Magical duo of song and music enthralls music lovers
–    Sitarist Pt. Kinnar Kumar Seen and singer Payal Seen conduct training camps in music
The Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha last Thursday evening hosted an evening of music, featuring bhajans, ghazals, film and folk songs at the Sabha’s mandir in Campbellville. Singer Payal Seen, famous for her melodious bhajans, and her renowned husband sitarist and renowned table player, who is also a noted singer in his own right, Pt. Kinnar Kumar Seen, evoked nostalgia as they rendered a diverse range of songs by noted singers and musicians who have reigned supreme in the Indian music world over a span of years.
Apart from stunning musical performances, the amazingly talented husband and wife duo have also been teaching various aspects of musical and singing techniques to students of Indian cultural dynamics in mandirs countrywide.
Those who missed the performances of the Seens lost out on one of the most stunning evenings of music ever in Guyana, and this writer has witnessed the performances of most visiting Indian artistes to this country and can testify with conviction that the performance of the Seens was second to none, although not as energetic as some, because their quality of music is sublime and transcendental.
But the range of their music traversed many genres of Indian music, with each being a radiant gem transporting listeners to a world of irradiating bliss, and one could not help but regret that so few persons could have shared this transcendental musical experience.
The blurb on Payal Seen’s collection of bhajans, “Jai Shree Ram Bhajans”, reads as follows:
TALENT
Parminder Ji Payal Seen – was born into a world of love and inspiration for music, bestowed upon her by her mother. As a child her talent was acute and vividly visible to her parents, who facilitated opportunities for proper training at an early age. This platform of accredited training would lay the foundation for the accomplishments, talent, recognition, and beauty of the artist we see and know today.
TRAINING
Payal Ji’s initial training began with the steerage from Srimati Harsh Anand, who Payal Ji regards as the source of her insight and inspiration for music. Later she began schooling under the austere guidance of Guru Ji Satish Chander of Sham Churasi Gharana in the aesthetic and traditional training of Indian classical music. Today, apart from various other accreditations, she humbly performs practicing her knowledge gained while receiving her Master’s Degree in Music, culminating the skills learned from the Gurus in the motherland.
FAMILY
After making a mark of her own by leveraging her talent with the proper training, Payal Ji was very blessed, as she mentions in her own words, to union with her husband, Pt. Kinnar Ji Kumar Seen, a great musician of the Punjab Gharana. She is very proud to be a part of the Seen family and to be the daughter-in-law of the famed and revered Acharya Ji Lachhman Singh Seen, who has enabled her with more opportunities to enhance her musical abilities under his support. This environment now couples documented lineage in musical bliss with talent and training.
LIFE
Today Payal Ji resides in the United States where she perseveres in furthering her love and dedication to music. She continues to perform countless times – both nationally and internationally. She has recorded numerous recognized pieces and has dabbled in blending music, dance, and Indian culture with western influences. She has recently directed a shabad recording of Melody and Majesty and collaborated with artist Rick Ramdehal in his recent album. She is well received and admired within the Indian, Indo-Caribbean, and American communities. She lives a life of learning, performing, and teaching music in harmony.

A redoubtable heritage
Kinnar Kumar Seen is the son of Ustad Lachman Singh Seen and has an impeccable lineage in the Indian music world.
His father, who was also his guru, is an eminent scholar and musician – the legendary Punjab Gharana exponent, Acharya Ji Lachman Singh Seen of Jalandhar, India, who was born on December 3rd, 1927 in Punjab and was encouraged to play music by his own father, Thakur Mangat Singh and his mother Shrimati Ishwari Devi.  His parents had a deep affection for music and very much encouraged their son so that he could devote himself to this art form.
The family established Sangeet Vilas in 1950, which is dedicated to the preservation, sustenance and brilliance of Indian classical music.

From its inception, Sangeet Vilas has earned the reputation of being one of the world’s leading classical music schools, paving the way for nothing short of excellence, and aspiring for the continuation of traditional Indian culture.

The success of the musical training sessions, facilitated by the Guyana Sanatan Hindu Dharmic Sabha and conducted by the renowned artistes was evident with rendition the Saraswati Vandana – a tribute to Mother Sharda, deity of the arts, by young students who flawlessly performed this beautiful bhajan with symmetrical artistry blended in melodic unison after, amazingly, only three days of training.
This harmonious rendering of “Hay Sharday Ma” set the tone for a melodious evening of sweet sangeet.
Payal Seen first riveted the audience with a supreme rendering of Anup Jalota’s “Aisa Lagay Lagan”, describing Meera’s devotion to her Lord, followed by “Tu Bajalay Bajalay, Ram Govinda Hari”,  “Om Namah Shivay”, the most beautiful ghazal – “Piya hai pyar mujse, har ye zindagi tera” (pls excuse spelling, which may not capture the right Hindi words).
Then husband and wife – accompanying themselves on tablas and harmonium, took me right back to my childhood with Mukesh’s “Chaudawi ka chand ho”, which was my father’s favourite song, and which became mine for all times.  Punjabi fare was also there – energetic and rhythmic; as well as many others I could not identity, but which were all equally melodious and captivating.
The traditional mores, scriptures, and the music of our forefathers always bring together the rich and poor, who all pay equal obeisance to the feet of the Lord, and this was evident as everyone in the audience –  Beharry scion, Indi, as well as prominent members of other dynastic entrepreneurial families sat flat on the mandir floor, together with the ordinary working-class music-lovers, and were transported, enrapt, to the land of the gods through song and music, so exquisitely rendered by Pt Kinnar Kumar and Payal Seen, with local singing sensation maestro, Ram, also singing superbly last Thursday evening.
Pt Reepu Daman Persaud was in his element as the music that he so much loves, which he and his family, and the entire Dharmic Sabha fraternity continually propagates, flowed effortlessly from the instruments and the voices of the Seens, who sang like angels in Heaven and left their audience satisfied beyond expectation, but yet hungry for more.