Kiran Ahluwalia

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India / United States

Kiran Ahluwalia, born in India, raised in Canada, and now living in New York City, is the 2005 recipient of a Juno Award for Best World Music Album for her debut, [italics]Wanderlust[italics]. Those lucky enough to hear her live will understand why. On the album, Ahluwalia mixes ghazal words and melodies with African grooves and the nostalgia for unrealized dreams present in Portuguese fado music. The sound, melancholic yet still soothing, is full of unexpected instrumentation and musical combinations. Like the title of the album itself, Ahluwalia wanders from continent to continent in an effort to unite disparate worlds and disparate sounds into her own unique creation.

Ahluwalia’s presence at this year’s Festival is a real treat for listeners. She is one of the few people in the Western hemisphere composing new music for ghazals, a poetic form from Persia consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain. The word literally means “speaking with women” and is an expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. Ahluwalia pores over poetry, both classical and modern, to search for words to set to music. It’s through those words, singing about desire and heartbreak and romantic passion and longing, that the listener is captivated and soothed into a musical trance. All listeners should be forewarned that although she sings about longing and unfulfilled desires, she unites diverse inspirations to create a compelling sound that will leave you wanting more.