'I'm not just a Sikh girl singing Islamic music'

KASAULI: Though people have often called her a 'sufi fusion' artist, or a Sikh girl singing Christian (gospel) and Islamic (Sufi) music, Sonam Kalra hates the label. She would rather call herself someone who believes in oneness and 'God giving an opportunity to say something', in her own words.
Though she started with jazz and later picked up gospel music - calling her troupe the 'Sufi Gospel project', the turning point in her life came when she was invited to sing at the Sufi Inayat at Hazrat Nizammudin in New Delhi."It is a sufi place while a dargah is essentially an Islamic place. But people referred to it as singing Islamic music. People are trying to fit you into boxes all the time. But God has no religion. That is why I sing in Persian, Urdu and Punjabi," she says. "I am fusing ideologies for seemingly disparate times and cultures," she adds.
Similarly, one of the numbers she performed at the Kasauli fest incorporated Hallelujah and Allah hu, something the audience enjoyed to the core.
After her mother passed away in 2011, the members of her music heritage society, Shadaj, invited Kalra to perform at a tribute concert for the former. "I sang in Persian and poured my heart out. I got a standing ovation and thought people are walking up to leave. I was told by my band members that I should take a bow," she recollects, talking about the performance at the India Habitat Centre.
While her music draws from various genres, Kalra says it has nothing to do with religion. "I believe strongly in God but I won't say my beliefs are stronger than someone else's. Also, the relationship with God is ever evolving, just like any other relationship. Besides, the lines for me are blurred between parents and God," she adds.
Add to her beliefs music that, she says, has the power to change mindsets.