A Canadian Grammy award winning singer-songwriter who infuses Indian music with African desert blues and Western styles, Kiran Ahluwalia won the ‘Newcomer’ category in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards in May 2009 and has released seven albums. She has collaborated with legendary Malian group Tinariwen, Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster, and fado masters from Portugal and her own band, directed by renowened jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi, has been called “boundary-breaking, inviting listeners to explore the human condition, transcending the self by losing ourselves in a trance of groove and melody.”