IT WAS A BRIGHT MORNING SUNDAY at Evergreen hills — the day San Jose Sikh Temple filled with the murmur of prayers. In a studio of Sikh Heritage Symphony in the Khalsa School in the Temple, a group of nearly 35 young kids was rehearsing on instruments with Dr. Leena Singh Bedi. These are the Tanti saaj — the stringed instruments of the Sikh Gurus (Masters) like the Taus, a bowed instrument shaped, the Rabab, a plucked lute, and the Dil Ruba, whose sound lies between a violin and a sign. For 15 years, Bedi has refused to let them disappear.
Nearly 22 students ages 8-22 of Sikh Heritage Symphony traveled to New York and performed at Carnegie Hall — the world’s one of most prestigious concert venues, and global emblem of musical achievement — on Feb. 21 for the fifth consecutive year in a competition where students across the world performed. These students performed “Raag Naad Journey,” composition on all 31 raags in the Guru Granth Sahib, a holiest Sikh scripture.
Grade 11 student from San Joe, Amrit Kaur Rana has performed for the fifth time this year. Born and raised in the United States, Rana is also the captain of her school’s volleyball team and hopes to study pre-medicine. She plays the Taus. “I would say I had butterflies in my stomach,” she said while remembering the moment when she stepped on the Carnegie Hall stage for her first performance. “I was a little bit nervous, but I was also really excited and really proud to be able to perform.”
A computer science engineer by training and, by choice, a music educator, Bedi is behind each of these young performers. She founded the Sikh Heritage Symphony with a straightforward purpose.
“It was founded to revive Gurmat Sangeet and the Tanti Saaj, and to bring them before listeners who had never heard them,” said Bedi, who recently received her doctorate degree. “Yet very few teachers and students today are familiar with these instruments.”
Bedi shares that their path to Carnegie Hall took years of hard work. She herself underwent professional music examinations, built recognition within presenting organizations and guided her students through a competitive audition process alongside young classical musicians from around the world.
“I was amazed that we received second place in the audition,” she said about the first performance. “After we performed, the organizers told us, ‘We are going to call you every time there is something with Raags.’”
A mesmerizing performance
This year, Students chose six Raags from the Guru Granth Sahib and performed two Shabads in English translation in a 20-minute mesmerizing performance. “Our Gurbani — the message from Guru Granth Sahib — holiest Sikh scripture, is so great, it is for all humanity — but the world does not yet know about it,” she said.
Rana’s musical life started at home when she was 7. Then, she joined Bedi’s class, and began with Dilruba — played with the bow held in front of the body and finders sliding along the strings then she moved to the Taus. The early months were rough. “I basically fell in love with the music,” she said. “It’s a major passion.”
She recalled that the first hymn she performed at Carnegie Hall was “Deh Shiva Bar Mohe”— a composition by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Master, about a plea for courage, righteousness, and the grace to face death without fear.
Rana states that preparing for Carnegie Hall is a new challenge every year. “Every time we start preparing, it’s a challenge because each year we raise our level,” she said. “Our team grows, and we also choose harder compositions. When we first hear the piece, it’s a little overwhelming to think, ‘We are going to play this at Carnegie Hall.’”
This year’s program included a new section that the group had never tried before. Performing without a tabla player, they had to hold the rhythm within the ensemble. “That was a big challenge, but once we figured it out, it became really fun and much easier,” she said.
Her mother, Jyoti Rana, who emigrated from India 22 years ago, has also attended every performance. “It’s a blessing,” she said quietly. “My daughter started singing and playing rare Indian instruments at a very young age, and we never imagined she would perform at Carnegie Hall. That was never our thought.” She becomes emotional.
“Tears come to our eyes when our kids perform there and represent our culture,” she said. Now, Amrit, an assistant teacher at Symphony, also helps teach younger students and hopes to carry both medicine and music forward. “I’ve always felt that music is universal,” she said. “Language can be a barrier between people, but music crosses those boundaries.”
One of them is Seerat Dang. 17-year-old Dang, also marked her second time at Carnegie Hall. “It felt much easier,” she said. “I was less nervous than last year.” She believes the sense of responsibility has only grown. “Every time I step on that stage, it feels like an honor to represent these Sikh instruments and Gurmat Sangeet in a space that’s primarily Western music,” she said. “It’s not just an honor for us, but for Indian Americans as a whole.”
Seerat first encountered the Tanti Saaj through a school project. She researched traditional Sikh instruments before she ever met Bedi. “I was really intrigued by the different instruments,” she said. “Knowing that Bhai Mardana Ji, an accompaniment of the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak Dev, played Rabab really drew me in.”
Honoring the spirit of the music
Rana started on the Dilruba and eventually moved to the Taus. She thinks carefully about what the Carnegie stage demands. “The hardest part at Carnegie Hall is doing justice to the pieces and the instruments,” she said. “They’re very complex, and playing them correctly while giving a true representation of Sikh devotional music to the rest of the world is probably the biggest challenge.”
The goal, she said, is to honor not just the music but the spiritual inheritance within it.
“It’s to do justice to each Raag and to the Shabad’s that exist within those Raags,” she said.
She has sharpened her sense of translation while growing up in the United States.
“When we sing Shabad’s in English at Carnegie Hall, it allows people to understand the true essence of our Shabads in a language they know,” she said.
While wearing white suit — traditional attire for women from North Indian origin, Raisa Kaur was practicing her Rabab on Sunday. A seventh grade student, Kaur marked her second year performance at Carnegie Hall.
“Tears come to our eyes when our kids perform there and represent our culture. … Language can be a barrier between people, but music crosses those boundaries.”
Amrit Kaur Rana, assistant teacher at Sikh Heritage Symphony
Her instrument is the Rabab — short-necked lute with roots. According to Sikh tradition, it was the instrument of Bhai Mardana, the companion of Guru Nanak Dev, and the one used to accompany the earliest Sikh hymns. “The Rabab just stood out to me,” she said. “I knew that was the one I wanted to play.”
Kaur termed her first time at Carnegie Hall as an overwhelming experience. “I had never been there before and didn’t expect it to be that big,” she said.
Kaur found a way to steady herself.
“When I sat down on stage, I just took a moment, looked out, and told myself it would be okay,” she said. “Once I started playing, the nerves went away, and I felt excited.”
Kaur practices four times a week and attends class every Sunday. She talks about the commitment with a calm that feels older than her years.
“If I hadn’t started playing, I wouldn’t have had all these opportunities or traveled to the places I’ve been,” she said. “It started as a hobby, but now I want to continue as long as I can.”
For Kaur, connection matters. “Playing helps me connect to how people in older times, like the Gurus, did Kirtan-singing religious hymns — with instruments like these,” she said. “It makes me feel closer to that history.”
Spreading Sikh devotional music through English
Bedi know the importance of English translation. She recalls being directed by the Supreme priest of Sikhs — Sri Akal Takht Jathedar — a decade ago to sing religious hymns and teachings in English in the United States.
“If we want to spread that message, one of the best ways is to present it in English,” she said. “And if you can present it musically as well, that is even more powerful.” Bedi underlines the teaching children to play the Tanti Saaj is demanding work. “With Tanti Saaj, the music does not come right away,” she said. “It comes only with a lot of practice.”
Bedi insists that parents commit with their children.
“When I take on a new student, I request that the parents see it as a joint commitment,” she said. “If they haven’t practiced three or four times a week, especially in the first six months, they get very demotivated.” She has also learned to use the power of example.
“Many traditional art forms are struggling to survive from one generation to the next. We have to bring this to Western audiences, especially to our youth. Then they connect more.”
Leena Singh Bedi, Sikh Heritage Symphony founder
“When they see everyone on stage performing with Tanti Saaj, they get inspired,” she said. “They all want to learn. Getting them attached to it and comfortable enough to start performing is the first step — and the most challenging. Once they cross that stage, I see them become truly motivated and dedicated.”
The “Raag Naad Journey” program — built around all 31 raags of the Guru Granth Sahib and presented as a purely instrumental work — allows the ensemble to appear on Western stages without restriction. The music carries its sacred meaning even for audiences who may not understand a word of Punjabi.
Bedi also transcribes Gurmat Sangeet into Western notation, opening the door for violinists and other string players trained in different traditions to join.
“Many traditional art forms are struggling to survive from one generation to the next,” she said. “We have to bring this to Western audiences, especially to our youth. Then they connect more.”
Inside the main hall of the Sikh Temple, hundreds of worshippers sat cross-legged on the floor. In the community kitchen, volunteers moved quietly between steaming pots, their work a form of worship. South Asian families mingled with visitors who had wandered in out of curiosity.
Back in the Sikh heritage symphony, rehearsal winds down. The children set their instruments aside with practiced care in the room. The Sikh Heritage Symphony plans to return to Carnegie Hall.