Album with 3 Gurbani Shabads wins Grammy Award

Gurujas and Harijiwan also teach kundalini yoga in the US

The Rising Panjab Bureau

In a heartwarming development, an album with 3 shabads from Gurbani has won a Grammy Award. The prestigious honour has been given to Gurujas Kaur Khalsa of the White Sun for her vocals in the album ‘Mystic Mirror’.

Khalsa won the Best New Age Album for ‘Mystic Mirror’ at the Premiere ceremony of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The album contains shabad from Guru Granth Sahib. Two hymns are from Guru Nanak's Jap - sacred text's first bani, part of daily Sikh prayer - and another is of Guru Arjan Dev.

“We just won a Grammy for our album “Mystic Mirror” in the New Age, Ambient or Chant Category. We want to thank the @recordingacademy not only for the beautiful awards ceremony but also for all the amazing work they do on behalf of music creators,” tweeted @WhiteSunMusic.

The three artists — Adam Berry, Gurujas and Harijiwan — appeared on the stage at the Grammy awards decked in their signature white outfits.

While on stage, Gurujas said: “Thank you so much to the Academy; I’m going to cry. Thank you to everyone who helped create this album and thank you to our producers. Standing with you guys is such a privilege and honor. With that comes more responsibility to bring love and kindness to Planet Earth.”

They won the New Age Album Grammy award in 2017 for their album ‘White Sun II’.

In 2017, the band won a Grammy for the new age album White Sun II. All its 10 compositions were either by Guru Granth Sahib or penned by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru. The two shabads from Guru Nanak's 'Jap' are "Akhan jor chupai nahi jor" and "Pawan guru paani pita". The latter is often quoted to emphasize the importance of air and water by comparing them to the teacher and father, respectively.

The third shabad picked from Guru Granth Sahib is "Naam niranjan neer narayan", which Guru Arjan Dev had composed in Raag Gond. In his acceptance speech, White Sun's lead singer Gurujas Khalsa, a turbaned Sikh of American origin, thanked the Recording Academy. She was flanked on the stage by the band's co-founder and music composer Adam Berry and instrumentalist Harjiwan, a turbaned disciple of late Harbhajan Singh 'Yogi Bhajan' who propagated Sikhism in the US about six decades ago.

Both Gurujas and Harijiwan also teach kundalini yoga in the US.