Dya Singh

Dya Singh is the name of both a 58-year-old Malaysian-born man who now lives in Australia and sings Sikh spiritual music in an updated, world-music style and the band that he fronts. This is a live album from 2005, recorded at the Lion Theatre in Adelaide. Dya Singh has a smooth, rich, powerful voice and sings in Punjabi, but his backup singers—two of his daughters—often add a vocal overlay in English. The songs convey universal messages of love, compassion, peace and justice and feature splendid instrumentation that is strongly based on percussion—tabla, bouzouki, bohdran and hand instruments—but also incorporates guitar, mandolin, violin and even didgeridoo. Dya Singh is nothing if not eclectic, and there are elements of blues, country, jazz and Australian bush music in its tunes as well as Indian, Pakistani and Afghan music. The group was a big hit at the California WorldFest. Expect some colorful dancing, too, when the group performs next Thursday (Sept. 11) at Laxson Auditorium.