> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # India on the pier - URL: https://www.smdp.com/india-on-the-pier/ - Published: 2006-08-24T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T21:17:20.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Events, Pier, #archive-import *Pier artist to explore the moods of love* *By Daily Press staff* There’s only two free outdoor concerts left for the Twilight Dance concert on the pier, so come hear Kiran Ahluwalia perform her regeneration of traditional Indian music, along with DJs didJital and eccodek and visuals by Amanda Boggs. Kiran Ahluwalia is an Indo-Canadian singer who has devoted much of her life to learning the art of Indian vocal music. Accompanied by tabla, guitar and harmonium, Ahluwalia adds the drone of the tanpura to her voice to fill out an ensemble capable of both delicacy and power. Trained in classical Indian singing, she found herself drawn to the ghazal form and folk songs of Punjab, her family’s home region. It started with learning songs from her parents, both ghazals as well as Punjabi folk songs. “When I was growing up in India, very few people had recordings of any kind,” Ahluwalia said. “There were state-sponsored concerts that people from all over would walk to and crowd into. While some children would get bored, I was perfectly content taking it in, even if I had to stand up the whole time. We had lived in New Zealand for a time and on the way back to India my father bought a reel-to-reel tape player in Hong Kong. We would listen to tapes of Indian music. We would also listen to Bollywood on the radio, and when a song came on that I wanted to learn, my mother would quickly write down the lyrics for me.” Ahluwalia specializes in gazhal, a poetic song form that came to the Indian sub-continent from Persia in the 14th century. The word “ghazal” is an Arabic word that means “to talk to women.” Unlike the physical love depicted in Indian erotic art, ghazals operate on the plane of poetic imagery and metaphor. They explore the many moods of love, from the ecstatic to the despondent. Ghazals also use human love as a mask to address many other aspects of the human condition. Ahluwalia is likely one of the only composers and performers of gahzal in the Western Hemisphere. Rasheed Nadeem, Rafi Raza and Tahira Masood, live in Toronto where they are deeply involved in a number of literary organizations. Their poems, written in Punjabi and Urdu, provide the texts which, combined with Ahluwalia’s music, make an original contribution to the ghazal tradition. Ahluwalia studied classical Indian music from the time she was seven, first in India and then in Canada where she immigrated with her parents. After getting an MBA and launching a career as a bond trader in Toronto, she decided to quit her job and become a full-time student of music; her parents were dismayed. “Doors were slammed and tears were shed,” Ahluwalia said. “But they saw that I was adamant about it and this was something I needed to do. And before I boarded the plane for India, I had their support.” Ahluwalia spent many years in Bombay studying Indian classical music. She finally discovered the ghazal maestro Vithal Rao and made plans to study with him. Ahluwalia also spent much time in her native Punjab, traveling into villages, digging around, trying to find folk musicians who had never been recorded. “I was familiar with Punjabi music from the club scene, bhangra and all of that. But I was more interested in the acoustic roots Punjabi music,” she said. “And I always had my eyes out for poetry books and scholars for new material that I could compose.” While ghazals explore the many aspects of the human condition, Punjabi folk songs celebrate them. Punjab is a large region which is divided between India and Pakistan. Like many states of India it has its own language and traditions. Typically Punjabi folk music has faster, infectious rhythms. Many of the themes of Punjabi folk music come from rural farming communities. With all of this traveling and searching, quite a surprise was in store for Ahluwalia much closer to home in Toronto. “One day a poet friend of my mother invited us to a recital of various poets belonging to an organization called Punjabi Kalma da Kafla (Caravan of Punjabi Pens),” Ahluwalia said. “This turned into an immensely important night. Imagine how ecstatic I felt — I sing in a genre that emerged in Persia in the 10th century and traveled to India in the 14th century, and here we were in the present day. I was composing music in this genre and I found poets writing beautiful lyrics in this poetic form of ghazals right here in Canada. A huge door opened up for me.” Ahluwalia composed for one of the poems she heard that night and she and this circle of poets became a part of the evolution of ghazals, thousands of miles away from the song forms origins. In 2000, Ahluwalia decided to come home to Toronto and throw herself totally into a life devoted to the making of her own music. In the fall of that year she recorded her first album, “Kashish-Attraction,” released in the spring of 2001\. It won critical acclaim and people in Canada began to pay attention. “Kashish-Attraction” was nominated for a Juno Award — the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy — in the World Music category. She toured across Canada, delighting audiences as she introduced them to one of the world’s great vocal traditions. In March of 2002 she performed at a world music festival in Lahore, Pakistan, where she was able to see how well her compositions of South Asian Canadian poets were received by an audience steeped in the tradition. Released in 2003, “Beyond Boundaries” won the 2004 Juno Award for Best World Music Recording and Ahluwalia started performing on international stages; at the Kaustinen Festival in Finland, the Chicago World Music Festival, a small tour of northern Spain and many of the best theatres in Canada. In fact, her touring has been so successful that she was awarded the 2004 Canadian Arts Presenters Touring Artist of the Year. In the beginning of 2005 Ahluwalia signed an international record deal with Triloka/Artemis. Her self-titled international debut album is comprised of fully re-mixed and re-mastered highlights from her two previous independent releases, as well as two brand new songs with guest artist, Cape Breton fiddler, Natalie MacMaster. Ahluwalia’s bi-cultural life experience has made her adept at reaching new audiences — something evident in her thoughtful and modern explanations when on stage. To one recent audience, she explained that ghazals explore the many moods of love, from the ecstatic to the despondent, from pursuing the beloved to feeling the restlessness of unrequited love, and summarized by describing a ghazal as a “highly-literate pick up line.” The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on the west parking deck of the pier. For more information, go to www.twilightdance.org. For bus information, visit www.bigbluebus.com and www.mta.net or call (310) 451-5444. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 24, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/082406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)