Life Embraced by Tarn Taran Singh

There’s a moment of relief when you’ve finally laid all the tracks down and finished the final mix. But just as you let that exhale go, you find yourself taking a sharp inhale as the thought hits you, “yeah but what title are you going to give it?”

A fitting title would have been “A Long Time Coming”, for a couple of reasons. One is simply that its been almost 7 years since my last CD. That’s because when I moved to New Mexico from Amsterdam, I also moved 5000 miles away from my musical partner, Saribjit Singh, in Rome. Still we would do some fitful recording whenever I could spend a few days in Rome and we even had a CD ready to publish a couple of years ago only to have the hard drive stolen the day before Saribjit was going to master it.

I was surprised about what a minor ripple my emotional response to the loss. I found myself taking it as a message from the Universe that there were already enough “Tarn Taran Singh mantras” out there, so question “what else have you got for us?” And I found the answer digging through some songs I had written in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s but had never shared because they expressed my somewhat complex and nuanced approach to life and didn’t seem to fit the “3HO music profile” of those times. So we began again. Laying down the basic tracks in the bathroom of a B&B in Trastreve B&B, with Saribjit recording various instrumental tracks whenever he could and then getting together to play with the mixes any time I was able to spend a few days in Rome.

For a while it seemed like it was going to be a never ending process of constant tinkering but never feeling completely satisfied.

But now I am sitting on an airplane flying back to the States listening to the final mix... and smiling that smile of deep appreciation and satisfaction when you finally go... yeah, that’s it!

So now I have to figure out what to call it. The choice for the CD’s title song is between Life’s Embrace or Kundalini Curled Up. These two songs are bookends reflecting the paradox of my basic emotional response to life. One embraces the inherent sadness of being trapped in an impermanent existance and the other expresses that jolt of a moment’s joy, where sadness is replaced by an appreciation of the wry humor of the whole thing.

The Songs

“The Blues Come Easy” was written sometime in the 1980’s when we were living in Hamburg Germany. It reflects my basic Tommasic composition. For you more Rajistic or Satvic types, this is what the world can look like from down here. But when the melancholy of the blues seem to enfold me, what has always gently pulled me up Is “Akana Jor” which somehow allows me to surrender to His Grace, and “walk from my darkness into light of His day”.

“Kundalini Rising” was written in Eugene, Oregon in 1999. It was a particularly challenging time in my my life and really sustained me we was teaching yoga every Saturday morning. The song expresses the “Wow” of Wahe Guru when a jolt of Joy sends you “shooting through the heavens as you embrace the universe”. And from that perspective you simply no longer have to “sweat the small stuff, little things like birth and death.”

“Life’s Embrace” was also written in 1999 as I entering my 50’s and departing from my 6 year sojourn in Eugene, Oregon. It’s a time of life when one can look back and reflect on the cycles and passages of life.

The Mantras
Ong Namo
I Am Thine
Ek Ong Kar
Guru Ram Das Live – This is a live version of the Guru Ram Das chant on the “Soul Bride” CD. It was a one take track made with a single microphone. So the mix is a bit off and it’s a bit rough around the edges. I really like its raw energy. For me it highlights the musicality of Jiwan Singh (keyboards) and Saribjit Singh (guitar) and I love the tight male harmonies of their voices.

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The thing is, I woke up one morning, not many years long ago, and discovered I was 70! How did that happen? I am grateful for this space to share the musical expression of my journey as a soul wrapped in this human form from then to now and beyond. These songs and mantras, and the collaboration with my musical friends, express the wonder and gratitude I have for the innumerable blessings of life

tarntaransingh.com