The Partap brothers, Davinder, Mohinder and Ravinder, were born into music. Their mother Jaswant Kaur was a vocalist, while their father Sant Partap Singh was a renowned ragi, a Sikh musician, who plays shabads (hymns) in different ragas as prescribed in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. It was no surprise then that the sons took a shine to Puratan Gurmat Sangeet, or Sikh devotional music.

Even when the family moved to the US in 1978, their devotion to their craft stayed. The trio would go on to travel the world and introduce their brand of music to audiences in the UK, Europe, Australia and Thailand. “People were curious to know the ‘secret’ behind our energy during concerts. I think it all stemmed from how close-knit we were as a family; we lived in the same house in the US, cooked in the same kitchen. We were joined at the hip,” Davinder tells us over a Zoom call.
In January this year, Mohinder passed away, leaving a void that the brothers say will be hard to fill. “Anybody who has been part of a band will tell you that the loss of a member is painful. Moreover, with the third generation pursuing non-musical professions, I wondered what would happen to our music,” he adds.