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An Interview with Snatam Kaur by Connie Hill

Snatam Kaur has two CD's Prem and Shanti and a third The Shanti Om Experience with Thomas Barquee. Her chanting is soothing and tender, and lift you to a higher level helping you feel you are one with the great source of pure love!

CH: Snatam, would you start by telling me how you got into chanting?

SK: I was born into a Sikh family. My parents became Sikhs very shortly after I was born. So chanting and yoga were part of my life from the beginning. My father played tablas and my mother sang in the Sikh style of music called Kirtan. We traveled to India when I was about seven and subsequently I have taken three trips to India. The trips have been an incredible experience for me because I learned the roots of our practice and was exposed to incredible musicians.

There were two things that were pivotal for me. First, my father organized some social change workshops for young people so they could gain a sense of self-confidence and experience things like recycling or rain forest awareness or social action and changes within their local communities. It was one of those loving things that a father does when he wants to expose you to something. We had fourteen teenagers over for about ten workshops a year. I was really inspired by the other teenagers and I started to write songs. We also had gatherings in the evening and sing together. It was really empowering to connect that way. People would ask me to sing and chant and I'd do mostly English songs but every once in awhile some of the chants from the Sikh religion, and they liked what I did. That really influenced me.

Second, my spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan organized International Peace Prayer Day in New Mexico. So as I was growing up I attended these gatherings as a part of our regular summer solstice celebrations. Yogi Bhajan invited leaders of many different religions, Jewish, Islamic, Christian and Navaho, especially, because of the area in New Mexico.

CH: What a powerful gathering!

SK: Yes it was and by some great miracle I was asked to sing. So I sang a song that I had written for one of my father's workshops and I organized about 80 young people to sing with me. I was about 18 at the time. Yogi Bhajan was so touched, he cried. It was a beautiful moment for me. And year after year I been asked to come back and sing. So needless to say I realized that chanting and music are my path.

Another pivotal thing for me was September 11th. Eugene is a wonderful community but Sikhs were definitely targeted. People just misunderstood who we were. So some of us from my community organized a regular interfaith service that still takes place the 11th of each month. I'm passionate about sharing this music with people of other faiths. I like to share sacred music in a way that brings peace and a sense of inner joy and it opens people of different faiths, to sharing with each other. I can talk about spirituality and share with people this gift of music and allow them to take it where it will go. Where I come from with music is to share my own personal experience with it and then what ever happens from there is God's will.

CH: Why do you chant?

SK: I have a daily practice. I do yoga and chanting beginning at 4:00 every morning. We chant mantras. It's really to tune into the power and energy of the mantra, to tap into that energy to raise our own awareness and allow our entire mind and body to be cleansed. From there we enter back into daily life, because we all have daily lives, but the entire frequency of our existence has been uplifted by the practice.

Chanting actually reverberate in your body and mind throughout the day. You start to relate to people more clearly and compassionately and it begins to affect other parts of your life. You might say "Hey, I've got to start eating healthy and thinking healthy." Mantras are one avenue of raising that state of health, physically, mentally, spiritually. I really think it increases ones immune system. I haven't seen any studies, but to me chanting is very physically therapeutic.

I'd be heartbroken and empty without chanting. My mind usually stays in a state of peace. When I chant in the morning I have times during the day when one of the chant comes into my mind. If I have a really great experience a couple days later, one of the chants comes into my mind and I know that it's really serving me. I feel like specific chants come to me at specific times. It feels like this energy is alive.

CH: What's your favorite chant out of the ones you have done, or are there others that are more favorite?

SK: Well, for me my favorite chant is Wah He Guru. It's really simple and the foundation or keystone of my life. It means "I experience the ecstasy of God within and through the divine teacher"--Guru, means from dark to light.

CH. Have you done other types of music?

SK: I appreciate many different types of music and I recognize that many great musicians tune into the same space. The reason I'm so much into chanting is that it's an easy way to share my absolute ecstasy for God with others. The combination of yoga and chanting is the sacred experience that completely involves the mind, body and soul. I find that when we have our chanting concerts we get to that place, by the blessing of the mantra, which is ancient in it's self. People just tune in and hear so much more. It's not about me the musician or the performer, it's about me the conductor and how well I can conduct that energy which is just meant to serve people who are there. I love that relationship and I enjoy it not from a place of ego or personality.

CH: Who are some of the other artist you like to listen to.

SK: That's a really good questions. I like Nusarat Fateh. He's dead now, but his music is really great. I love him. I love Dolly Parton. She has a great spirit. I really enjoy James Taylor, he's one of the greats. I enjoy the Dixie Chicks when they are doing blue grass. And I love Deva Premal. She's a wonderful musician and feels like an older sister. I went to one of her concerts and she asked me to come up and sing with her. That was wonderful. I've learned lots from Thomas Barquee, my producer. He's also a great musician. I love the Grateful Dead, even though they are not doing much any more.

CH: Do you live in an ashram?

SK: I live in a community and have my own house. I have two college students living with me which is wonderful. In our little community there are many families and we have spiritual practice every morning. There are lots of children and it's a wonderful place to live. Very supportive of one another.

CH: Is it a Sikh community?

SK: Yes it's Sikh, but it's also a yoga community. There are many yoga students who just come for the yoga. And since we are in a university community we also have many students.

CH: Is your headdress Sikh?

SK: Yes. It helps me remember who I am. My spiritual practice is in the morning, but I carry the consciousness throughout the day. My hair is combed and coiled on top of my head and it allows the kundalini energy to remain intact and uplifted all day. And it also is so people can identify us. After September 11 we were identified and targeted as a group. We mobilized and put together the interfaith service that I told you about before.

I want to say that I love Portland and I'm looking forward to coming to Portland for our concert and our workshop at New Renaissance Bookshop. Portland is such a great town. There is a great Sikh community there and a great yoga center.

CH: Snatam, thank you for taking time to for this interview.

Connie Hill works at New Renaissance Bookshop and is a local astrologer. She can be reached at 503-542-4330 ext. 1287 or gmnite@yahoo.com.