By Vidya Pradhan

He is a quiet phenomenon. Dya Singh may not be part of the spiritual mainstream yet, but the jovial singer attracts capacity crowds as he makes his way around the world, singing shabads, kirtans, bhajans and semi-classical film songs with the underlying purpose of spreading truth and goodness. The message is simple, the delivery full of joy and music.

I attended a special performance by Dya Singh and his multi-ethnic troupe at the Sunnyvale Temple last week. Accompanying him were his daughter Parvyn and three of his finest musicians – Dheeraj Shrestha, Andrew Clermont and Josh Bennett.  Even with such a small entourage, through sheer strength of talent and creativity, the evening was rich with both musical substance and spiritual feeling. The songs ranged from a multi-religious chant( the audience provided the choruses of “Hare Ram” and “Allahu Akbar”) and a fiery, improvised version of Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj that had us clapping several times through the performance. The solo riffs by the talented accompanists were breath-taking as they switched between the didgeridoo and the mandolin, dilruba and guitar. Parvyn’s pure voice provided a haunting harmony to the powerful vocals of Dya Singh.
I chatted with the singer a few minutes before the show began to find out a little more about what makes this energizing personality tick. Continue reading →