Kiran Ahluwalia

Born in India, raised in Canada – now Ahluwalia is based in New York, from where she puts together global musical alliances. She composes her songs in the ancient Persian-Indian Ghazal style, which is over 1,000 years old and enchanted her when she was just a child.

Today, after more than a decade of intense studies with her guru Vithal Rao, she combines these sensual verses with Afghan rubab lute, Portuguese Fado, celtic fiddles or electronic music. Her most recent projects were with the Tuareg blues rebels of Tinariwen and Terakraft and with Juldeh Camara, Gambian Griot and master of the single-string riti fiddle. The result: the album “Aam Zameen: Common Ground“, featuring a breath-taking new version of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s Quawali pop classic “Mustt Mustt” – mystical Islam as a bridge between musicians. "Common Ground" was recently awarded Canada's grammy - the prestigious JUNO Award.