Nirinjan Kaur

In February 1988, Nirinjan Kaur was born in Vancouver, B.C. to a family of practicing Kundalini Yogi, Sikhs. Her mother, Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa, is also a Kirtan artist, and had sung for years before Nirinjan's birth. One song in particular, "Narayan", was recorded by Guru Raj Kaur while she was pregnant with Nirinjan, and it ended up being used extensively by Yogi Bhajan in his classes and even White Tantiric yoga courses at the time. As Nirinjan grew up, she remembers accompanying her mother to different events, kirtans, or classes, where her mother would teach and sing. Her father, Hari Singh Khalsa, is a music producer, and helped Guru Raj Kaur with much of her music production. Both parents were constantly teaching Kundalini Yoga, or in her father's case, working with music production, on a daily basis. She also has one older sister, Ong Kar Kaur Khalsa, who was a teenager when Nirinjan was born.   When she was young, Nirinjan remembers being very physically active, loving to run around in nature, climb, play imaginative games with friends, feeling joyous and connected in life. Even in simple things like driving to school in the morning with her father, she loved to put her favorite music on and turn the volume way up so that she could roll down the window and sing with it at the top of her lungs! At that time, the music was less of a skill to be learned for her, but more of a beloved way of being moved by the spirit, a way of experiencing life more deeply. It was often also a sweet comfort, listening to mantras and feeling cozy and held. Her parents did however push her to learn piano at age 7 for a few years so that she could get a solid knowledge base in western music (for whatever life may hold in the future).   Nirinjan attended a Montessori school (which she greatly enjoyed) until the age of 12, when she moved into the public school system. Teenage years and public schools being what they are, Nirinjan started to feel a need to find her center, and feel a sacred connection within. When she was 13, she decided to take Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training. This was a powerfully transformational time for her, and she feels that it was the true beginning of her journey on the path of Kundalini Yoga. Yoga can be a powerful way to transform and heighten awareness in many ways. She wanted then to express her love of this experience, to some how share it with others. That is when she started to sing. She began singing many Kundalini mantras, singing the live morning sadhana chants, and leading music in meditations and gatherings within her community in Vancouver.   As she continued to sing and practice yoga, she began to realize that she felt drawn to represent herself as a Sikh, and to dive deeper into the realm of sacred chanting, into singing the poems, called "Shabads" of the sacred Sikh scripture, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. She decided that she very much wanted to attend an all Kundalini Yoga, Sikh boarding school in India called "Miri Piri Academy". This school was created by Yogi Bhajan himself to offer education for children not only in academics, but also in Yoga practice and theory, Meditation, Martial Arts, Tabla, Gurbani Kirtan, Music, and more. Nirinjan left for India in September of 2003, and loved her experience there. She recalls the fun and sweetness of having friends that could share in her experience of spirituality. She enjoyed having fun as a teen without having to deal with the sometimes harmful challenges that can present themselves in public high schools in the west.   Miri Piri Academy had a wonderful teacher and master that would visit the school in the evening time to teach "Raag" (Classical Indian Music). His name is Ustaad Narinder Singh Sandhu. He would teach this beautiful music to whichever students were interested. It was not mandatory, so that only students that felt a strong desire to learn, would be in his class. Nirinjan learned much from him, and feels as if he opened a door inside her, to the vast depths of music. She learned eastern music theory, along with how to open her voice and sing from a deep place with a full voice. She loved her time with her teacher there, and feels that it was precious and priceless.   Her future husband, Siri Amrit Singh Khalsa, was also in India at the time that she was there. He had attended Miri Piri Academy for 10 years, but had already graduated by the time Nirinjan arrived at the school. He had returned to India from his home in Florida to study Raag more extensively from Ustaad Narinder Singh. He studied with him for the next 2 years and dove quite deep into his musical education. He and Nirinjan had met before at the annual Summer Solstice Sadhana in New Mexico, and developed a close friendship in 2004. When he went to India to study, their relationship grew into love. In the summer of 2005, when Nirinjan was home in Vancouver during the summer break, she recorded her first album, "So Purkh": A special mantra that was often given by Yogi Bhajan to women as a prayer for men in their lives. Siri Amrit and Nirinjan were engaged later that summer, before their final year in India (Nirinjan at Miri Piri, Siri Amrit in living in the city studying music).   When Nirinjan graduated, she and Siri Amrit moved to Eugene, OR. Siri Amrit attended the University of Oregon to get his degree in accounting. When they first arrived there in the summer of 2006, Nirinjan recorded her second album (a morning sadhana album) called "Aquarian". It was released the following summer in 2007, when Siri Amrit and Nirinjan were married just after the Summer Solstice Sadhana in Española, NM.   Nirinjan worked as a house cleaner in Eugene for the next 3 years. During that time, in October of 2008, she went on an east coast tour with Guruganesha Singh, called the "Joy is Now Tour". She loved the experience and had a wonderful time! Just after that, Spirit Voyage Music approached her to become an artist with their label. Nirinjan very happily obliged. As if that wasn't enough excitement at one time, she then became pregnant, and during her pregnancy, recorded her third album (but the first one with Spirit Voyage), "Adhara". It was released in December 2009. The birth of her son, Gobind Singh Khalsa, was on January 31st, 2010. Nirinjan feels that this time of being a new mother was a "beautiful reality-check!". Motherhood is a profound life lesson and challenge for every mother. She found that it made her appreciate the value of human life more, and gain deeper understanding and patience. In August 2012, when Gobind Singh was 6 months old, and Siri Amrit had completed his schooling at the U of O, they and Nirinjan moved back to Nirinjan's hometown, Vancouver. They currently live there, close to Nirinjan's parents, and her sister, Ong Kar, who is also a practicing Kundalini yoga teacher and Sikh.   Artists We Also Like: Snatam Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh, Mirabai Ceiba, Krishna Das   Genre: Sacred Music, Kirtan Hometown: Vancouver, BC Record Label: Spirit Voyage Records Current Location: Vancouver, BC