Sacred Music
Sikh worship is sung: kirtan, the singing of scripture, is central to devotional life, and the Guru Granth Sahib is itself organised by raag.
Sikh worship is sung. Kirtan — the singing of scripture — is central to Sikh devotional life, and the Guru Granth Sahib is itself organised by raag, the classical melodic framework to which each hymn is set.
The tradition reaches back to Guru Nanak and his lifelong companion Bhai Mardana, who accompanied him on the rebab. Music remains the living voice of the scripture, carrying its words into daily practice.1,2,4
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Sources
Numbers in the text link to the work the claim rests on. Naming a work is not the same as checking every sentence against it; how entries are checked.
- Eleanor Nesbitt. Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press (2005). no page given yet
- W. Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi. The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. no page given yet standard academic reference on Sikh belief and practice
- Khushwant Singh. A History of the Sikhs, Volume 1: 1469–1839. Oxford University Press (2004). no page given yet
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sikhism.