Living Room
The Sikh Way: What is higher than Truth? plus music with Sonny Singh & Arooj Aftab
 Wednesday, June 13 Program 7-8:30 PM * Music Set at 9 PM Charlotte's Place 107 Greenwich Street, between Rector & Carlisle St Donations accepted online or at event.
Dr. Balbinder Bhogal, who holds the Chair in Sikh Studies at Hofstra University, will give a presentation introducing various facets of the Sikh Way. These include the importance of genre: music, song, poetry; a textual reading and exegesis of the opening mantra and verse of the Sikh Scripture (the Guru Granth Sahib); the question of how to not only hear the voice of the other but learn from it; and finally, the model of inter-religious dialogue present within the Guru Granth Sahib will be explored. If God/Truth has multiple voices, then is hearing more than one essential for one's maturity as a human being? The evening will also include discussion, music by Sonny Singh and Arooj Aftab, and Bhrigu Sahni, plus reflections from Tony Blair Faith Foundation Faith Acts Fellows, Hannah Shirey and Nomi Teutsch, who are working at United Sikhs this year.
* Sonny Singh, Arooj Aftab, and Bhrigu Sahni will play a set of Sufi music after the Living Room, at 9 pm.
Dr. Balbinder Bhogal joined Hofstra University in the Fall of 2007. Previously he has been a professor at University of Derby, England (1997-2002), James Madison University, Virginia (2002-3) and York University, Toronto (2003-7). His primary research interests are South Asian Religions and Cultures specializing in the Sikh tradition, particularly the Guru Granth Sahib, its philosophy and exegesis.
Sonny Singh is a trumpet player, dhol player and vocalist, educator/activist, and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. Currently, Sonny fires up thousands around the tri-state area and nationally playing trumpet and singing in the 9-piece bhangra funk band, Red Baraat, the first and only dhol n' brass band in the US. Since moving to NYC in 2003, Sonny has worked in the labor movement and as a Community Organizer at the Sikh Coalition.
Arooj Aftab innovates off classical Pakistani, Sufi & pre-partition South Asian music, creating original compositions honoring ancestral roots,for a sound that is fresh, graceful, and musically complex. Originally from Lahore, Pakistan, Arooj moved to the U.S. in 2005 to study at Berklee College of Music. Now based in New York, Arooj is working as a fulltime performing artist, music composer and sound editor.
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