The News
Students will be able to take exams in Sikh sacred music for the first time, after a UK board added the devotional singing tradition to its examination system. The eight-grade syllabus has long focused on Western classical or contemporary music, and the introduction of Kirtan is an attempt to diversify away from a “colonial style of teaching,” the director of the Music Teachers’ Board told The Guardian.
Five Indian string instruments — dilruba, taus, esraj, sarangi, and saranda — will initially be added. “We’ve got violin exams, piano exams, and Kirtan deserves to be the same,” said a Sikh teacher who led calls to diversify the syllabus.