Get to Know Qais Essar and Sonny Singh

The Performing Arts Series of First Presbyterian Church of Davenport is pleased to welcome crossover Jazz musicians Qais Essar and Sonny Singh for a concert on Saturday, March 21 at 7:30pm. Qais Essar is an Afghan-American rabab player, and Sonny Singh is a Jazz trumpet player (both are also vocalists). The two musicians recently collaborated on an album released in October titled Sangat, a “new project that obliterates musical, political, and religious boundaries.” Essar and Singh will be joined by Indian tabla specialist Sukhmani Rayat.

The rabab is a plucked string instrument similar to a lute; while the rabab is the national instrument of Afghanistan, it is common in cultures throughout Central Asia and Middle East. The table is a set of Indian hand drums with a unique pitch-bending ability that provides the rhythmic backbone of Hindustani classical music.

Qais Essar is an internationally acclaimed rabab virtuoso, award winning composer, and cultural innovator whose work bridges ancient Afghan musical traditions with contemporary global expression. Widely recognized for expanding the expressive and technical possibilities of the Afghan rabab, Essar has helped elevate the instrument from a heritage context to a modern, international voice. Essar has performed at prestigious venues and festivals worldwide, including the Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Center, and major international festivals across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. As a composer, Essar has released multiple critically acclaimed albums and collaborated across genres and cultures. His music has been featured extensively in film and television, including the Academy Award–nominated animated feature The Breadwinner, the Academy Award–nominated documentary Three Songs for Benazir, and the BAFTA nominated film Yellow, among numerous other international productions. Beyond performance and composition, he is committed to cultural preservation, cross-cultural collaboration, and the continued evolution of Afghan music within a global context. Today, Qais Essar stands as one of the leading voices in contemporary world music—an artist dedicated not only to preserving the legacy of the rabab, but to ensuring its future as a living, evolving art form.

Brooklyn-based Sonny Singh is celebrated for bold and joyous musical innovation. Singh’s music channels ancestral wisdom for our time—a clarion call to love, devotion, and courage in dark times. For the last two decades, Singh gained renown as an original member of the band Red Baraat, performing on stages globally with his fiery trumpet and voice. He embarked on a solo career to explore bold new renderings of Sikh devotional music. In 2022, he released his solo debut Chardi Kala to critical acclaim. He released his second album Sage Warrior in 2024. Sonny's first musical outlet as a child of immigrant parents in North Carolina was singing Sikh devotional music in gurdwaras (Sikh houses of worship). As a singer and trumpet player, he has been central to the sound and raw energy of Red Baraat since the band's inception in 2008, touring globally and recording 5 studio albums. Sonny’s band has performed at the Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Museum, MASSMoCA, O+ Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Lotus World Music Festival, Hamptons Jazz Festival, and The White House (in April 2023).

Both Essar and Singh are immigrants with important stories to tell of their journeys; Singh came to the US from India as a child. Essar fled Afghanistan at the start of the war in his country almost twenty-five years ago and entered the US as a refugee. In celebration of these stories, First Pres is pleased to partner with Tapestry Farms to offer tickets to the clients this organizations serves, as well as its devoted volunteers and staff.

General admission tickets are available at the door, or in advance online (adults: https://fpcdavenport.breezechms.com/give/online?fund_id=1965303; students: https://fpcdavenport.breezechms.com/give/online?fund_id=1965404). Tickets are $15 for adults or $10 for students. You may listen to Sangat in advance on all streaming platforms. Learn more at therabab.com and sonnysingh.com.