Kundalini Rising: The GuruGanesha Band Comes To The Northeast

Back in 1973, a young Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead fan left an up-and-coming rock band called Cat’s Cradle to walk the spiritual path, embracing the Sikh faith and the practice of Kundalini Yoga. It was a hard life choice. But his spiritual guide, the world-renowned Kundalini Yoga master, Yogi Bhajan, told the young man. "Whatever you leave behind to walk this path will re-manifest later, in a higher form."

Today the world knows that man as GuruGanesha, a guitarist of exceptional grace and expressiveness, a singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur who has been a leading figure in establishing World Sacred Music as one of the fastest-rising and creatively fertile genres on the current scene. Well known for his past work with sublime vocalists like Snatam Kaur, Nirinjan Kaur and Tina Malia, he is now stepping into the limelight with his most recent musical venture. Simply called the GuruGanesha Band, it is a multi-talented ensemble culled from the A-list of players and singers on today’s rapidly-expanding kirtan/chant/yoga music scene. He feels that the band and its music are the complete realization of the prophecy Yogi Bhajan made all those years ago.

"What’s happening now is a full manifestation," he says. "All the same pieces are there that were there in ’73, but they’ve re-manifested in a higher form. All the spiritual and musical work I’ve done for the past 38 years has been preparing me for this."

Always a consummately expressive acoustic guitarist, GuruGanesha soars to new heights when he picks up an electric. "It’s something new," he says of the GuruGanesha Band, "in that it’s bringing a guitar band sound into the world devotional arena. I’m 60 years old now and I’ve dedicated the past ten years of my life to sending healing sound currents out to the world. Now I’m using the tonal qualities of electric guitar for this purpose too."

Joining GuruGanesha on stage is the gifted vocalist Michelle Hurtado, whose every beautiful note is deeply drenched in devotion. Multi-instrumentalist Hans Christian’s masterful handling of saranghi, sitara, cello and nyckelharpa harp adds to the mix a breathtaking range of instrumental colors. Bassist Gurusangat Singh and tabla player extraordinaire Daniel Paul anchor the sound with earthy east-meets-west grooves. Longtime GuruGanesha cohort Sat Kartar Singh lends an organic flavor on acoustic guitar.

"Touring with GuruGanesha all of these years was an incredible and joyful experience," says the celebrated kirtan singer Snatam Kaur of her longtime musical journey with GG. "I am so happy that he will be offering west and east coast tours this spring. He is not only a great musician, but also a teacher, a jokester, and a full of light being. His band line up looks incredible! I hope you’ll take part in his chant celebrations when he is in your neck of the woods."