Sur Laya Sangam
Music of India
Dedicated to the Spiritual Art of Indian Music
Our Purpose
Sur Laya Sangam – Music of India, provides a gathering point for students, appreciators and practitioners to engage in the living art of Indian music. Sur and Laya refer to the melodic and rhythmic aspects of Indian music respectively. Sangam refers to a confluence, a meeting point, a gathering together. We seek to uphold and preserve India’s rich musical and spiritual heritage, creating a conduit for fostering harmony and peace in a diverse world. We focus on Indian classical and classically based vocal genres and their inherent spiritual aspects of meditation, prayer, devotion, resonance, vibration, breath and healing.
About Us
“MUSIC is the Divine Power; the very gift of Divinity to Creation by the Divine. Let us ever bow before it, keeping it in the service of Divine only – as the most ‘Sacred Mirror’ capable of reflecting the Divine and the Soul with its varied expressions in life.”
Sri Karunamayee
Founded in 1992, Sur Laya Sangam’s inception was inspired by the life work of India’s renowned spiritual vocalists, Pandit Pran Nath and Sri Karunamayee.
Sur Laya Sangam gatherings began in Berkeley, California in the home of Pandit Pran Nath, as a student forum to share the music that the master was disseminating to his pupils. Pandit Pran Nath himself would sit for these initial intimate circles. He subsequently blessed the formation of Sur Laya Sangam as one of the channels to reflect his music legacy, which he established in the west throughout his lifetime. In the early 1990’s, Sri Karunamayee, initially a student and ultimately a colleague of Pandit Pran Nath, added her essential support in forming the foundations of the organization. Subsequently she began traveling regularly to the U.S. at the request of Pandit Pran Nath, to teach aspiring students and to offer her music. Her foremost focus was to uphold the music that Pandit Pran Nath had established, and to expand the dimensions of its understanding and practice among students and appreciators.
After Pandit Pran Nath’s passing in 1996, Sur Laya Sangam continued to develop under the sustained guidance of Sri Karunamayee, expanding its offerings of classes, seminars and retreats, and upholding its mission to promote spiritual and cultural interface in the USA. In 2004, Sur Laya Sangam presented the Tsunami Relief Concert to benefit those affected by the tsunami disaster. Sur Laya Sangam co-sponsored a concert with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in its 1999 exhibit, ‘Arts of The Sikh Kingdoms’, marking the 300th year anniversary of the founding of the Sikh religion. In 2011 and 2012 the program, ‘Singing Gandhi Peace Prayers’, was presented as an interfaith offering at spiritual centers including, Newman Hall – Holy Spirit Chapel, in Berkeley; Badarikashrama in San Leandro and Cultural Integration Fellowship in San Francisco.
Sur Laya Sangam continues to offer classes and concerts, serving students and appreciators to support their interest in India’s spiritual vocal music. Our in-person music activities are concentrated primarily in the San Francisco bay area. Please check our calendar for upcoming events and subscribe to our list to receive announcements.