackled themes of discrimination and equality with remarkable conviction, their powerful voices reflecting the struggles and resilience that shaped Sikhism’s beginnings.

The students sang while playing instruments such as tabla, harmonium, or sitar, each at a slightly different pitch and rhythm, which finally harmonised into an enthralling chant.

Six-year-old Mehreen Kaur, who has been with the academy for about a year, said she is curious about audiences who joined without any prior knowledge of kirtans.

“I hope they are fascinated by the stories and our singing and listen to the words.”

Later that same night, the GSA students performed a different set, the Musical Landscape of Gurbani, which offered a broader exploration of hymns from the Sikh holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib.

GSA is a non-profit music school that aims to raise awareness of Sikh culture by teaching hymns and discourse, as well as offering professional training in Indian classical instruments.

The academy also performed on May 2 for ‘The Art of Chant: Shabad Chowki Parampara’, where older members took to the Esplanade Concourse with hymns of praise and even served free meals to symbolise the Sikh Langgar, a tradition where free meals are often given at Sikh places of worship, or gurudwaras.

Overall, these performances aimed to encourage a spirit of acceptance and belonging, noted the young narrator of the event, Avleen Kaur, 7. “Equality is not just a principle, it’s divine.”