Kiran Ahluwalia & Her Band led by Rez Abbasi

Two-time JUNO winner Kiran Ahluwalia’s open-hearted vocals have established her as one of global music’s most compelling cross-pollinators, bringing together the disparate traditions of Indian music, West African Blues and Jazz. Her six-piece band includes electric guitar, tabla, drum kit, accordion/organ and electric bass. Kiran will be performing new music from her long-awaited album, Comfort Food, released in April 2024. Artist bio: Kiran Ahluwalia’s open-hearted vocals have established her as one of global music’s most compelling cross-pollinators. She writes songs of breakup and love with equal conviction, organically mixing Indian music with West African Blues and American Jazz. Its combination of ethereal elegance and raw urgency is immediately welcoming and ultimately universal, a sound quite unlike anything you’ve heard. Her six-piece band is led by ace guitarist Rez Abbasi whose accolades include the Guggenheim Fellowship and frequent appearances in the Top Ten Guitarists of Downbeat’s International Critics Poll. Kiran and Rez are a real-life couple, one born in India, the other in Pakistan. Having grown up in the Diaspora they crossed ethnic and religious lines between their two warring motherlands to forge a musical and life partnership. Over the course of seven albums, Kiran has garnered numerous awards including two JUNOs (Canadian Grammys) and her work has featured collaborations with leading musicians from the Celtic and Fado worlds, as well as Malian super group, Tinariwen. Her reworking of the classic Qawwali tune Mustt Mustt has amassed over 3 million views online and the inspiration that drove her to create it continues to inform her music today.