San Jose Sikh youth revive ancient sacred instruments on Carnegie Hall stage

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 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 15 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.