I was featured in the Northwest Asian Weekly ahead of Red Baraat’s show in Seattle that was ultimately canceled due to COVID. Excerpt below, and full article here.
“Meet Sonny Singh, Red Baraat’s perpetual-motion horn man”
Most Americans seeing a turban-wearing Sikh, with a long beard, would not automatically assume such a man called Charlotte, N.C., his home, growing up.
But trumpeter Sonny Singh, performing with the Red Baraat band in Seattle on March 21, admits he got used to a lot of things, growing up Sikh in the South.
“My childhood was deeply shaped by being South Asian and being a Sikh,” he recalled. “My brother and I were the only two kids in the whole city who wore turbans, so there was a deep sense of isolation. Being bullied and harassed in school was a daily occurrence.
“But eventually, I took refuge in music. I started playing music in gurdwaras —Sikh houses of worship—playing harmonium and tabla and singing kirtan (Sikh devotional songs). At age 9, I started playing trumpet in school and never stopped!”