SANGAT Album Release Concert
"Together the two musicians draw on centuries-old texts, often from the Sufi and Sikh traditions, to make music that embraces unity at a time of great division."
— WNYC
Afghan American rabab virtuoso Qais Essar has joined forces with Sikh American trumpet player and singer Sonny Singh in a new project that obliterates musical, political, and religious boundaries. Join us for their Chicago debut and album release concert for their new album SANGAT. Weaving together the ancient sound and haunting melodies of the rabab, a 2,500 year-old instrument from Afghanistan, with bold trumpet lines and anthemic Punjabi vocals, Qais and Sonny ground their music in ancestral wisdom and usher us into the future with their uplifting new sound. Drawing inspiration from hundreds of years old mystical poetry from the Sikh, Sufi, and radical bhakti traditions, their music centers oneness and connection in times of increasing division and hierarchy.
Qais Essar - rabab
Sonny Singh - vocals, trumpet, harmonium
Amali Premawardhana - cello
Maninder Singh - tabla
"The fresh vibe has to be experienced to be named, as it had the playful ease of pop music, but the ancient music is firmly in the classics of the sub-continent, with the jazz-band camaraderie amongst the musicians who supported and complemented each other." - India Currents review of Bay Area show
About the Performers
Deemed “a master of the rabab” by NY Daily News, Qais Essar has toured extensively, sharing his new genre of music nationally and internationally in venues like the Newport Folk Festival, SXSW, The Kennedy Center, and the Sydney Opera House. Hyphen says he "pushes the traditional rabab into uncharted territory." He has contributed original music to feature film and television, composing for two Oscar-nominated films. Essar has released over a dozen albums and EPs, which have been featured by BBC, Songlines, SBS Australia, Rolling Stone India, and more.
JazzTimes calls Sonny Singh’s music, “vibrant, ebullient, and energized...a prayer for our ailing world.” Launched in 2020, his solo project centers on the Sikh concept of chardi kala – revolutionary eternal optimism – also the name of his debut 2022 album, which received accolades from NPR Music, Songlines, Bandcamp Daily, Rolling Stone India, Grammy.com, KEXP, and more. Sonny has performed his music at the Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Center, Lotus World Music Festival, and the White House. His latest album Sage Warrior was released in September 2024 alongside a book by the same name by Valarie Kaur. Sonny is also an original member of the celebrated bhangra brass band Red Baraat and a longtime social justice educator and activist.