GuruGanesha Singh
Originally from Boston, GuruGanesha Singh was born into a family full of music and dance having both a father and mother in show business. At 11 yrs old, GuruGanesha received his first guitar from his cousin, a studio guitarist on the Ed Sullivan Show, and this is where his marriage to music truly started.
Inheriting boundless energy from his father, GuruGanesha pursued music in college, joining a rock band named Cat’s Cradle and touring with the Allman Brothers Band. He was also responsible for bringing the Grateful Dead, his favorite band, to his college, Clark University in Western Massachusetts multiple times.
When the rock and roll explosion hit in the 1960’s, GuruGanesha was inspired by bands such as The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead. “Jerry Garcia was my first Guru,” GuruGanesha says, “and the Grateful Dead gave me my first experience of group consciousness through music.”
GuruGanesha, a Sikh, has practiced yoga and meditation for over 30 years under the guidance of his spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan. In 1972, GuruGanesha took his first, life-changing Kundalini yoga and meditation class at Clark University. As he heard a Guru Ram Das chant being played on the guitar, tears of joy poured down his cheeks and he felt a deep connection with himself and the universe.
After this profound experience, GuruGanesha transitioned from rock to devotional music and he moved into a Sikh community in the Washington DC area, where he still lives. “It was the music that brought me into the community,” GuruGanesha said. Every morning at 4:00am, GuruGanesha plays music and chants along with members of the community, which provides an ongoing source of joy and inspiration in his life and music.
In 1999, GuruGanesha founded Spirit Voyage Music with the goal of finding a way to spread chant music to ever-widening audiences. GuruGanesha strongly believes that music has the power to heal the planet and set Spirit Voyage up as a conscious business with the purpose of serving humanity.
GuruGanesha Singh is also founder and CEO of the Sandler Sales Institute of Virginia. GuruGanesha is considered to be one of the world’s premier high tech sales training experts with clients that include Computer Associates, Cisco Systems, BMC Software, and Cognos Corporation.
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The Musician
GuruGanesha Singh is an icon of the yoga music genre. A musician deeply devoted to both his craft and the greater landscape of sacred sound, GuruGanesha’s contribution to World Sacred Music is manifold. His three solo releases of Sikh-inspired chant music his virtuoso guitar work are beloved by his fans world-wide, topping New Age charts and receiving high critical acclaim from magazine reviewers in both New Age and Yoga publications. Long before GuruGanesha Singh released his solo albums, he was the force behind many well known chant musicians, including Snatam Kaur, Thomas Barquee, and Mirabai and released several albums with other musicians including Game of Chants with Guru Singh and Grammy-Winning singer, Seal.
GuruGanesha Singh is also the original founder of the record label, Spirit Voyage Records, as well as the distribution company, Spirit Voyage Music. He founded both businesses with the intention of creating new avenues for spreading inspiring music to ever-widening audiences.
GuruGanesha performs over a hundred musical performances per year, from the Bahamas to Singapore, in addition to teaching yoga classes and prosperity workshops, and recording new music. His unmitigated joy and virtuoso guitar work make him an instant favorite with the audiences around the world.
“Music keeps my heart beating, it motivates me to get up in the morning, it heals me and helps me serve and uplift others,” says GuruGanesha.
GuruGanesha’s music is rooted in the eastern tradition of Kundalini yoga chants and draws inspiration from GuruGanesha’s 30 years of experience as a yogi. He has a very unique approach to chants that brings his intricate guitar work to the forefront, blending exceptional musicianship with uplifting chants.
GuruGanesha has been making music for a few decades. He began recording music in 1999 in partnership with the well-known musical couple Gurudass on their release, Train to Amritsar. The year 2000 was an intensely creative year for GuruGanesha. With Peace Family, a band consisting of GuruGanesha Singh, Snatam Kaur, and Livtar Singh, he recorded an album Reunion which expanded into a second album To Heaven and Beyond featuring Snatam Kaur which then launched the beginning of her career as a solo artist. In that same year, he began recording an album with Guru Singh and Seal, Game of Chants, which was released in 2001. That same year, Peace Family released a second album, Carry Us Home, and GuruGanesha released his album Power Mantras.
After those years of intensive musical creativity and recording, GuruGanesha took a break from his own music and focused on his blossoming record label and distribution company, Spirit Voyage, and released multiple albums as executive producer.
It wasn’t until 2004, after he had spent substantial time developing the precision of his guitar work both in formal training and on the road with The Celebrate Peace Tour that he released his first solo album, Grateful Ganesh. This album of morning meditation chants was just the beginning of the development of GuruGanesha’s unique solo sound.
Recording his latest solo albums has exposed GuruGanesha to new levels of musical and spiritual development. “A part of me got expressed through this album that has been dormant since 1972 when I essentially started focusing on backing up chanting with rhythm guitar instead of continuing to grow as a lead guitarist. My creativity as a guitarist has really come alive since I started playing with Snatam Kaur and has particularly come alive during the creation of this album. It’s very exciting to realize that at age 55 my best years as a guitarist and musician are still ahead of me. I am now determined to realize my full potential as an artist before I leave this physical body and I feel like the sky is the limit.”
GuruGanesha’s ablums have received rave reviews from both yogic and new-age publications. Writes music review Randy Alberts of New Age Retailer, “The popular GuruGanesha Singh possesses, or channels, one of the most beautiful, inviting warm voices in music today. Combining his excellent Western New Age, jazz-tinged guitar lead and rhythm work with that voice, surrounded by masterful chant vocalists and traditional Indian instrumentalists, Pure Ganesh is an enchanted easy-listening experience that soothes, lifts, and inspires.”
Yoga Chicago’s music reviewer gave him rave reviews, “Guruganesha’s solo release, Pure Ganesh, has me hooked. Ok, I’ll admit I’m addicted. And so is my four-year-old son. He’s a talented tunesmith, and a guitar master.” She goes on to write, “Pure Ganesh is filled with the Brazilian concept of saudaude, or deep longing. The guitar licks, like waves of the ocean, are crying for union with the One.”
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