Ishwar (Sjoen Ori) is a singer, songwriter and composer, born in Suriname, has an Indian background and lives in the Netherlands.
Ishwar comes from a musical family. His grandfather was a spiritual leader, a warrior and a sanskrit scholar who took part in the establishment of the Vedic Culture in Surinam. My father and all my brothers were also raised musically and play on various instruments.
In Suriname we grew up with different cultures; Africans, Indonesians, Chinese, Native Indians and Dutch brothers. Together as one, with peace and harmony.
Ishwar’s love for reggae music started at a young age. At a young age he came into contact with Bob Marley & The Wailers music and till today, these are his biggest influence in his own music. A song like “Rastaman Vibrations” is one of the first songs Ishwar can remember.
Ishwar and his family moved to the Netherlands in 1981, when he was 13 years old. His three favorite reggae CDs were the first thing he put in his suitcase at the time.
At the age of 15 he bought his first guitar from his first salary. At the time he was a newspaper boy.
Besides music, Ishwar also had a great passion for Martial Arts. At that time he got his black belt and at a later age he also became a teacher of Martial Arts.
At the age of 17 he took shelter of his spiritual master who taught him the discipline and gave him the process, to rise in awareness, by practicing growing in selfrealization under guidance.
Not much later Ishwar started his own band together with his brothers and a number of friends and they could be found daily in the studio. Besides reggae they also played Indian, Caribbean, Soca, Calypso, Merengue, Blues and pop music.
In 1990 Ishwar continued under the name Ishwar. Ishwar comes from the Sanskrit language. Ishwar means “The Supreme Creator”, the same as Ras Tafari.
Together with his band Ishwar did a lot of gigs and besides their own tracks they also played a lot of Bob Marley songs. Ishwar is not only a leadsinger but also a songwriter, composer and he plays on the guitar. His music can be described as spiritual music with loving lyrics. “Music is Love and Love is Music”.
Ishwar feels like a member of the spiritual revolution that Bob Marley often talked about. His goal is to spread his music and message all over the world. The lyrics of Bob Marley & The Wailers are like a bible for Ishwar. Bob Marley’s lyrics were very important and for the past 28 years this has been a guide through his life.
Now in 2019, it’s finally time for Ishwar to release his first official album called “Chorus of Life”. The album contains 9 songs.
The first song from the album official released, called “Reggae Prophet”. Ishwar shot a music video for this in Suriname and released this track in 2018. The song “Reggae Prophet” is a tribute to his great inspiration, Bob Marley.
