Yogi of Sound Professor Surinder Singh
Whatever is not shared is lost.
Yogi of Sound
Yogi of Sound Professor Surinder Singh is the initiator and founder of Naad Yoga Council and the most renowned teacher of Naad Yoga in the tradition of Guru Nanak in the West. As a singer, musician, scientist, author, speaker and therapist, he is known in a wide variety of areas for his extraordinary work and is tirelessly dedicated to reviving and spreading the almost lost tradition of Nanakian Naad Yoga. Naad Yoga Council is essentially a community of his students who want to make an active contribution to realising his vision of a healthier, happier and kinder humanity.
Surinder Singh was born in 1969 in Kapurthala, India (Panjab). Inspired by his grandmother, who was his first teacher, he started his spiritual quest on the path of sound at the age of thirteen. He was lucky enough to get to know classical Indian music and its spiritual and therapeutic dimensions at a young age and studied with eminent teachers such as Mahant Ajit Singh, Gyani Najar Singh and later Pandit Kharayti Lal Tahim from the Delhi Gharana.
After completing his bachelor’s degree in economics from NJSA College, Kapurthala, he graduated with a master’s degree in classical music from APJ College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, and a master’s degree in classical Indian music from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. In addition, he continued to study the traditional string instrument Sarangi with Ustad Surjeet Singh, student of the internationally celebrated Pandit Ram Narayan.
In 1994, Surinder Singh founded the Raj Academy of Asian Music in London, which later became Raj Academy Conservatoire. Raj Academy is one of the world’s leading international institutions for the study and practice of Gurmat Sangeet, the North Indian spiritual music from the Sikh tradition. In 2006 Surinder Singh was appointed professor at Thames Valley University (now the University of West London), where he taught Gurmat Sangeet, Naad Yoga and Indian classical music until 2012.
Yogi Professor Surinder Singh contributed significantly to the revival of the original Sikh instruments, which are irreplaceable for the authentic interpretation of traditional Kirtan music, but which were almost lost due to the influence of the Western harmonium. Moreover, he developed a hitherto unique system of academic teaching for the tradition of Naad Yoga, which was once only secretly taught in a strict teacher-student relationship. These courses have by today produced an international alumni network of teachers, musicians and therapists. Yogi Professor Surinder Singh’s generous and tireless efforts inspire the members of Naad Yoga Council every day to share the gift of Naad Yoga with more people from all over the world.